WVHooligan - Soccer Blog

Vancouver front-man Jeff Mallett. (Yahoo)

It is starting to sound like that MLS Expansion fee is starting to be a selling point for a few expansion groups, most of which are north of the border. Montreal’s bid was rejected by the league for not wanting to pay the full $40 million fee, now it looks like another Canadian city could face the same thing.

News today out of Canada says Vancouver’s ownership group for a MLS expansion club is reconsidering the fee.

A SportsBusiness Journal report this week said the Vancouver group won’t fully commit to the expansion fee until $350 million (Canadian dollar) is secured for the renovation of BC Place Stadium.

“We know the league is looking for $40 million and we respect that,” Mallett said in an interview. “All our financial modelling has been done around the $40 million.

“When it gets down to the final face-to-face meetings, both sides will look at all things considered and make the appropriate move at that time.”

The expansion fee has been a hot topic lately. Some reports out there say that St. Louis is fine with the fee and that Miami is going to go through with the fee as long as no one else pays anything less.

It still sounds to me that Vancouver is in the race no matter what here. The league won’t lower the fee for these groups and in a way they shouldn’t do so. While I don’t exactly like the whole $40 million fee but I do see it as a solid starting point for the league now days in getting new clubs into the league.

What do you make of the news of Vancouver? You think they are going to drop the bid before long due to the fee or do you think they will be fine?

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