The writer of the article says Phil Rawlins is working on the stadium situation, and hopes to have it cemented in the next 18 months, for expansion in 2015-16. Minnesota's new stadium won't be ready until at least 2016, and that isn't set in stone yet. Typically that kind of timeline is for the NFL season, too, so it probably won't be available for soccer until 2017. And there's no certainty with San Antonio yet on when they will build the later stages of their stadium. Plus, Garber is highly unlikely to go for a third Texas team when other viable markets are available. I don't think San Antonio gets in ahead of Orlando or Minnesota.
There's no rule that more than one team can't be allowed into MLS at a time (see: Portland, Vancouver). There aren't a limited number of MLS slots, and this isn't really a race. Whether there is a viable expansion plan for NYC or not makes no difference to a hypothetical San Antonio, Orlando or Minnesota expansion. A city will get an expansion team if/when that expansion team is ready. I don't see a scenario happening where the San Antonio Scorpions (say) are ready to go, but are pushed down the line in favor of NYC for some artificial reason.
Orlando won both the regular season and playoffs in its first year in the USL PRO division, setting attendance records and drawing the most people of any club outside of MLS.
It is a race because MLS is getting more strict about who they are letting in. If said team is not in by 20 or 21, then they are going to need to be near perfect to get in for 22, 23 or 24. Besides, MLS is not going to expand forever.
We already know that Orlando City has "basic" plans in place for an 18,500 seat stadium and are in discussions with the city and county to find a site that works. I continue to hear rumblings that this fall/off-season there will be an announcement from MLS about expansion. Houston's new stadium was built in just over 14 months at a cost of $95M. If MLS wants to add a team for 2014 in a new SSS, I don't see how you can make that happen in NYC in that time frame, so Orlando would get the nod.