MLS Expansion Thread

Discussion in 'Americas' started by EPJr, May 29, 2010.

  1. EPJr

    EPJr Producer Staff Member Producer

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    Re: MLS Expansion 2013

    A comprehensive breakdown of available cities for the 20th MLS team
    [​IMG]
    MLS has come a long way from the early days,
    and a host of cities would love to join the growing league.
    Goal.com breaks down the available cities


    Earlier this year, Major League commissioner Don Garber spoke about the intentions of adding a 20th franchise to Major League Soccer. Garber mentioned the lack of teams in the Southeast, and that the league only has a handful in the Midwest. While MLS has had a steady and consistent increase in teams over the last five years, having added seven during that time, Garber states the plan is for the league to eventually go beyond 20.

    http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1110...ve-breakdown-of-available-cities-for-the-20th
     
  2. EPJr

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    Re: MLS Expansion 2013

    Sacramento reportedly lines up expansion bid
    California capital Sacramento makes the case for MLS club

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    all the expansion talk about a potential second MLS team in New York City, prepare for plenty of speculation about a fourth in California.

    A report this morning reveals that former California Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, who sits on the US Soccer Federation board, is exploring the possibility of landing an MLS franchise for Sacramento, specifically the suburb of Elk Grove.

    "I wouldn't characterize it as a long shot, but it's an endeavor that's in its infancy," said Sacramento attorney Dick Hyde, who is one of Núñez’s partners and worked on bringing MLS to Sacramento before the league’s launch in 1996. "I think Elk Grove is probably a really good spot for soccer."

    http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/14/4121137/group-exploring-major-league-soccer.html
     
  3. EPJr

    EPJr Producer Staff Member Producer

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    MLS officials wrap up first exploratory visit to Carolinas
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    On the invitation of NASL second-division side Carolina RailHawks, Major League Soccer officials made their first formal exploratory visit on Thursday to the area of the Carolinas known as the Triangle — North Carolina cities Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.

    "It was a great day," RailHawks president Curt Johnson told MLSsoccer.com. "We were able to shine a light on the professional game here in the Triangle and have an open, honest discussion about the future."
    [​IMG]
    That discussion included MLS president Mark Abbott, NASL commissioner David Downs and owner representative Aaron Davidson, business and political leaders, as well as RailHawks season-ticket holders and general soccer fans.

    The day-long series of meetings and events, which included a fan Q&A and a media roundtable, was organized by the local NASL club with the intent of sparking a discussion about the future of the sport in the Carolinas and to outline the steps necessary to grow the game.

    http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...icials-wrap-first-exploratory-visit-carolinas
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2012
  4. EPJr

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    Major League Soccer wants to play on Pier 40
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    The league will present a plan Thursday to a task force of the Hudson River Park Trust, which controls the pier. The pitch comes as the trust struggles to line up new revenues.

    Could those soccer fields on Pier 40 in the Hudson River Park be headed for a professional upgrade in the future?

    Representatives from Major League Soccer on Thursday will make a presentation to a Hudson River Park Trust task force, whose members include community leaders and elected officials, to discuss the possibility of putting a field on the rapidly deteriorating pier, sources familiar with meeting said. A spokesman for the trust declined comment.

    A Major League Soccer spokesman said its president Mark Abbott would address the task force to discuss the benefits of a stadium and what is involved in construction. The league has evaluated about 18 sites in New York City as it works on adding a 20th team. The spokesman said the league is in the early stages of looking for a site, and there is no time table for adding a squad.


    Read more: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20120404/REAL_ESTATE/120409960#ixzz1t6lJH1Fa
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2012
  5. EPJr

    EPJr Producer Staff Member Producer

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    Report:
    MLS close to deal for $300 million Queens stadium


    Major League Soccer is close to securing a $300 million stadium in the Flushing Meadows area of Queens, according to a report by the New York Post.

