It seems like; with every new start of a Major League Soccer season, the word expansion gets brought up again. Either it is because there is an expansion team launching, like in the case of St. Louis City this season. Or, it is because the league still has its sights set on a magical number of teams they’d like to get to.
We’re here to discuss the ladder of those two today.
Yeah, never say never indeed on the beyond 30.
Okay, so let’s tackle that first item, team number 30. The original magical number for MLS in terms of number of teams.
Right now, two clear front runners for team number 30 are on the west coast. San Diego and Las Vegas. That part makes sense due to Nashville SC moving back to the Eastern Conference this year (hopefully for the last time), making that conference have 15 teams to the Western Conference’s 14.
I think San Diego and Las Vegas are the most likely opportunities for 30 But we don’t have a team in Phoenix, we don’t have a team in Sacramento, we don’t have a team in Detroit; all big markets in our country. You know, you never know. Tampa is another big city. Soccer is exploding professionally everywhere on the on the professional side and the men’s and women’s side.”1
I think five years ago, Vegas would have been a perfect fit for MLS. At the time, there was only an NHL team in the market. But since the days of COVID, Vegas has turned into a big-time sports market with an NFL team and potentially an MLB team moving there too2.
If Vegas can nail down an owner and a stadium situation that doesn’t see them playing in a temporary venue for more than a year, then this market makes total sense for MLS to move to. A strike while the iron is still hot kind of move.
San Diego, on the other hand, appears to be emerging as a nice alternative. It would add a fourth MLS team to California, something they were willing to do with Sacramento before that expansion bid fell on its face in 2021.
San Diego already has a viable stadium option with Snapdragon Stadium, the home of the NWSL’s Wave. And given how successful the women’s side was in their inaugural year, fans will likely turn out for an MLS team too. For this market to work, though, they still need a viable ownership group to make it all happen.
Beyond 30
If I still had access to my old WVHooligan site, I would probably have at least a half dozen posts that discuss how many times I thought the league would go to 32 at some point. I’ve never stopped believing that idea. While 30 is a good number, 32 always seemed like the number MLS wanted to be at. After all, it is what the NFL is at. For those who don’t know or don’t remember, Don Garber came from the NFL, and a good chunk of the MLS owners are also NFL owners. So it has always made sense.
But where at this point would the league go? Garber did mention Phoenix, Tampa and Detroit as options. All three are doing well as USL-Championship division spots.
Detroit came very close to joining MLS back in 2016. The hurdle that got in the way was the ownership group’s bid to use Ford Field3 as the club’s stadium instead of building its own facility.
Both Phoenix and Tampa were part of the big group of bidders for expansion in 2016 too. Neither seemed to emerge as viable candidates then, but both have really taken off in the USL since then.
And we know how MLS loves to poach from the USL (see Orlando, Nashville, Cincinnati, etc.).
Here are two more to keep an eye on, though. Louisville has also wanted to move up into MLS4, and they already have a good start with their soccer-only stadium already built. Indianapolis is getting ready to build its own soccer-only stadium5 in the coming years as a part of a huge redevelopment in its downtown core.
https://theathletic.com/4241661/2023/02/22/mls-expansion-cities-garber/
https://apnews.com/article/mlb-sports-oakland-athletics-rob-manfred-312e5be116c4b0a027647e21168cbc90
https://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20180529/news/662121/detroit-bid-in-limbo-after-mls-awards-latest-expansion-club-to
https://www.state-journal.com/sponsored/kentucky-may-have-its-own-mls-team-in-the-coming-years/article_17645d00-f29b-11ec-9ea4-6f4c1810e6a3.html
https://www.ibj.com/articles/indy-eleven-owner-remains-interested-in-mls-as-part-of-stadium-project