Minneapolis on track to be next MLS team; future expansion to be considered
It looks as though Minneapolis will be getting the next Major League Soccer expansion team.
“During the past several months, we have conducted expansion meetings with representatives from Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Sacramento and visited all three markets. We have also met with representatives from San Antonio and St. Louis. We recently announced that Las Vegas is no longer being considered for this round of expansion,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in a statement.
“We are in advanced discussions with Bill McGuire and his partners in Minnesota to bring a Major League Soccer expansion club to the Twin Cities and are particularly excited about their plans for a new soccer-specific stadium that will serve as the club’s home. We remain on track to announce the next MLS expansion market in the next 30-45 days, though no specific date for an announcement has been set,” Garber said.
Garber went on to say that expansion continues to be a priority for MLS.
” We have all witnessed the resounding success that Orlando City SC and New York City FC have experienced as their expansion clubs debuted to record crowds at the start of the 2015 season,” Garber said. “Over the course of 2015, we plan to evaluate potential expansion beyond 24 clubs.”
MountainStar Sports Group, which owns the Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas, in June 2014 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.
MountainStar created initiatives late last year aimed at fostering grassroots support to bring MLS to the Borderplex region. An official website and Facebook page have been developed and members of the public are encouraged to become a part of the campaign.
The website, www.bringitmls.com, offers background information on why El Paso, Juarez, and the Borderplex make an ideal location for MLS, and it gives viewers the opportunity to connect to the official Facebook page. Supporters will be able to subscribe to news and there is an additional feature allowing fans to indicate what kind of interest they might have in purchasing season tickets. MountainStar Sports Group formally endorses the use of #BRINGITMLS.
