Venues
In MLS Cup history, five matches have been played in the Greater Los Angeles area. The next closest is the Washington, D.C. metro area, which has hosted three finals, all of which have been played at RFK Stadium.
Through the 2011 season every MLS Cup had been played at a predetermined site (i.e., announced before the playoff participants were known). On the day before the 2011 Cup, MLS announced that starting in 2012, Cup finals will be hosted by the participant with the highest point total during the regular season.
Only three times in league history has a club played in the championship in their home stadium, all of which were a virtue of coincidence. In the 1997 MLS Cup final, D.C. United won the match in their home stadium over Colorado Rapids, RFK Stadium. The same occurrence applied in the 2002 MLS Cup final, where the Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the New England Revolution 1–0, in the Revolution's home stadium Gillette Stadium. As a result, the 1997 and 2002 MLS Cup finals have drawn the largest crowds in MLS Cup history. And in 2011, the LA Galaxy won their 2011 MLS Cup match in their home stadium (Home Depot Center), 1–0, over the Houston Dynamo. The Galaxy became the 2nd team (and first since D.C. United in 1997) to win the Cup at home.
Through the 2011 season, MLS typically announced the championship location either prior to the start of its respective season, or even a few weeks into the campaign. For the 2011 championship, the league selected The Home Depot Center in Carson, California, making it an unprecedented fourth time, the league's championship has been hosted at the venue.
Unlike the NFL, which traditionally disallows stadiums in climates cooler than 50°F (10°C) to host their championship, MLS has no such criterion for a host candidate. Some suggest that this is because the MLS Cup final is normally played in mid-November, whereas the Super Bowl is played in late-January/early-February. In fact, the first two MLS Cup finals were played in temperatures less than 50°F (10°C).
To date, the coldest MLS Cup final was the 2010 championship game played in Toronto at Toronto FC's BMO Field where the temperature was 44°F (7°C). The hottest MLS Cup final was the 2005 championship game played in Frisco, Texas at FC Dallas's Pizza Hut Park where the temperature was 75°F (23°C).
The 2010 edition of the MLS Cup was the first final in league history to be played outside of the United States. The match was played in Canada at Toronto's BMO Field, the home ground of MLS club Toronto FC.
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