    The stadium, which would completely financed by the league, is awaiting approval from city and state officials but so far both have been very supportive. If the legislation goes through, it is expected that construction could start in 2013.

    http://sports.yahoo.com/news/report-mls-close-deal-300-142800084--mls.html

    http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/m...stadium-house-mls-franchise-article-1.1136400

    http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1110...-close-to-deal-for-300-million-queens-stadium
     
  6. EPJr

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    St. Louis joins race for an MLS expansion club
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    Lodging Hospitality Management -- a company owned by St. Louis Rams, Colorado Rapids and Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke -- on Thursday closed a $20 million purchase of the historic St. Louis Union Station complex on the southwestern edge of downtown. The group has big plans for the complex and has hired ICON Venue Group to explore how and where to build a 20,000-seat soccer-specific venue a block from the St. Louis Blues’ Scottrade Center and about a mile west of the Cardinals’ Busch Stadium.

    http://aol.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2012-10-11/st-louis-joins-race-for-an-mls-expansion-club

    http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2012/10/union_station_soccer_stadium.php?page=2
     
  7. EPJr

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    New York Cosmos submit proposal for Queens stadium
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    The New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League (NASL) announced on Wednesday that they have submitted a privately funded economic development proposal to the State of New York for a state-of-the-art 25,500-seat soccer-specific stadium in the Belmont Park area of Elmont, N.Y., on the border with Queens.

    The stadium is likely to cost around $400 million and would stand as the center of a proposed entertainment complex that would also include a park and smaller soccer field, while the Cosmos have included a $2.5 million pledge to develop other community soccer fields in the proposal.

    “We plan to develop an iconic project for the region and build a state-of-the-art stadium that will make Nassau County and the entire region proud,” said Seamus O’Brien, chairman and CEO of the Cosmos. “Belmont is an ideal location and a win-win for everyone involved. Nassau County and Elmont will realize much needed economic growth, and local residents will have a year-round premier destination they can call their own.”

    READ: Details of NY Cosmos stadium proposal (http://newcosmosstadium.com/about)
    [​IMG]
    The proposal joins Major League Soccer's proposed 25,000-seat stadium in the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park area of Queens, a site MLS has identified for a potential 20th expansion team, likely to take the form of a second franchise in the New York market.

    http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/01/16/new-york-cosmos-submit-proposal-queens-stadium
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2013
  8. EPJr

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    Has Detroit thrown its hat into the ring for MLS expansion?

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    The owners of the Pontiac Silverdome from paving the way for the potential of a stadium in the city — which could bring an MLS club to the city's downtown.

    Toronto-based Triple Properties Inc. submitted a bid for the Wayne County justice department in hopes of acquiring five justice properties with a vision at developing a 275,000 square foot retail complex and a stadium that could lure a franchise to Detroit. Triple Properties has been eyeing the addition of an MLS franchise to Detroit since the company acquired the Silverdome four years ago.

    The addition of a Detroit City FC would certainly spice things up in the Midwest region of the US, where Sporting Kansas City, Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew reside. There's also the potential for a solid rivalry with Toronto FC, featuring unique commuting possibilities.

    http://www.reddit.com/tb/1j1ld5

    [​IMG]
     
  9. EPJr

    EPJr Producer Staff Member Producer

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    Major League Soccer to expand to 24 teams by 2020 season,
    says Commissioner Don Garber

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    KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Think 20 was the magic number? Think bigger.

    Major League Soccer plans to add another four teams by the 2020 season, Commissioner Don Garber announced at halftime during the broadcast of Wednesday night’s AT&T All-Star Game at Sporting Park.

    The league had previously held to the idea that a 20-team league was the sweet spot for the foreseeable future. MLS has added 10 clubs since the beginning of the 2005 season, and the recent addition of New York City FC – who begin play in 2015 – will bring the league to 20.

    “These expansion clubs have brought new ideas that have contributed to our strategy for growing the league and the addition of new markets has expanded our geographic reach while increasing our fan base,” Garber said in a league press release.

    Wednesday’s news gives immediate hope to several markets looking to break into the league, such as Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Detroit and Sacramento, to name a few – several of whom had representatives presenting to the MLS Board of Governors here on Wednesday afternoon.

