Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Sacramento representatives meet with Major League Soccer officials about expansion
Three potential Major League Soccer expansion markets presented their cases to league officials in New York City on Nov. 21.
MLS is looking to expand to 24 teams by 2020.
Representatives from Las Vegas, Sacramento and Minneapolis met with league officials on Nov. 21 and future expansion will be discussed further at the MLS Board of Governors meeting, set for Dec. 6, according to MLS’ official website.
“We had productive expansion meetings today with representatives from Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Sacramento,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in a statement. “We were impressed with the presentations made by each group. Following our MLS Board of Governors meeting on December 6, we will provide an update on the expansion process and timeline.”
New York City FC and Orlando City will debut in 2015, while new clubs in Los Angeles and Atlanta will launch in 2017.
MountainStar Sports Group, which owns the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas, in June announced it had preliminary meetings with MLS about expanding to El Paso.
On Nov. 5, Alan Ledford, president of MountainStar Sports Group, was a guest on an online radio show hosted by the “Sports Professor, Rick Horrow.”
Horrow said that choosing El Paso for MLS wouldn’t just be choosing a city in the Southwest but really a region because of the proximity to Mexico.
Horrow said choosing El Paso would be “found money” for MLS.
Ledford told Horrow that El Paso has four things going for it that the ownership group thinks would make the city ideal for an MLS expansion team:
A very unique geographic region. Fantastic ownership group with a mindset to do great things. Developing a Downtown venue which is important to MLS. Underlying level of community support and passion for the sport.
“It’s a classic public private partnership,” Ledford told Horrow of what is needed to get an MLS team. “It’s critical to not only have a motivated ownership group who will be required to put up a significant investment, in terms of acquiring and financing a team, but a community and municipality a city and a county that are prepared to help make the stadium possible.”
Listen to the full Ledford interview with Horrow athttp://bit.ly/1p1A5aW.
With the addition of the new Los Angeles club, MLS will become a 22-team league in 2017 as a new expansion team in Atlanta will also begin play that year.
Two more expansion teams will be added by 2020.
The race to get an MLS expansion team has been heating up the last few months:
MountainStar Sports Group, which owns the Triple-A baseball team El Paso Chihuahuas, announced in mid-June that they have had “preliminary and positive discussions” with MLS about El Paso getting an expansion team. MountainStar launched its website bringitmls.com in early October to garner support in the “Borderplex” for an MLS team.
The San Antonio Scorpions revealedplanson Sept. 3 to expand their existing stadium from an 8,000-seat facility to an 18,000-seat facility in an effort to get an MLS expansion team.
Some owners of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings and a UFC fighter are part of the group trying to get an expansion team in Sacramento.Sacramento Republic FC selected a stadium sitein mid-September and revealed more investorsrecently. Las Vegas has two different potentialownership groupstrying to lure MLS to Las Vegas. Charlotte jumped in the scrum for an MLS team in mid-September with its USL PRO club changing hands.
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Major League Soccer player, El Paso native Omar Salgado thinks MLS would be successful in El PasoJune 20, 2014 Chihuahuas ownership group pursuing Major League Soccer franchiseJune 16, 2014 MLS commissioner: Stadium in Downtown preferred for all future MLS expansion franchisesJune 17, 2014 Major League Soccer facts: How much teams are worth, attendance figures, and moreJune 16, 2014
