re: MLS Expansion Thread: Teams 25-28 Up for Grabs (12 applicants)

I made the following post in the San Diego thread but it seems relevant to your thread as well so I will post it again here:

quote:

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Mike Stone, the leader of a prospective MLS ownership group, hand-delivered San Diego's expansion application bid to MLS Commissioner Don Garber in an event held on Monday afternoon on the deck of the USS Midway in San Diego. The city's mayor, Kevin Faulconer, and MLS legend Landon Donovan also attended the event.

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Barring a wrench in the plans, such as student pressure that forces San Diego State to withdraw from the planned partnership, I feel that this strong bid by San Diego will secure one of the slots in MLS. It is clear that Garber likes the idea of a club there, they have the full support of the mayor and local government, and they are not asking for public finances. Moreover, San Diego State needs a stadium to play football in other than the old, cavernous Qualcomm Stadium that the city wants to demo in order not to pay millions in maintenance. Consider the economic mixed use development plans and a new large park on the site by a river and just about all boxes are checked.

Regarding Saint Louis, it appears that the city government threw the ownership group a lifeline by approving $60M in public finances toward the planned stadium. So the ship has been rocked but it seems that the path to MLS has been steadied, at least for the immediate future.

If Sacramento is #25, St. Louis is #26, and San Diego is #27, then that leaves Cincinnati, San Antonio, Detroit, Nashville, and Tampa to battle it out for the very last spot. I have a soft place for Cincinnati, all apologies to the supporters of Nashville. I think those tremendous supporters of Cincinnati deserve it and I hope the ownership group develops a solid plan for them.