    MLS has engaged in exploratory discussions with multiple markets and potential owners regarding future expansion, according to the statement. The league will unveil a process during the coming months that will detail the procedure and timing for future expansion.

    http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...eams-2020-season-says-commissioner-don-garber
     
  10. EPJr

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    Major League Soccer expansion team in Miami appears to be closer to reality.
    [​IMG]


    SI.com reported earlier this week MLS commissioner Don Garber told his MLS staff that three of the four expansion sites after New York City FC have been "spoken for." A league source close to the situation said Friday that the "spoken for" sites are Miami, Orlando and Atlanta. MLS, already poised to field 20 teams in 2015, has said they would like to expand to 24 teams between 2015-20.

    http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/20...0130913_1_mls-team-miami-mls-new-york-city-fc
     
  11. EPJr

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    MLS Expansion Musings:
    Potential Schedule Formats

    [​IMG]


    With season ticket renewals going out around the league, it has been confirmed that the schedule will stay at 34 games for 2014. When NYCFC joins the league the following year the Eastern Conference, which already has one more team than the West, will need to shed some weight. The obvious answer is to send Houston back to the Western Conference, their home before 2011 when the arrival of Portland and Vancouver last necessitated a balancing of the conferences. However, the potential arrival of Orlando in the league as early as 2015, as mooted in this SI article last month, could throw a wrench into that plan.

    Twenty teams is an easy number to split up, but twenty-one, twenty-two, and twenty-three are much more complicated.

    http://www.stumptownfooty.com/2013/9/17/4737772/mls-expansion-musings
     
  12. EPJr

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    Report:
    USL PRO expansion side Sacramento Republic FC already eyeing eventual jump to MLS

    [​IMG]

    Sacramento is hoping to be the next city to jump aboard the MLS expansion train, even though their newest professional team has yet to play one minute.

    A report in The Sacramento Bee on Thursday detailed plans by Sacramento Republic FC president Warren Smith to land a MLS franchise in 2016, saying the club has already kicked off a campaign to convince the league that Sacramento is a first-rate market for top-level professional soccer.

    Sacramento Republic FC will start play in USL PRO in 2014, and as detailed in the report, have yet to sign a player or complete their stadium.

    “I know one thing: If you don’t get up and say you’re going to do it, you’re not,” Smith told the Bee. “The best time to get a team is when a league is growing, and MLS is in a high-growth mode right now.”


    http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...acramento-republic-fc-already-eyeing-eventual
     
  13. EPJr

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    MLS expansion update:
    Miami making progress despite deadline, Minneapolis in play


    It appears that New Year’s Eve will come and go without an MLS expansion announcement from David Beckham, but missing the league’s Dec. 31 “deadline” almost surely won’t have any tangible impact on his push for a Miami stadium deal.

    Securing land and funding for a new facility in time to meet the original terms of Beckham’s $25 million expansion option was always going to be a tall order for the former midfielder, who retired only seven months ago. Beckham has been working with Bolivian telecommunications mogul Marcelo Claure and continues to make progress with local authorities, sources tell SI.com.

    Miami and Atlanta are expected to be the league’s 22nd and 23rd clubs. Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who hopes to field an MLS team in a new retractable-roof stadium scheduled to open in 2017, has been in talks with the league for years. Falcons executive VP and chief marketing officer Jim Smith, formerly the president and GM of the Columbus Crew, attended the MLS Cup final.

    Also in Kansas City for the league title game was a group that might be interested in bringing MLS to Minneapolis — and it wasn’t the Vikings. While Beckham’s Miami entry appears to be a matter of “when” and not “if”, there’s an intriguing contest taking shape in the Twin Cities, where the construction of a new soccer-ready NFL stadium may have lit a fire under the owners of local NASL club Minnesota United.

    http://www.reddit.com/tb/1u2gs9
     
  14. EPJr

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    Is Colorado Rapids, Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke preparing to emulate New York City FC?
    [​IMG]

    It looks like we might have a better idea why Stan Kroenke bought that land in Los Angeles. If the latest stories are to be believed, the Colorado Rapids and Arsenal FC owner has his heart set on starting a new MLS franchise in LA called the LA Gunners, a sister club to London-based Arsenal.

    http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...ner-stan-kroenke-preparing-emulate-new-york-c
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2014
  15. EPJr

