4 Potential Cities involved in the MLSExpansion Puzzle

With the hype for Soccer growing yearafter year in the United States, MajorLeague Soccer is moving towards a 28

team league by 2020.

The original goal of 24 teams by 2020looks to already be achieved with the

additions of New York City andOrlando this past year, and two more

additions coming this next year.

However, the easy part is make thedecision to expand, the hard part is

selecting where to do it. Here are 4 ofthe front runners for the newest MLS

franchise sites.

Indianapolis

Indy Eleven, a member of the NorthAmerican Soccer League has made

significant progress towardsestablishing themselves in the soccer

world.

Last year the club lead the league inattendance with more than 9,000 fansper game and that number is growing.

Currently there is not an MLB team tocompete with in the summer makingthem a prime choice for expansion.

The only area of concern seems to liewithin the renovation plans for

IUPUI’s Carroll Stadium.

If Indy Eleven can verify renovationplans they could be set up for success.

Austin

Currently Austin is the largest city inthe United States without a major

professional sports team.

Many studies have been conductedthat show that Austin can support an

MLS team from a financial aspect, onlyadding to the list of reasons as to why

the MLS should go there.

However, the major soccer team inAustin, the Aztex are more focused ontheir current ventures and have madelittle progress in expansion talks with

the MLS.

St. Louis

St. Louis has been a frontrunner for anMLS team for quite sometime, however

in the past year or so the MLS hastaken been left out of mind as sports

executives in the city are doingeverything they can to assure that the

St. Louis Rams do not move to LosAngeles.

But, recent evidence, mainly a stadiumplan debacle, shows that they are not

winning that battle. On a non-professional level, St. Louis has become

one of the nation’s hotbeds as moreteams seem to be popping up in various

leagues.

So, in the event that the Rams settleinto a stable location be sure to look for

St. Louis in MLS news.

Sacramento

The Sacramento Republic has madethe case for an MLS team fairly easy forthe city in operational terms. The team

averages more than 10,000 fans agame and has investors ready to pull

the trigger for the expansion fees.

At this point in the game, Sacramentois simply waiting for the okay to go

ahead and begin the expansionprocess.

The main obstacle to overcome is thebuilding of a new stadium and thatprocess is already in development

making Sacramento as ready as ever tobecome the next MLS franchise.