in 1988, in exchange for fifa awarding the right to host the 1994 world cup, u.s. soccer promised to establish a division 1 professional soccer league. in 1993, the ussf selected major league professional soccer (the precursor to mls) as the exclusive division 1 professional soccer league. major league soccer was officially formed in february 1995 as a limited liability company. mls had originally planned to begin play in 1995 with 12 teams. however, mls announced in november 1994 that it would delay its launch until 1996 and began with ten teams: columbus crew, d.c. united, new england revolution, ny/nj metrostars, tampa bay mutiny, colorado rapids, dallas burn, kansas city wiz, los angeles galaxy, and san jose clash. the league had generated some buzz by managing to lure some marquee players from the 1994 world cup to play in mls—including u.s. stars such as alexi lalas, tony meola and eric wynalda, and foreign players such as mexico's jorge campos and colombia's carlos valderrama. before its maiden season and inaugural draft, mls allocated four marquee players across the initial ten teams.