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MLS announces Thursday expansion meetings with Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Sacramento

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By RYAN TOLMICH

Major League Soccer’s quest for expansion is set to continue with a meeting Thursday.

The league announced on Wednesday that representatives from Las Vegas, Minneapolis, and Sacramento are set to make presentations to league representatives in a Thursday meeting at the league’s headquarters.

According to the league, future expansion plans will then be discussed at the Dec. 6 MLS Board of Governors meeting.

MLS has long held a goal of closing out the decade with a 24-team league, with 20 of those teams set to feature in 2015 with the introduction of New York City FC and Orlando City. In addition, the recently announced Los Angeles FC and a yet-to-be-named Atlanta franchise are set to join the league in 2017. A possible expansion club in Miami is still on the table as well if David Beckham’s ownership group can secure a downtown stadium location for his team.

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What do you think of the announcement? Which of the three markets do you think would be good for the league? Where do you expect the league to expand in the coming years?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Indy Eleven ownership has stated repeatedly that they are not interested in MLS, but instead will be pursuing the same strategy as Cosmos and Strikers ownership: grow the NASL. So you guys can stop mentioning them now.

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  2. Vegas, Sacramento, San Antonio, Miami,Minneapolis,Indianapolis,Phoenix,San Diego, Charlotte. There will be 28 to 30 teams one day. And there are several reasons.. Growth of popularity ( soccer is the number 1 attended sport in the 18 to ? Demographic. Sorry can’t remember the range) Geographic balance for travel and scheduling and finally TV contracts. These three factors will force MLS to expand in the future. My English step dad was right when he told me years ago that once America embraced the sport it would take off and some day be on top in the US. With the life threatening danger of NFL Football we will see less kids playing that sport and gravitating to the worlds game. I would say by 2035 we have 28 to 30 team top tier league just as Sir Alex Ferguson mentioned a few years ago. His suggestion was a three conference league of ten teams each. West Central and East. I can see that happening easily now. And it brings the Midwest into play. Indianapolis sold out every home game at 10k plus. Minneapolis will be there too I predict. Houston Dallas Chicago KC Columbus Indy San Antonio and Minneapolis plus two others , possibly Cincinnati and Tulsa or Oklahoma City would make ten central teams. With soccer growing like it is I can see 30 teams in the next 15 to 20 years.

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    • 27 or 30 teams seems like the ideal amount.

      I prefer 27 teams

      3 divisions of 9
      play in your division twice (16 games)
      and outside your division once (18 games)
      a total of 34 games + playoffs is the perfect amount.

      I for one want MLS to stay a March to November sport with the MLS Cup final happening Thanksgiving Weekend (Ideally on Thanksgiving, while the family is gathered)

      12 team playoff
      Division winners and best 2nd place team get byes.
      next 8 play single elimination to play teams with byes.

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  3. I am The Don!

    Align, my children, ALIGN WITH MY VISION!

    We shall expand like McDonald’s and fill the whole universe!

    So it written, so it shall be. Amen.

    (No disagreeing please, or I’ll lose it.)

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  4. I’d like to see a third team in New York and a second team in Chicago and Toronto. Maybe once they start working their way up to 28 or 30 teams.

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  5. It’s kind of odd nobody has mentioned for MLS to expand to 26 teams, then 28 and maybe hitting the magic number 30 by 2030 or something.
    MLS can easily expand to 26 teams by 2020 but they might be hiding something from the fans. For example, what if MLS doesn’t trust red bull owners and would like to sell them, same thing with Colorado rapids, fc Dallas and dynamo.
    Back to expansion cities, after 22 teams, there is:
    Minneapolis with 2 ownership groups, why not combine both.
    Vegas and Miami are a must for MLS in terms of global attention.
    Sacramento, supposedly another Portland but what about Austin tx or Raleigh.

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  6. Garber’s plan seems to be to keep expanding until there are enough teams that you can play a full season playing every other teams just once.

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    • +1 – If that’s the case, teams will travel on the road for 6-8 weeks by Amtrak or Greyhound to save money. This would make switching to a July to May season with a winter break as johnnyrazor mentioned easier. It would be like baseball in the early 20th century!

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  7. fake league, stupid expansion, nobody is watching this garbage anyway. Looking forward to more of our #usmnt getting destroyed for as long as MLS keeps running an inferior product.

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  8. Hoping Minnesota nabs the last spot (the Twins ownership group, not the Vikings). Then hoping the league focusses internally and properly rebrands LA2 and gets stadiums built for DC, New England and NYCFC.

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  9. I would love Sacramento to join as the 22nd team and give all the time needed to Los Angeles2.
    Los Angeles2 needs to be perfect and very organized so they won’t fail and become another chivas USA.
    Their name has to be fancy, their colors, their 3dps and the stadium location must be perfect as well.
    But we are forgetting a fact,MLS needs Minneapolis and Vegas,don’t know about Sacramento.
    What if 5 more type of Sacramento markets pop up in the next 6 to 7 years and then what does MLS do. MLS needs to be smart and tell Sacramento, it’s now or never and be ready to open your wallet and compete, not San Jose or Columbus.

