We’ve heard this before but it appears Montreal may be closer than ever to securing a Major League Soccer expansion bid. Montreal Impact owner Joey Saputo tells the Montreal Gazette he hopes to have a deal announced with the league.

He can gaze out at one end of the stadium adjacent to the Olympic park where new stands will be added as part of a planned expansion to 21,000 seats.

At the other end, Saputo can point to the spot where corporate suites will be erected once the Impact secures a new Major League Soccer franchise.

It’s all part of his master plan to build a successful sports business and put Montreal on the soccer map. Saputo hopes that within a few weeks a deal will be announced that will award the Impact an MLS franchise for 2012, at a cost of around $35 million U.S.

Once the franchise is obtained, he expects to go ahead with a $25-million plan to both expand the stadium and build an indoor practice facility, a project to be financed entirely by the Quebec government.

Saputo also talks about increasing his sponsorship dollars once his club enters the league. Currently they are doing pretty well but getting into MLS will only increase their numbers he says.

Even during a possible strike by the league Montreal could still get an expansion bid is pretty interesting to hear. We’ve heard for months how close they are but it wouldn’t shock me at all to hear around the start of the season that they are going to expand to Montreal in 2012.

No doubt in my mind that Montreal is still a great market to tap into for the league. Sure three Canadian cities in the league may ruffle a few feathers in some folks but to me its a wise move by the league to go this direction. It only improves the game in the US and in Canada, something I believe we are all the better for here.

I’ve thought long and hard on Orlando’s chances as a MLS city before. But something this past weekend gave me a reason to think about it a little more. I think the Pro Soccer Classic at Disney World was a hit for both the city and for the MLS teams involved.

Now of course it was preseason action which means it counts for nearly nothing but in the long run this tournament, which should become an annual destination for preseason play could ultimately help the southeastern part of the country get soccer back for good in MLS.

I still believe we are years away from seeing MLS-level soccer in Florida or in the south. Let me just say that from the start here. As much as some would love to see Miami, or even Tampa Bay (man I miss those days)…or even Atlanta or somewhere in North Carolina, the one city that we tend to forget is Orlando. Continue Reading…

Merritt Paulson signs the official expansion letter with MLS. (photo via Portland Timbers)

The final hurdle to bring Major League Soccer to Portland was cleared on today when the Portland City Council voted 4-1 to approve $31 million in funding to renovate PGE Park. The vote means the Portland Timbers expansion team can begin play in 2011 as planned.

As we all know Portland and Vancouver will join the league next year to put MLS at 18 clubs. Portland had a long history of issues with getting the proper money to renovate PGE Park but with that all now out of the way the club can focus on getting everything in line for next season.

Great news for the Rose City.

We’ve known for several weeks months that the next round of expansion in Major League Soccer would start with Montreal. The league has taken another step closer to getting to that point today as MLS commissioner Don Garber has traveled to Montreal to meet with Joey Saputo and some local government officials.

“We continued our discussions with the Saputo family about a future MLS expansion team in Montreal and had very productive meetings with Minister Bachand about securing funding for the expansion of Saputo Stadium,” Garber said following his morning meetings. “We’ve stated many times that Montreal would be a great market for MLS and we look forward to continuing our discussions.”

“We are very happy with the visit of the MLS executives in Montreal,” declared Impact President Joey Saputo. “The meetings this morning with Minister Bachand and Mayor Tremblay were very positive. It’s clear for us, and now more than ever, that the arrival of MLS in Montreal is only a question of time. We are hoping to have news in the first quarter of 2010.”

We all know it comes down to the stadium for Montreal and getting it expanded just enough to be MLS ready. In all honesty I would argue its MLS ready right now even at 13,034 seats. I mean a full Saputo Stadium will look better than a nearly empty Pizza Hut Park. I’m only half serious on that comment.

Expanding the stadium is a big deal though and I don’t mean to poke fun at any of it here. Its really a dealbreaker for MLS. But what I kind of find interesting is that why is Garber taking time away from dealing with the CBA to go visit Montreal here? That part seems weird to me.

Forgive me for the slow day, I’ve honestly just needed a little time away from the keyboard to focus on other things today. Blame the holidays if you will but sometimes a guy just needs a day off. Anyways, I did find one thing tonight that caught my eye and as you all know I love a good MLS expansion topic.

Portfolio has done a very interesting study of the top American markets available for expansion in sports, and those that are over saturated. (And here is the full article it comes from.) Click on the MLS logo for the MLS cities.

Pretty interesting huh? Continue Reading…

David Beckham will be a club owner in the near future. (Getty Images)

While we don’t know where the location of the 20th Major League Soccer club will eventually be we do have a pretty good idea of who the owner of the club will be. It’s been reported nearly everywhere that David Beckham has an option in his mega-MLS contract that stipulates he can own a club once he is done playing in the league.

So in 2012 when his contract is up he will likely stay in the league as an owner.

“We’ve got options of which team [to buy],” said MLS commissioner Don Garber, declining to name them or potential cities. “It will happen eventually, yeah.”

Beckham’s option starts with the 20th MLS club according to Garber but that won’t come until at least 2012. With Montreal set to be number 19 you have ti figure the list of potential cities for a Beckham owned team is pretty short. I don’t see Beckham taking over an existing club at the moment and relocating it. Expansion seems to be the way the league wants this deal to work out so more than likely the city has to be big. More than likely it will have to be a New York if it is an expansion team.

From what a few folks are saying this morning like Steve Goff, some former expansion sites like St. Louis and Miami are out of the question right now. Goff said there just isn’t the right money involved in those areas to be considered a strong candidate at the moment.

I know the league does need to be in the Southeast at some point but I just think a Beckham-owned team is better suited for New York here.

The owners were in town last night for the MLS Cup and now it seems like Joey Saputo and Montreal could be headed to MLS for real in a couple years. According to reports this morning the league is still in serious discussions with Montreal to be the 19th club in the league.

MLS commissioner Don Garber said the only thing really standing in the way of expansion there is the stadium expansion. Currently Saputo Stadium is only a 14,000 seat stadium and would need to add probably at least 6,000 seats to be MLS ready.

Garber says the league is working with the government of Quebec to find a funding plan for the needed remodeling to Saputo Stadium.

Should everything go to plan the league will probably add Montreal as their 19th club in 2012. No word yet on who the 20th club will be in the league. We do know that David Beckham is seriously considering owning a club in 2012 when his contract with the league is out. It is an option in his contract and I’m fairly certain it will be one he goes for here.