The 2015 Major League Soccer season featured 20 total clubs (17 based in the United States, 3 based in Canada). The regular season was held from March 6 through to October 25, whereas the MLS Cup playoffs began on October 28 and ended with MLS Cup 2015 on December 6. The defending MLS Cup champions were the LA Galaxy, while Seattle Sounders FC were the defending Supporters' Shield winners.

It was the first season for expansion teams Orlando City SC and New York City FC, who both joined the Eastern Conference, while both the Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City moved from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference. Chivas USA folded at the end of the 2014 season.

At the end of the regular season, the New York Red Bulls of the Eastern Conference won the Supporters' Shield, while the team on top of the Western Conference was FC Dallas. The Portland Timbers won their first MLS Cup, winning 2–1 at Columbus Crew SC.

Overview The 2015 season began on Friday, March 6. The opening weekend saw an average attendance of 25,838 — buoyed by strong attendances in Orlando (62,510), and Seattle (39,782) — with seven of the weekend's ten matches selling out."MLS draws a crowd on opening weekend", Washington Post, Steven Goff, March 9, 2015. Additionally, MLS saw strong TV ratings on ESPN2 (539,000 viewers), Unimas (341,000 viewers), and Fox Sports 1 (289,000 and 278,500 viewers)."MLS experiences TV ratings boost for 2015 opening weekend", SI.com, Richard Deitsch, March 11, 2015.

Franchise changes The 2015 MLS season featured the addition of two expansion teams, New York City FC and Orlando City SC. New York City FC became the second MLS team in the New York metropolitan area (joining the New Jersey-based New York Red Bulls), as well as the first based within New York City itself, as the team played its inaugural season at Yankee Stadium). Orlando was a new market for MLS, which returned to Florida for the first time since folding their Miami and Tampa Bay franchises before the 2002 season. The Lions' ownership previously owned Orlando's team that played in the league then known as USL Pro from 2010 to 2014; that team that relocated to Louisville for the 2015 season of the rebranded United Soccer League.

While MLS added two teams, one team closed down. Chivas USA, which had called the Los Angeles area home since 2005 and shared the StubHub Center with the LA Galaxy. Chivas had been owned by Mexican club, C.D. Guadalajara, who sold the club back to MLS in 2014. The league folded Chivas in October 2014, after the conclusion of the regular season, though it announced plans to add a second LA-area club, Los Angeles FC, in 2018."MLS announces new strategy for Los Angeles market, 2015 conference realignment," from MLSSoccer.com, October 27, 2014

Realignment and playoffs With the addition and subtraction of the above-mentioned teams, the 2015 season saw a realignment of MLS's Eastern and Western conferences: New York City FC and Orlando City SC joined the East, while Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City moved from the East to the West.

Each team played 34 regular season matches: two or three against conference rivals and once against teams from the opposite conference. The regular season concluded with all teams playing at the same scheduled time, a league first.

Twelve teams advanced to the MLS Cup playoffs, up from ten the previous three seasons. The top six teams per conference qualified. The first round per conference had the third-seed hosting the sixth-seed, and the fourth hosting the fifth. In the conference semifinals, the top seed played the lowest remaining seed and the second played the next-lowest.

Television The 2015 season saw the launch of a new United States television and media rights deal with English-language ESPN and Fox Sports and Spanish-language Univision Deportes. The deal continued MLS's relationship with ESPN and Univision, while it reestablished one with Fox Sports, whose Fox Soccer channel carried MLS games until 2011 (NBC Sports carried MLS broadcasts from 2012 to 2014). The deal, formally announced in May 2014, saw regular weekly game broadcasts on ESPN2 (Sunday afternoons) and Fox Sports 1 (Sunday evenings), as well as a regular Friday night match on UniMás and/or Univision Deportes Network. The networks shared coverage of the MLS Cup playoffs, while ESPN and Fox alternated English language carriage of the MLS All-Star Game and MLS Cup championship match each year. The 2015 MLS All-Star Game was on Fox Sports, and MLS Cup 2015 aired on ESPN. As part of the deal, the networks also shared coverage of the U.S. Soccer men's and women's national teams."MLS, U.S. Soccer sign landmark TV and media rights partnerships with ESPN, FOX & Univision Deportes," from MLSSoccer.com, December 5, 2014

