MLS Territories & Guidelines Updated (How This Might Affect You)
Major League Soccer (MLS) recently released its 2024 MLS Player Development Guidelines.
Here is what you’ll find in the guidelines:
- List of Homegrown Territories
- Player Development Programming
- Overview of the Homegrown Players & Priorities
- Recruiting
- Submitting Homegrown Player Lists
What Are MLS Homegrown Territories?
Homegrown Territories are the geographic areas where an MLS club has exclusive rights to develop and protect youth soccer players.
Each MLS soccer club has a certain geography they can claim. For example, we live 64 miles from Gillette Stadium so the New England Revolution would have exclusive rights to my son. As I understand it, unless we move, he can’t go to another professional club.
With this said, I’ve seen players get recruited by a MLS club outside their territory. The family decided to board their child so they could play there.
Is it risky? For sure! But, for a player of this caliber, it can be a great opportunity.
What Are the MLS Homegrown Territories?
Here are the current territories for every MLS club.
| MLS TEAM | TERRITORY GUIDELINES |
|---|---|
| Atlanta United FC | The state of Georgia and the following counties located in Tennessee: Bradley, Hamilton, Marion, Polk, Sequatchie. |
| Austin FC | The following counties located in Texas: Aransas, Atascosa, Bastrop, Bee, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Bosque, Burnet, Caldwell, Comal, Coryell, DeWitt, Falls, Fayette, Gillespie, Goliad, Gonzales, Guadalupe, Hamilton, Hays, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, Kleberg, Lampasas, Lavaca, Lee, Llano, Mason, McLennan, Medina, Milam, Mills, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio, San Saba, Travis, Victoria, Williamson, Wilson |
| Charlotte FC | The states of North Carolina and South Carolina. |
| Chicago Fire FC | A 75-mile radius of the Club’s stadium, including Milwaukee County. |
| Colorado Rapids | The states of Colorado and New Mexico, excluding El Paso. |
| Columbus Crew | The following counties located in Ohio, some of which may be shared with FC Cincinnati: Allen, Ashland, Ashtabula, Athens, Auglaize, Belmont, Carroll, Champaign, Clark, Columbiana, Coshocton, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Defiance, Delaware, Erie, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Gallia, Geauga, Guernsey, Hancock, Hardin, Harrison, Henry, Hocking, Holmes, Huron, Jackson, Jefferson, Knox, Lake, Lawrence, Licking, Logan, Lorain, Lucas, Madison, Mahoning, Marion, Medina, Meigs, Mercer, Monroe, Morgan, Morrow, Muskingum, Noble, Ottawa, Paulding, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Portage, Putnam, Richland, Ross, Sandusky, Scioto, Seneca, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, Union, Van Wert, Vinton, Washington, Wayne, Williams, Wood, Wyandot |
| D.C. United | A 75-mile radius of the Club’s stadium. |
| FC Cincinnati | The following counties located in Ohio, some of which may be shared with Columbus Crew: Adams, Allen, Ashtabula, Athens, Auglaize, Belmont, Brown, Butler, Carroll, Clermont, Clinton, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Darke, Defiance, Erie, Fulton, Gallia, Geauga, Greene, Guernsey, Hamilton, Hancock, Harrison, Henry, Highland, Hocking, Huron, Jackson, Jefferson, Lake, Lawrence, Lorain, Lucas, Mahoning, Medina, Meigs, Mercer, Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Ottawa, Paulding, Perry, Pike, Portage, Preble, Putnam, Ross, Sandusky, Scioto, Seneca, Shelby, Trumbull. Van Wert, Vinton, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Williams, Wood. The following counties located in Indiana: Clark, Dearborn, Decatur, Fayette, Franklin, Henry, Jefferson, Jennings, Ohio, Randolph, Ripley, Rush, Scott, Switzerland, Union, Wayne. The following counties located in Kentucky: Bath, Boone, Bourbon, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Clark, Fayette, Fleming, Franklin, Gallatin, Grant, Harrison, Henry, Kenton, Lewis, Mason, Montgomery, Nicholas, Oldham, Owen, Pendleton, Robertson, Scott, Shelby, Trimble, Woodford. |
| FC Dallas | A 75-mile radius of the Club’s stadium, and all of Texas north of Dallas and Fort Worth. |
| Houston Dynamo | The following counties located in Texas: Austin, Brazoria, Brazos, Burleson, Calhoun, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Hardin, Harris, Houston, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Madison, Matagorda, Montgomery, Newton, Orange, Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity, Tyler, Walker, Waller, Washington, Wharton. |
