MLS expansion

St. Louis has an amazing soccer culture.

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STL needs get its stadium situation figured out first

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Isn't that kind of what this post is about?

If its all private that would be awesome

Kavanaugh and Taylor family are heavy hitters, and them putting their name on this bid, will make Gerber very happy.

He's been begging St.Louis city to get it together for expansion, but inner city folk voted the stadium bid down.

But some behind the scene never gave up, just made sure the best people got involved this time, local heavy hitters with cash and influence.

Austin FC-Orlando City FC will be a great derby to determine the douchiest MLS club

Very happy to see St. Louis back in the mix. Seems like a very solid stadium plan with pre-approval from the important gov’t officials and no need for a public vote. MLS desperately wants a team here. They are 100% in IMO, if they finalize that stadium plan.

I think Phoenix will win the other bid, as of this moment. They are also progressing with their stadium plans and seem to have all their ducks in a row. San Diego could sneak in if the public vote passes, but that seems unlikely at this moment. Detroit will definitely get a team eventually, I just don’t think they’ve made enough real progress to win a bid this round.

Sacramento will remain the bridesmaid that probably never gets in, unfortunately. Keep an eye on Charlotte and Las Vegas for future expansion. The Tampa Bay Rowdies are off the table after the Rays owners purchased them last week, as they have no interest in an expansion bid.

Also, it looks increasingly like the Crew will stay in Columbus under new ownership, while Austin gets an expansion franchise instead of the Crew. There is simply no way at this point that MLS plays in Austin for next season, as they aren’t even close to securing a temporary stadium. I think we’ll hear word of a resolution with the Columbus group behind the scenes very soon. I really don’t think MLS wants to take that trial to the Supreme Court and risk being forced to surrender financial documents, and the other big American sports leagues won’t let it get that far. They’ll settle.

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Do additional teams dilute the overall talent in the MLS

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yes

MLS has done a great job with bringing in youth south American talent but the over level of the league still isn't that great. The gap between the top players and the average players is pretty big. Adding more teams to a league that already has depth and quality issues will always dilute the talent pool.

There are only so many players out there. Mix in the fact youth development is still behind, wages are low for the average players still, and MLS is not a destination league.

Now the best way to fix this problem is youth development but the system is so fricked.

But in short MLS is getting way to big. Unless the final goal is MLS I and MLS II which most people would be on board with.

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Not really.

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Yes really

league lacks depth and quality so making it bigger isn't going to improve depth and quality when the talent pool is already limited.

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league lacks depth and quality

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That has way more to do with the salary cap.

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making it bigger isn't going to improve depth and quality when the talent pool is already limited

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It can absolutely improve the quality if the new owner is willing to put up the money. With all the different roster rules, etc., adding teams really doesn't spread out the talent that much.

To use Atlanta as an example, since I'm familiar with them, the only players currently on the team that were with another MLS club are Parkhurt, Larentowicz, Ambrose, Kann, and Kratz (was with Philly but didn't play) from year one, and Nagbe and Zizzo from year two. Larentowicz's club didn't want to keep him. Columbus brought in a foreigner to replace Parkhurst, SKC had a surplus of GKs, no one cared about losing Ambrose, Kratz, and Zizzo, and were likely replaced by young players. Atlanta paid a decent price for Nagbe. I think they took a few more guys in year one, but many of them were released after last season, never to be heard of again. All the while they brought in guys like Garza, Guzan, Almiron, Martinez, LGP, etc. and becoming one of the best teams in the league by using very few guys that were already in the league.

Now, Cincinatti could just sign their entire USL team and call it a day and that would dilute the league, but that would be more on the team itself more than expansion.

STLFC's Anthony pulis is thought to be an up-and-coming big time manager.