Funny thing about this digression is that MLS is quite centralized, to an extent unparalleled in American major sports. Teams are all owned by MLS; "team owners" own shares of MLS with a license to operate their team; players sign contracts with MLS, not the team they play for. Revenue is shared and teams are allocated money to spend from that shared revenue by byzantine rules (look up "GAM" or "allocation money" in relation to MLS for more info).

This ownership structure was subject to a significant antitrust case in Federal court: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_v._Major_League_Soccer