| Inter Miami CF | A 100-mile radius of the Club’s home stadium (assuming Melreese site), excluding any non-Floridian territories (i.e., the Bahamas) |
| LA Galaxy | A 75-mile radius of the Club’s home stadium, excluding San Diego County. |
| Los Angeles Football Club | A 75-mile radius of the Club’s home stadium, excluding San Diego County. |
| Minnesota United FC | The states of Minnesota and Wisconsin, excluding a 75-mile radius of Chicago Fire’s stadium, but including Milwaukee County. |
| CF Montréal | All of Canada, excluding: (i) Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba; and (ii) a 50-mile radius of Toronto FC’s stadium. |
| Nashville SC | The state of Tennessee excluding the following counties: Bradley, Hamilton, Marion, Polk, Sequatchie and including the following counties in Alabama: Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan. |
| New York City FC | A 75-mile radius of the Club’s home stadium, excluding a 25-mile radius of Philadelphia Union’s home stadium. |
| New York Red Bulls | A 75-mile radius of the Club’s home stadium, excluding a 25-mile radius of Philadelphia Union’s home stadium. |
| New England Revolution | A 75-mile radius of the Club’s stadium, plus the state of Rhode Island. |
| Orlando City SC | A 100-mile radius of the Club’s home stadium, plus to the north of the stadium, the remainder of the state of Florida. |
| Philadelphia Union | A 75-mile radius of the Club’s home stadium, excluding: (i) the state of Maryland; and (ii) a 25-mile radius of New York Red Bulls’ home stadium. |
| Portland Timbers | The states of Idaho, Oregon, and New Mexico (excluding El Paso), and including Vancouver, Washington, and its environs. |
| Real Salt Lake | The states of Utah and Arizona. |
| San Diego FC | In the United States, a 75-mile radius of the Club’s training facility, excluding Orange County, CA. In Mexico, a 62.1-mile (100-km) driving distance of the Club’s training facility. |
| San Jose Earthquakes | A 75-mile radius of the Club’s stadium. |
| Seattle Sounders FC | The states of Hawaii and Washington, excluding a 50-mile radius from Portland Timbers’ home stadium. |
| Sporting Kansas City | The states of Kansas and Oklahoma. The state of Missouri, some of which might be shared with St. Louis City, excluding the following counties: Ralls, Audrain, Pike, Lincoln, Montgomery, Callaway, Warren, St Charles, St Louis (including the City of St Louis), Jefferson, Franklin, Gasconade, Osage, Maries, Phelps, Crawford, Washington, St Francois, Saint Genevieve, Perry, Dent, Iron, Madison, Cape Girardeua, Bollinger, Wayne, Reynolds, Scott, Stoddard, Butler, Mississippi, New Madrid, Dunklin, Pemiscot. The following counties located in Arkansas: Crawford, Madison, Carroll, Washington, and Benton. |
| St. Louis CITY SC | The state of Arkansas, excluding the following counties: Crawford, Madison, Carroll, Washington, and Benton. The state of Missouri, some of which might be shared with Sporting KC, excluding the following counties: Atchison, Nodaway, Holt, Worth, Harrison, Gentry, Daviess, Andrew, DeKalb, Buchanan, Clinton, Caldwell, Livingston, Carroll, Ray, Clay, Platte, Jackson, Lafayette, Johnson, Cass, Bates, Henry, St Clair, Vernon. The following counties located in Illinois: Adams, Schuyler, Fulton, Peoria, Tazewell, McLean, Champaign, Edgar, plus to the south of these counties, the remainder of Illinois. The following counties located in Indiana: Posey, Vanderburg. |
| Toronto FC | All of Canada, excluding the Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Quebec. |
| Vancouver Whitecaps FC | All of Canada, excluding: (i) a 50-mile radius of Toronto FC’s stadium; and (ii) the Province of Quebec. |
Why Is It Important Now?
With the new MLS Development Grant, non-MLS clubs are incentivized when a player goes through the full pathway to become a professional player.
By defining the guidelines and the geography, the youth clubs will get credit for the development of that player.
It all comes full circle! Defining it provides boundaries for MLS teams and the teams that feed up to them.
Written By: Beau Bridges
Founder of SoccerNovo
I’m Beau 👋 a proud dad of an MLS NEXT player, former soccer coach, soccer enthusiast, and board member of our local youth sports program. I created soccernovo.com to share my knowledge of the game and help parents learn more about youth soccer in the U.S. I also authored an eBook ‘Soccer Coach Made Simple‘. Learn more about Beau.
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