The league reached a four-year agreement with Sky Sports to televise league matches live in the United Kingdom and Ireland. At least two regular season matches each week, the MLS All-Star Game, and every MLS Cup playoff match was aired on the Sky family of networks. MLS also reached a four-year agreement with Eurosport to air live matches in many other European countries.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Chicago Fire Colorado Rapids Columbus Crew SC D.C. United FC Dallas Houston Dynamo Toyota Park Dick's Sporting Goods Park Mapfre Stadium RFK Memorial Stadium Toyota Stadium BBVA Compass Stadium Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 18,000 Capacity: 20,145 Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 20,500 Capacity: 22,000 LA Galaxy Montreal Impact New England Revolution New York City FC StubHub Center Saputo Stadium Gillette Stadium Yankee Stadium Capacity: 27,000 Capacity: 20,801 Capacity: 22,385 Capacity: 33,444 New York Red Bulls Orlando Philadelphia Union Portland Timbers Red Bull Arena Citrus Bowl PPL Park Providence Park Capacity: 25,000 Capacity: 23,000 Capacity: 18,500 Capacity: 22,000 Real Salt Lake San Jose Earthquakes Seattle Sounders FC Sporting Kansas City Toronto FC Vancouver Whitecaps FC Rio Tinto Stadium Avaya Stadium CenturyLink Field Sporting Park BMO Field BC Place Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 18,000 Capacity: 39,115 Capacity: 18,500 Capacity: 30,991 Capacity: 21,000

Personnel and sponsorship

Note: All teams use Adidas as kit manufacturer.

Team Head coach Captain Shirt sponsorChicago Fire QuakerColorado Rapids TransamericaColumbus Crew SC BarbasolD.C. United LeidosFC Dallas AdvoCareHouston Dynamo BHP Billiton LA Galaxy HerbalifeMontreal Impact Bank of MontrealNew England Revolution UnitedHealthcareNew York City FC Etihad AirwaysNew York Red Bulls Red BullOrlando City SC Orlando HealthPhiladelphia Union BimboPortland Timbers Alaska AirlinesReal Salt Lake Jeff Cassar LifeVantageSan Jose Earthquakes —Seattle Sounders FC XboxSporting Kansas City Ivy FundsToronto FC Bank of MontrealVancouver Whitecaps FC Bell Canada

Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointment San Jose Earthquakes Mark Watson Fired October 16, 2014Preseason Dominic Kinnear October 16, 2014 Houston Dynamo Dominic Kinnear October 16, 2014 Owen Coyle December 8, 2014 New York Red Bulls Mike Petke Fired January 7, 2015 Jesse Marsch January 7, 2015 Montreal Impact Frank Klopas Fired August 29, 20157th in East,17th overall Mauro Biello (Interim) August 29, 2015 Chicago Fire Frank Yallop Fired September 20, 201510th in East,20th overall Brian Bliss (Interim) September 20, 2015 New York City FC Jason Kreis Fired November 2, 2015 Postseason Patrick Vieira November 9, 2015 Chicago Fire Brian Bliss End of interim period November 24, 2015 Veljko Paunovic November 24, 2015

Regular season

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Overall standings

MLS Cup playoffs

Bracket

MLS Cup

Attendance

Average home attendances

Ranked from highest to lowest average attendance.

Team Seattle Sounders FC 17 752,192 64,358 39,175 44,247 Orlando City SC 17 558,40762,510 23,372 32,847 New York City FC 17 493,26748,047 20,461 29,016 Toronto FC 17 398,671 30,266 16,382 23,451 LA Galaxy 17 397,668 27,000 13,391 23,392 Portland Timbers 17 359,418 21,144 21,144 21,144 San Jose Earthquakes 17 356,646 50,422 18,000 20,979 Houston Dynamo 17 351,187 22,651 16,018 20,658 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 17 348,624 22,500 18,083 20,507 Real Salt Lake 17342,71821,004 18,895 20,160 Sporting Kansas City 17 334,684 21,505 18,864 19,687 New York Red Bulls 17 334,172 25,219 12,540 19,657 New England Revolution 17 333,652 42,947 10,668 19,627 Montreal Impact 17 301,742 25,245 10,035 17,750 Philadelphia Union 17 296,674 18,883 15,374 17,451 Columbus Crew SC 17 288,747 22,719 10,302 16,985 D.C. United 17 276,152 21,517 11,218 16,244 FC Dallas 17 272,22121,90712,640 16,013 Chicago Fire 17 272,043 20,124 11,19616,003 Colorado Rapids 17 266,168 18,597 10,439 15,657 Total 340 7,335,053 64,358 10,035 21,574