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    • No one needs Vegas with its inherent issues, gambling, heat.

      Minnesota doesn’t scream, I need a team.

      Sacramento only beckons for a team if they can maintain.

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      • Sacramento beckons because of a stadium that will be a downtown centerpiece and a really strong ownership group.

        Sacramento is an emerging city. If MLS excepts them now, they will forever heart soccer and own it. If MLS strings them along it will forever be a sloping missed opportunity. They are like the chick that was never hot but is growing into herself. If you’re early to ask her out, you’ve got her heart..

  10. Sad that San Antonio didn’t make the final three, but I’d be more than happy to hit up a couple of FCD road games if LV gets the nod.

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  11. I like Minnesota as a team, it has a strong lower level tradition, but I am for more warmer weather teams so that the season can start earlier. If we can get to at least 1/2 the teams being able to host in Feb. MLS could switch to the international calendar.

    Start season in late July, with northern teams getting more home dates. Take a break in December and Jan. Then restart in Feb. in Southern cities and by March everyone can host again like they do now. End the season at the end of May when there are no international fixtures that cause playoff breaks.

    Warm weather Teams: Miami, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Galaxy, LA2, Sacremento, San Jose, Orlando, FC Dallas, Houston, Vancouver (dome), Seattle (fans are crazy and avg. temp high in Feb. is 51). You could also play in Denver and DC in late Feb. but be ready to reschedule if need be.

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    • +1
      Add to the list of teams that could play in February Montreal, Toronto, and Minnesota as they all have potential access to a domed stadium, even if it is not their primary stadium. Dallas could also host games in February.
      Six week winter break (late December through first week Feb) with possibility of friendly tournaments in our warm weather states including the participation of European teams on winter break.
      I want to see MLS playoffs in May instead of November. Much less competition for TV ratings and attention. There are some compelling stories this year and they are buried under American football. MLS final could even extend into first week of June in a year like 2015. UEFA Champions League final is June 6, 2015.

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      • I didn’t think about the Vikings new stadium hosting in Feb. If they could work out that deal I would put them above Las Vegas. Indy and San Antonio as potential later franchises could also host Feb. games.

        I think a league cup in Jan. would also be an interesting idea. Rotate it with Florida, Texas, and Cali hosting, not sure you could draw enough Canadian interest to host it in the 3 domes in Jan.

      • I don’t know why people would want a winter schedule. Have you seen the weather? If there is “much less competition for TV ratings and attention”, wouldn’t you want ALL of MLS to get that attention rather than one/two team(s) alone? A Championship game in the winter will sell out. A season worth of matches will not.

  12. Chivas Usa are gone and sold and will rebrand by 2017 or before.
    Sacramento wants to join MLS, just like minneapolis, vegas and miami.
    It all depends when n where Garber wants to stop expanding. Hopefully Garber stops at 28.

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    • The funny thing is when my city first got a team it was a 12 team league and 20 was big talk.

      I think we are busy unlearning the NASL lessons. More and more teams where it’s like, them? Really?

      I would prefer that MLS wait a couple years to make sure where Sacramento and Indianapolis level out.

      I would like to see how Atlanta turns out for a few years before considering Vegas or Minneapolis.

      I am surprised that San Antonio, with an expandable stadium built, decent fanbase, and what Cosmos fans would tell you is the Most Important Trophy In The World, falls behind these schlubs.

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      • Re San Antonio – It must be about the ownership group. And/or possibly giving a longer term thought to adding Austin. You probably can’t do both, so wait to see which of those two should be team 30.

        Conversely, this is why Sacramento is really in the conversation. They have a very strong owner group and are poised to center a very large Downtown project around a stadium. If you get a downtown stadium built, that’s really something no one can ever take away.

  13. So at this moment we are 22 teams right, LA2 & atlanta are 21,22.
    How about give LA2 more time and then you have 3 open spots.
    Those 3 spot should go to sacramento,minneapolis and vegas, making the conferences even with 12 each. As for Miami, we all know their in as soon as beckham gets his stadium land and might as well make them the 25th team, along with LA2.
    In reality a soccer stadium takes around 2 years or less to be done, sacramento and vegas are serious in the west, in the east miami just needs land and minneapolis has 2 different ownership groups but both are also serious. So that leaves LA2 as the last team getting a stadium in busy and expensive LA.

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    • Dumb question but are Chivas and LA2 different? If so, why is LA getting a third team? If they are the same, why are we counting them in the expansion number? Sorry, just don’t understand.

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      • Not sure what he means by 3 Team one city, unless he is suggesting NY gets another (like Cosmos).

        Chivas has now become LA2, they count as expansion sort of because all the players will be sent to new teams and they will redraft before 2017.

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