Moving forward, this season will again see a balanced scheduled, i.e.; each team will play each other twice, home and away. With the addition of the two new clubs, the Portland Timbers and the Vancouver Whitecaps, there will be 306 matches this season.

San Jose is rumblin’, bumblin’ and stumbin’(thanks Chris Berman) their way to a new stadium. Until then, they will bring up the rear in average attendance, given that their home field seat less than 11,000. Ten of 2009′s fifteen teams had average attendance increases. FC Dallas’ miserable 2009 was worse in 2010 without the aid of a big gate game at the Cotton Bowl. There is, however, a big PR push in Dallas given the team’s performance last year. This will be the year to see if there should be real consideration of relocating this franchise if they don’t improve dramatically at the gate. Colorado had the 3rd highest increase, albeit from a rather crummy starting point. DC United’s abominable 2010 team was reflected at the door, and with no signs of movement by the DC government, it seems only a matter of time before the rumored move to Baltimore might become a reality.

If the rules haven’t changed, expansion clubs get extra allocation money to use by May 15.

Speaking of rules, here are the new roster rules for 2011.

Rumors are that there will be not be a 2011 version of the North American SuperLiga. It’s a nice little money grab by Soccer United Marketing(SUM) and the FMF. And you know what, that’s fine with me. Any international exposure MLS clubs get is important, even if it’s Mexican ‘B’ teams in preseason.

MLS In CONCACAF Champions League

The jury is still out on MLS in the CCL. The Galaxy were the biggest disappointment, failing to make the group stage and getting embarrassed by Puerto Rico at the Home Depot Center. On the plus side, Toronto and Seattle won their preliminaries to make it to the final 16, although neither made it to the knockout phase. Also on the plus side, RSL and Columbus advanced and were drawn against each other, guaranteeing a MLS team in the semifinals.

Howard Hamilton of the HexagonalBlog has calculated CONCACAF coefficients which reflect Mexican club dominance in the region.

The Columbus/RSL quarterfinal home and home matches were played on February 22 and March 1, 2011. RSL emerged successfully and will face Costa Rican powerhouse Saprissa, three time CONCACAF Champions Cup winner and 2008 CCL runnerup, in one of the semifinals on March 15(home) and April 5. Mexican clubs Monterrey and Cruz Azul will face off in the other semifinal.

MLS clubs Colorado(MLS Cup winner), FC Dallas(MLS Cup finalist), Seattle Sounders(Lamar Hunt US Open Cup winner) and the Los Angeles Galaxy(Supporters’ Shield winner) will participate in the 2011-12 tourney

Gold Cup Notes

Any MLS players that make it onto Gold Cup teams will be away from their teams in June through at least the 14th(end of group stage). The finals are on June 25 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA(tourney begins June 5).

Unlike last year’s World Cup, MLS will not break during the Gold Cup. Nine of the thirteen Gold Cup match days also have MLS games, including 6 on Gold Cup final day. More on fixture conflict and missing players as the Gold Cup gets closer.