Player Debuts

Includes all competitive games (playoffs, Open Cup, Champions Cup, etc). Only 11 players have played for an MLS team without playing a regular season game, so it doesn't change things too much. There have been a total of 1,006 players total, so here's how they breakdown: Debuts By Year 1996 241 (inaugural season) 1997 80 1998 93 (expansion) 1999 62 2000 75 2001 63 2002 54 (post-contraction) 2003 68 2004 63 2005 120 (expansion) 2006 87 Total 1,006 Should be another higher year due to Toronto FC joining and the bigger rosters. Around 100 maybe? That's only 8 per team, which seems like a decent rate (see Debuts Per Year, below) Debuts By Team (Total Players Used in parentheses) Chicago 60 (105) Chivas USA 28 (42) Columbus 92 (137) Colorado 96 (142) Dallas 84 (116) DC United 92 (124) Houston 4 (23) Kansas City 75 (108) Los Angeles 89 (116) Miami 22 (70) New England 94 (147) New York 126 (180) Real Salt Lake 21 (46) San Jose 72 (111) Tampa Bay 51 (81) Total 1,006 Yay, another first place ranking New York fans can be embarrassed about. "Home Grown" Percentage (how many players of the team's total used debuted for that team?) Los Angeles 76.7% DC United 74.2% Dallas 72.4% New York 70.0% Kansas City 69.4% Colorado 67.6% Columbus 67.2% Chivas USA 66.7% San Jose 64.9% New England 63.9% Tampa Bay 63.0% Chicago 57.1% Real Salt Lake 45.7% Miami 31.4% Houston 17.4% The expansion teams will obviously rank lower here, except for Chivas which has their own "source" of players. The league's two most successful franchises are at the top. New York is an interesting case because they have brought in so many failures. See their rank in the next category. Debuts Per Year (measures only debuts into the entire league, not team debuts) Chivas USA 14.00 New York 11.45 Real Salt Lake 10.50 Colorado 8.73 New England 8.55 Tampa Bay 8.50 Columbus 8.36 DC United 8.36 Los Angeles 8.09 Dallas 7.64 San Jose 7.20 Kansas City 6.82 Chicago 6.67 Miami 5.50 Houston 4.00