Major League Soccer announced today that the Houston Dynamo will be moving to the Eastern Conference for 2011. The Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers join the Western Conference to no one's surprise.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Chicago Fire
Columbus Crew
D.C. United
Houston Dynamo
Sporting Kansas City
New England Revolution
New York Red Bulls
Philadelphia Union
Toronto FC
Houston will almost surely move back to the Western Conference when the Montreal Impact enter the league next year. While Houston is East of Dallas and Frisco, TX (Dallas' stadium site), why not have moved Dallas to the east to renew the Brimstone Cup rivalry and keep Houston with its historical Western Conference rivals when they were the San Jose Earthquakes? Just a thought...
Most of the reporting you will hear about today is Houston moving over to the Eastern Conference but MLS also released some important information on rules and regulations. The full list can be found at here. Highlights include the fact that homegrown signings are now unlimited and players that occupy roster spots 25-30 have a minimum of $32,600 in comparison to roster spots 1-24 which keep the minimum of $42,000. Look for an update on how this changes the Chicago Fire salary situation. As for those fans who are getting anxious about who will fill out some of our remaining roster spots... let's just say that help is on the way and next week will be exciting. We will be here to report it all.