The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey which competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league since its inception. The team was a founding member of MLS (1996), but has gone through several name changes. The team was originally known as the New York/New Jersey MetroStars through 1997. From the 1998 season through the 2005 season, the team was known as simply the MetroStars. On March 9, 2006, the team was sold to Red Bull GmbH, leading to the team's current name.