Highest attendances Regular season Rank Home team Score Away team Attendance Date Stadium 1 Seattle Sounders FC 2–1Portland Timbers 64,358CenturyLink Field 2 Orlando City SC 1–1New York City FC 62,510Citrus Bowl 3 Seattle Sounders FC 1–1 LA Galaxy 56,097CenturyLink Field 4 Seattle Sounders FC 3–1 Real Salt Lake 55,435CenturyLink Field 5 Seattle Sounders FC 0–3Vancouver Whitecaps FC 53,125CenturyLink Field 6 San Jose Earthquakes 3–1LA Galaxy 50,422Stanford Stadium 7 New York City FC 1–3New York Red Bulls 48,047Yankee Stadium 8 New York City FC 2–0New England Revolution 43,507Yankee Stadium 9 Orlando City SC 2–1New York City FC 43,179Citrus Bowl 10 New England Revolution 0–1Montreal Impact 42,947Gillette Stadium Updated to games played on October 25, 2015. Source: MLS Soccer

Player statistics

Goals RankPlayerClubGoals1 Sebastian GiovincoToronto FC22 Kei KamaraColumbus Crew SC3 Robbie KeaneLA Galaxy204 David VillaNew York City FC185 Cyle LarinOrlando City SC17 Bradley Wright-PhillipsNew York Red Bulls7 Chris WondolowskiSan Jose Earthquakes16 Fanendo AdiPortland Timbers9 Obafemi MartinsSeattle Sounders FC1510 Jozy AltidoreToronto FC13

Hat-tricks Player Club Against Result Date LA Galaxy Toronto FC 4–0 Toronto FC New York City FC 4–4 LA Galaxy San Jose Earthquakes 5–2 Orlando City SC New York City FC 3–5 Toronto FC Orlando City SC 4–1 Montreal Impact Chicago Fire 4–3 Orlando City SC New York Red Bulls 5–2

Assists RankPlayerClubAssists1 Sebastian GiovincoToronto FC162 Benny FeilhaberSporting Kansas City15 Cristian MaidanaPhiladelphia Union4 Sacha KljestanNew York Red Bulls145 Ethan FinlayColumbus Crew SC136 Javier MoralesReal Salt Lake117 Brad DavisHouston Dynamo10 Mauro DíazFC Dallas Lee NguyenNew England Revolution Clint DempseySeattle Sounders FC

Clean sheets RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Adam KwaraseyPortland Timbers13 David OustedVancouver Whitecaps FC3 David BinghamSan Jose Earthquakes124 Stefan FreiSeattle Sounders FC105 Evan BushMontreal Impact9 Luis RoblesNew York Red Bulls7 Bill HamidD.C. United8 Clint IrwinColorado Rapids Tim MeliaSporting Kansas City Nick RimandoReal Salt Lake Bobby ShuttleworthNew England Revolution

Awards

Individual awards AwardPlayerClubMost Valuable Player Sebastian GiovincoToronto FCDefender of the Year Laurent CimanMontreal ImpactGoalkeeper of the Year Luis RoblesNew York Red BullsCoach of the Year Jesse MarschNew York Red BullsRookie of the Year Cyle LarinOrlando City SCNewcomer of the Year Sebastian GiovincoToronto FCComeback Player of the Year Tim MeliaSporting Kansas CityGolden Boot Sebastian GiovincoToronto FCFair Play Award Darlington NagbePortland TimbersHumanitarian of the Year Kei KamaraColumbus Crew SCGoal of the Year Krisztián NémethSporting Kansas CitySave of the Year Adam Kwarasey Portland Timbers

Best XI GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards Luis Robles, Red Bulls Laurent Ciman, Montreal Matt Hedges, Dallas Kendall Waston, Vancouver Ethan Finlay, Columbus Dax McCarty, Red Bulls Benny Feilhaber, Sporting KC Fabian Castillo, Dallas Sebastian Giovinco, Toronto Kei Kamara, Columbus Robbie Keane, LA Galaxy

Player of the Month