The next round of the MLS expansion timeline has become slightly clearer. Don Garber outlined the league’s plan to expand to 28 teams on Thursday. He also provided a couple if front runners for each of those spots.
Don Garber Outlines MLS Expansion Timeline
The league is expanding to 22 teams next season with MInnesota and Atlanta joining hte fold. Los Angeles FC is coming along in 2018 to make 23 and David Beckham’s Miami project is still expected to be number 24. They want to get to 28 and there is clearly plenty of interest in the league. Garber said so himself..
“There is tremendous interest in professional soccer across the United States and Canada,” commissioner Garber said. “Since announcing plans to expand to 28 clubs late last year, many potential ownership groups have contacted us, and numerous public officials have stated their desire to bring an MLS expansion team to their city. We look forward to reviewing expansion applications in the coming months and conducting formal meetings in 2017 with possible team owners.”
Garber said that teams 25 and 26 would be official by the second or third quarter of 2017 an that the expansion fee for those sides would be $150 million with a total investment of $300 million or more. They will begin play in 2020. The front runners for those sports are likely Sacramento and St. Louis, who both have pretty solid stadium deals already in the works. Nothing is official, however.
The timeline for the final two expansion sides is less clear. All Garber would offer was that there would be two more teams. No word was given on when they would begin play or the size of the check they would need to write in order to secure their spot.
There are ten cities with reported interest in joining the league. Charlotte, Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, Raleigh/Durham, Sacramento, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa/St. Petersburg have all announced plans to make a bid. They will have until the end of January to submit a formal application.
The Criteria
The expansion committee will be made up of five owners. New England’s Jonathan Kraft, Chicago’s Andrew Hauptman, Columbus’s Anthony Precourt, Orlando City’s Phil Rawlins, and Philadelphia’s Jay Sugarman will decide on which cities are let in. They will judge candidates on three main criteria: quality of ownership, a detailed stadium plan, and history of support for the game with an ability to attract sponsors.
As stated earlier, Sacramento and St. Louis are the leaders in the clubhouse for slots 25 and 26. They each have successful USL teams from and attendance and ownership standpoint. They also have stadium deals mostly in place. They are the two markets that are furthest along in the process and will probably be confirmed by the end of next year.
As for slots 27 and 28, things are less clear. Generally speaking, Detroit and Cincinnati are the strongest markets at the moment. Detroit has the billionaire ownership group, but no stadium deal in place yet. Cincinnati has the most successful USL franchise from an attendance standpoint after one season. They also hosted Garber in a town hall recently, which went over quite well.
There are other strong possibilities. San Antonio has also shown strong interest in joining the league. They have the financial backing of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. North Carolina FC and Tampa Bay Rowdies both held expansion related events in recent weeks.
