MLS announces plans to expand to 30 teams
Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber speaks during an event to announce the addition of FC Cincinnati as an MLS expansion team, Tuesday, May 29, 2018, at Rhinegeist Brewery in Cincinnati.Major League Soccer added Cincinnati in its latest round of expansion Tuesday, rewarding a city that has set attendance records during three seasons of United Soccer League play and has a stadium deal in place.
¶ The announcement on Tuesday brings MLS to 26 teams, two shy of its ultimate goal. It began as a 10-team league in 1996.
¶ Cincinnati will join next year, continuing to play at the University of Cincinnati's football stadium while a 21,000-seat soccer stadium is built in the city's low-income West End neighborhood. The stadium is expected to be ready for the 2021 season.
By Anne M. Peterson | AP Sports Writer
| April 18, 2019, 11:40 p.m.
Major League Soccer will expand to 30 total teams in the upcoming years.
Commissioner Don Garber made the announcement Thursday at the league's Board Of Governors meeting in Los Angeles.
The league is currently at 24 teams, with FC Cincinnati joining the league this season. Nashville and Miami are teed up to start next year and Austin will come aboard in 2021.
The board did not identify markets but groups in Sacramento and St. Louis will be invited to give formal presentations to the league's expansion committee. A decision will be made in the coming months.
It has not been determined when the new teams will join the league. MLS has set an expansion fee of $200 million for the team’s 28th and 29th teams. A fee has not been set for the 30th franchise.