Houston Dynamo move to Western Conference for 2015 season

After a four year stint in the Eastern Conference, the Houston Dynamo are heading back to their roots in the West, Major League Soccer announced today.

With Chivas USA ceasing operations and the addition of East Coast sides Orlando City SC and New York City FC, the Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City are moving to the Western Conference to create two 10-team conferences.

The Dynamo's time in the East saw them reach the conference final three times in four years, with two conference championships. The club also produced three conference final appearances and two wins in their original five year run in the West, including both of their MLS Cup victories.

With the realignment, the Dynamo rekindle the Texas Derby against FC Dallas with a multi-game MLS series while keeping the rivalry that developed against Sporting Kansas City in the East.

Houston also gets more regular season shots at perennial playoff foe LA Galaxy, and will get multiple meetings with Dominic Kinnear and the San Jose Earthquakes. The last 10 MLS Cup finalists are now located in the Western Conference.

For the 2015 season, the 20 teams will each play 34 games during the regular season. Clubs will play each team in the opposing conference once for five home and five away matches. Clubs will play each of their nine conference opponents at least twice (one home, one away), plus six additional intra-conference games -- three home and three away.