The Houston Dynamo will move to the Eastern Conference for the 2011 season, putting nine teams in each conference as the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps will enter the league in the Western Conference. The Dynamo were previously the eastern most team, geographically, in the Western Conference and will now be the western-most team in the Eastern Conference.
Houston Dynamo Will Move To Eastern Conference For 2011 Season, MLS Releases Revised Roster Rules
With the Montreal Impact joining the league in 2012 and the league likely doing away with a balanced schedule, the Dynamo would likely rejoin the West in order to preserve their rivalry with FC Dallas.
In addition to announcing the new conference alignment, MLS also announced several roster-rule changes. Chief among them will be how players are counted against the salary cap. The rosters have been expanded to 30 players, with spots 1-20 counting against the salary cap. Roster spot 19 and 20 do not have to be filled.
Spots 20-24 (Off-budget players) will not count against the salary cap, but those players must make at least $42,000 (the league minimum). Spots 25-30 will earn at least $32,600, two of which can be left open and used for $35,000 apiece in allocation money. All Generation Adidas players will count as Off-budget players. Up to two Home Grown Players can be signed to Generation Adidas contracts, although there is no limit to how many HGPs a team can sign.
Designated Players will count no more than $335,000 against the salary cap, but that total can be paid down to as low as $150,000 with allocation money. DPs acquired at mid-season will count $167,000 against the cap.
The league has also tweaked the way it treats Canadian teams in regard to international vs. domestic players. Both Americans and Canadians will now be counted as domestic players, but the Canadian teams must carry at least three Canadians. Like the 16 U.S.-based teams, the two Canadian teams will be allotted eight international roster spots. Previously, Toronto FC had been allotted 13 international roster spot, but U.S. players counted as internationals. As a way of addressing the potential loss of Canadians guaranteed roster spots, the league has opened a joint task force with the Canadian Soccer Association to explore ways to improve the development of the game there.
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