MLS has altered its format for the MLS expansion draft and is also planning changes for the location of its player combine and SuperDraft.

MLS has a pair of expansion teams in Atlanta United FC and Minnesota United FC for next season, and after considering dropping the expansion draft the league has decided to go ahead with a modified format.

Each new team will select five players in the expansion draft, down from 10 in the draft two years ago. Each existing team will lose no more than one unprotected player. The expansion draft will take place on Dec. 13, 2016, three days after the MLS Cup final. A couple of MLS general managers criticized the league for taking this long to notify them of the rules, noting that it hurts their planning, but they should also be happy considering fewer teams will be losing players under the new format.

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MLS is also close to confirming that the next MLS Player Combine will move from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where it has taken place in recent years, to the Los Angeles area in the days before the MLS SuperDraft takes place in L.A. on January 13.

The annual NSCAA convention, during which the draft has regularly been held, will also take place in L.A. that same week in January.

Here are a couple of more insider notes from around the soccer world: