Top Stories

St. Louis, Sacramento lead MLS expansion race

Photo by Geoff Burke/USA Today Sports
Photo by Geoff Burke/USA Today Sports

After recently saying Sacramento leads the field for MLS expansion markets, Commissioner Don Garber revealed the list of cities that followed.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Garber said Sacramento and St. Louis were the “front-runners” for MLS expansion, while Detroit, San Diego, San Antonio, Austin and Cincinnati follow suit in that order.

On Sunday, Garber said he expects a formal announcement of Sacramento’s expansion within the next year. The league commissioner also said he would like to see MLS grow to 28 teams.

MLS currently has 20 teams, and four are expected to join in the coming years. Atlanta United FC is scheduled to join in 2017, Minnesota United FC could reportedly also join in 2017, Los Angeles FC is set for a 2018 entrance and a David Beckham-backed team could also begin play in 2018.

What do you think of Garber’s nominees? Which city should MLS expand to next?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. MLS is a pyramid scheme!!! Money always coming in every couple of years via expansion fees yet they state the league is broke. Tired of the expansion talk bring a better level of play it is long over due

    Reply
  2. I’d really like to see Nashville get in the game. It would help build the southern footprint in the league. I’m sure Atlanta and Orlando would not complain (Travel, closer rivalries) and I also think people forget how far away those teams are from all of the others.

    Nashville has had pretty good crowds for friendlies and from what I have seen on my trips there, pretty good fan base with their existing teams. I am not sure how well Nashville FC has done in their few years of existence but I do believe they are in the process of renovating a stadium. That’s my two cents on expansion.

    Reply
  3. Saint Louis!
    And where did Cincy come from? Both are about four hours from me so hooray!

    I had really thought that Kronke was going to step in and make a team in St Louis but I don’t think he’s allowed back in that city nowadays…

    Reply
  4. I really don’t understand Detroit. No current USL or NASL team and I don’t even think they were in the original NASL.

    Reply
      • Sorry that was before my time, didn’t realize they had a team for 3 out of the leagues 16 seasons. Even with that, crumbling infrastructure, dwindling economy, and shrinking population doesn’t seem to make sense next to the other contenders.

      • I could see it if the other professional teams in the city were moving out, but they all seem pretty entrenched in Detroit.

    • It’s pretty simple, Detroit is easily the largest population center and TV market remaining of potential expansion cities. The city itself is going through a development boom regardless of the misinformed stereotypes. An MLS team would be a slam dunk if they were able to attract even a decent owner.

      Reply
      • Detroit was 18th in US population at the last census and declining by about 4.5% over the last five years. Charlotte, Austin, Indianapolis, San Antonio, San Diego, and Phoenix all have larger populations and no teams. It does still have a larger tv market than some of these others as they are closer to other markets than Detroit, but if you are losing population and everyone else is growing how long does that last. I understand that Detroit has done somethings to improve over the last few years, but it just doesn’t rate compared to these growing cities.

      • If you look at the population of metro Detroit, and not just the city itself, it is much larger than all of those cities. To just look at the population of Detroit proper is a little silly if you’ve ever been to the D. Exception you listed may be Phoenix/Scottsdale/etc which is also huge and might be just as big. I bet if we google metro Detroit population and metro San Antonio population we will get our answer.

Leave a Comment