LOS ANGELES, Nov 9, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Charlotte, North Carolina, is the
frontrunner to get Major League Soccer’s 30th franchise, MLS commissioner Don
Garber said Friday.
Garber, delivering his annual state of the league address in Seattle two
days before the Sounders face Toronto FC in the MLS Cup final, said Phoenix
and Las Vegas are also still in the running, with an announcement likely in
the next few months.
“Charlotte has done a lot of work to really move their bid to the front of
the line,” Garber said, praising the efforts of David Tepper, owner of the
NFL’s Carolina Panthers, in the bid.
Tepper has been pushing for an MLS expansion franchise since the league
announced in April that it would expand to 30 teams.
St. Louis, Missouri, and Sacramento, California were selected this year as
the 28th and 29th teams. Both paid expansion fees of $200 million.
Twenty-four teams played in MLS this season, including first-year club FC
Cincinnati.
David Beckham’s Inter Miami and a new team in Nashville, Tennessee, are set
to debut in 2020 with a club in Austin, Texas, scheduled to open in 2021.
St. Louis and Sacramento are slated to kick off in 2022.
MLS launched in 1996 with 10 US teams and now features three Canadian sides
as well as clubs in most major US markets.