MLS expansion: St. Louis, San Antonio join race with Minneapolis, Sacramento, Las Vegas

The great race for MLS expansion franchises continues in North America, as Commissioner Don Garber gave an update as to where the next round of Major League Soccer teams could be heading.

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Speaking at a break during the 2015 MLS SuperDraft in Philadelphia on Thursday, Garber was hugely complimentary of Minneapolis and revealed that positive talks are ongoing with two interested groups up in Minnesota, plus stadium plans in Boston are progressing, while he believes New York City FC are pushing ahead with finding a spot for their own home in NYC.

With the league’s expansion committee already hosting talks with Minneapolis, Sacramento and Las Vegas back in December, Garber revealed two other cities will be visited in the coming months as MLS continues its rapid expansion.

“I’m going to be out in St. Louis in the next couple of weeks,” Garber said. “St. Louis has got a lot of activity going on with a stadium that they’re trying to get done for the [NFL] Rams. There’s a big soccer community out there and we’d love to see a soccer stadium downtown like they’re thinking about a football stadium... San Antonio has been very active. There’s a lot of stuff going on. There’s a lot of interest in expansion.”

So, with a new riverfront stadium proposed in St. Louis and Stan Kroenke looking to move the Rams to Los Angeles, plus the rich soccer heritage in the area, STL is a soccer hotbed full of untapped potential. Plus, it would help to link the Midwest together with a natural midway point between Kansas City and Chicago.

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As for San Antonio, their progress has been incredible in recent years with the NASL’s San Antonio Scorpions regularly getting over 7,000 fans at their Toyota Field home and plans in place to easily expand the venue. The U.S. national team will play Mexico in a friendly in San Antonio on April 15, so expect to see plenty of MLS officials assessing the viability of the Texas city being home to a future franchise.

So, where should MLS expand to next: Sacramento, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, San Antonio or St. Louis?

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