The Eastern Conference is one of Major League Soccer's two conferences, along with the Western Conference. As of 2023, the Eastern Conference contains fifteen teams. The conference has produced sixteen Supporters' Shield champions and ten MLS Cup winners in Major League Soccer's first 27 seasons. In 2000 and 2001, the conference was referred to as the Eastern Division when Major League Soccer briefly reorganized into three divisions. 2023 standings Members Current Timeline Conference lineups by year 1996–97 (5 teams) Changes from 1995: Creation of the Major League Soccer. 1998–99 (6 teams) Changes from 1997: New York/New Jersey MetroStars simplified their name to New York MetroStars; the Miami Fusion were added in the 1998 expansion. 2000–01 (as Eastern Division) (4 teams) Changes from 1999: The Eastern Conference changed its name to Eastern Division with the creation of the Central Division; the Columbus Crew and the Tampa Bay Mutiny moved to the new division. 2002–04 (5 teams) Changes from 2001: The Eastern Division changed back its name to Eastern Conference following the contraction of the Miami Fusion and the Tampa Bay Mutiny, resulting in the disbanding of the Central Division; Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew moved in from the Central Division 2005 (6 teams) Changes from 2004: Kansas City Wizards moved in from the Western Conference 2006 (6 teams) Changes from 2005: The New York MetroStars were bought by Red Bull and changed their name to New York Red Bulls. 2007–09 (7 teams) Changes from 2006: Toronto FC was added as an expansion franchise. 2010 (8 teams) Changes from 2009: The Philadelphia Union was added as an expansion franchise. 2011 (9 teams) Changes from 2010: The Kansas City Wizards changed their name to Sporting Kansas City; Houston Dynamo moved in from the Western Conference. 2012–14 (10 teams) Changes from 2011: The Montreal Impact was added as an expansion franchise 2015–16 (10 teams) Changes from 2014: New York City FC and Orlando City SC were added as expansion franchises; Sporting Kansas City and Houston Dynamo moved out to the Western Conference; Columbus Crew adds "SC" to the official team name. 2017–18 (11 teams) Changes from 2016: Atlanta United FC was added as an expansion franchise. 2019 (12 teams) Changes from 2018: FC Cincinnati was added as an expansion franchise. 2020 (14 teams) Changes from 2019: Inter Miami CF was added as an expansion franchise; Nashville SC was added since the MLS is Back