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    NASL's San Antonio Scorpions supporters launch online petition to push city toward MLS expansion
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    In San Antonio a group completely independent of the local team or city that's making the most MLS expansion-related noise this week. The supporters of the North American Soccer League's (NASL) San Antonio Scorpions have launched an online petition in an attempt to unify their efforts to bring MLS to town.
    [​IMG]
    "We're giving San Antonio fans the opportunity to come together, in one single voice, and say, 'Yes, we are ready for Major League Soccer," Michael Macias, founder of the Crocketteers, a 1,500-member independent soccer supporters group based in San Antonio, told MLSsoccer.com by phone on Tuesday.

    http://www.mlssoccer.com/sideline/n...supporters-online-petition-push-mls-expansion
     
  16. EPJr

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    San Antonio Scorpions know what it will take to join MLS ranks: "This has to be a community effort"
    [​IMG]


    SAN ANTONIO – A possible preview of future MLS matchups took place Saturday night, as a sellout crowd of 8,000 fans watched FC Dallas play the San Antonio Scorpions to a 1-1 draw in the NASL team's stadium. For a team looking to make the step up, the combination of an interested owner, capable venue and energetic fanbase could be key to making San Antonio's MLS dream a reality.

    http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...-it-will-take-join-mls-ranks-has-be-community
     
  17. EPJr

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    Minneapolis is on the short list for MLS expansion
    [​IMG]

    During today’s 2014 MLS Season Kick Q&A w/ Commissioner Don Garber, the commissioner said Minneapolis is on the short list for MLS expansion (start at 16:40.) He also mentioned by name that there has been a high level of activity with Minnesota United FC.

    In Garber’s words, MN United are a strong, passionate group that are very embedded in the community. They are smart, focused, and great community citizens that really care about their city. They are asking how a MLS team can really enhance the city (similar to what happened in KC).

    http://www.mls4mn.com/minneapolis-short-list-mls-expansion/
     
  18. EPJr

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    Minneapolis is considered a front-runner for a final spot in MLS expansion plans to reach 24 teams by 2020, a league source told Sports Illustrated this week.

    Also, Twins owner Jim Pohlad confirmed this week that his family is interested in investing in a possible MLS franchise with United owner Bill McGuire.

    Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank is expected to pay between $70 million and $100 million to bring an expansion franchise to Atlanta, possibly in 2017, SI.com said.

    "MLS would be smart to pick a city like Minneapolis," said Aaron Pitchkolan, a United defender who played five years in MLS. "I think there is a lot of support here for a team."

    http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_25547363/united-fc-kicks-off-soccer-season-amid-mls
     
  19. EPJr

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    Atlanta expansion signifies changing landscape ahead for Major League Soccer
    [​IMG]

    Expect the board to shift even more, however, when Atlanta and (potentially) Miami join in 2017. The most realistic solution at that point is that Sporting Kansas City will join an already loaded Western Conference, giving the West 11 teams and the East 12.

    Then, barring a surprise expansion move to the North Carolina region, whichever team comes on board as No. 24 (multiple outlets have listed Minnesota and San Antonio as frontrunners, with Sacramento also in the mix and St. Louis as a darkhorse) slides nicely into the Western Conference.

    Therefore, the 2017 landscape might look like this:

    Eastern Conference (12): Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, D.C., Miami, Montreal, New England, New York City, New York Red Bulls, Orlando City, Philadelphia, Toronto.

    Western Conference (11): Colorado, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, LA Galaxy, unnamed Los Angeles franchise, Portland, Real Salt Lake, Seattle, San Jose, Vancouver.

    http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...-changing-landscape-ahead-major-league-soccer
     
  20. EPJr

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    Las Vegas could get pro soccer team, downtown stadium
    [​IMG]

    Findlay Sports and Entertainment and The Cordish Companies today announced plans to build a 24,000-seat stadium downtown at Symphony Park. The stadium would be designed specifically for a pro soccer team.

    Cordish has been in a development contract with Las Vegas since 2008 to build a stadium at the 61-acre site and negotiate with professional leagues for a team to play there. The park already includes the Lou Ruvo Brain Institute and the Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

    The agreement between Cordish and Las Vegas expires May 31. During the May 21 City Council meeting, the Cordish and Findlay groups plan to ask for an extension and request a change to the proposal to include both organizations.

    http://lasvegassun.com/news/2014/may/14/las-vegas-could-get-mls-team-soccer-specific-stadi/
     

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