25 March 2008
MLS Puts Expansion Offers On Hold
Posted by drew.epperley under: MLS; News and Rumors; expansion talk .
A very interesting quote over on Steve Goff’s blog today from MLS Commissioner Don Garber about expansion in the MLS.
“We are thinking about what should we be doing with teams 17 and 18 and what we do with teams 19 and 20 and what impact that has on our TV contracts, how does it fit with our player pool and our continued discussions with U.S. Soccer on the player limitations. There are so many different things now that are convincing us that we should take a step back and create a strategic plan before we announce 17 and 18. We do have offers for 17 and 18, two different markets, but we put those deals on hold until we have had a better chance to create our plan.”
Interesting to see that the league has offers for the next two sites but have put them on hold. More than likely those two cities are Miami and St. Louis. Its no secret both want to be in the league as soon as possible and that the league wants to be in those cities.
Honestly, as much as I want to see the league expand, it makes sense for them to put things on hold for now. It doesn’t mean that they won’t be expanding and announcing expansion in the next year or so for the 17th and 18th clubs, but it does mean they are carefully looking at things as they should be.
Of course those two markets could not be Miami and St. Louis. They could also be Montreal, Portland, Vancouver, Atlanta and New York City.
Once I get more on those two ‘offers’ I will let you know. I think it is pretty obvious though which cities it is though here.
3 Comments so far...
dan Says:
25 March 2008 at 8:43 pm.
It is fantastic that the MLS has options and, for once, be able to not have to rush in making a decision concerning what city to award a franchise…. with 16 teams in 2010, it does make strategic long-term sense to, take-a-deep-breath, map out the future and then make a decision on what is best for the league.
As the MLS continues to grow, it will only enhance the marketing position of the MLS to command great franchise fees!
Chris Says:
26 March 2008 at 9:58 am.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20080326/CPSPORTS07/803260755/1002/CPSPORTS
I think one of the cities that Garber is talking about is Montreal. The link above, although in french explains that Joey Saputo (owner of Montreal Impact) and George Gillette (Owner of Liverpool and the Montreal Canadians) are willing to become partners to bring MLS to Montreal. Their plan involves expanding the 13 000 seat Saputo Stadium to 20K and splitting the cost of the expansion fee. It also mentions that they submitted this plan to the league.
drew.epperley Says:
26 March 2008 at 11:24 am.
I believe you are correct…from the looks it was Montreal and St. Louis.
