6 cities you would like the MLS to expand to? 5 U.S. & 1 Canadian city. U.S. Indianapolis - Already have proposed stadium plans close to Indianapolis Airport. Charlotte - Soccer already very popular at the Universities in North Carolina. San Diego - Soccer is Big popular sport among Hispanics and S.D. has a large Hispanic community. St. Louis - A lot of talk about expanding to STL the last 3 or 4 years. Just do it already. Las Vegas - Pro sports seem to be taking a hard look at L.V. the last few years as the NHL is the 1st to expand there in 2018. - CANADA Calgary / Winnipeg - Would like to see the MLS not crowd one area of the country.
San Antonio - They have everything MLS desires in a market St. Louis - Great Soccer Market Sacramento - Deserving Cincinatti - Doing everything right so far Canada - Calgary
Why is Sacramento not on this poll? Larger metro area population than all but two of the markets in the poll, largest TV market in the US that doesn't already have at least two major pro sports franchises, consistently selling out USL games at MLS ticket prices. I hope it's only being left out because it's seen as inevitable.
There are no other Canadian cities that presently merit consideration. Canada is a sparsely populated country, with only three metropolitan areas of over 1.2M residents. Each has an MLS team. In fact, Vancouver is one of the small markets--along with Columbus, Kansas City, and Salt Lake--and it's twice the size of the next echelon of Canadian cities. After Sacramento, (the clear frontrunner for #25,) San Antonio, Detroit, and Cincinnati are all pretty good candidates. After that is very speculative, without strong potential owners. I'd love to see an actual small market that MLS gets all for itself, but San Diego, Las Vegas, and a Carolina city may be more likely.
The US markets most similar in population to Ottawa and Calgary, Canada's fourth and fifth most populous metropolitan areas: Richmond, VA; Harrisburg, PA; and Buffalo, NY. US markets most similar in population to Edmonton: Albuquerque, NM and Tulsa, OK. US markets most similar in population to Quebec City and Winnipeg: Modesto, CA; Des Moines, IA; Syracuse, NY; South Bend, IN; Boise, ID. I think that explains pretty well why those Canadian cities are not likely to support any major professional sport other than hockey, and even hockey only because it's the overwhelmingly dominant team sport in Canada.
Also, San Diego seems like a city where MLS might fail to get a foothold. Club Tijuana is quite popular on the US side of the border, and has started at least two US-born players (occasionally as many as five) in almost every match since entering Liga MX.
As much as I would like to see Ottawa in MLS, no other Canadian teams are being considered at this point, especially with the up-coming Canadian Premier league probably kicking off by 2018. There's quite a drop-off in population after Vancouver. The three Canadian MLS teams are centred around 1/3 of our population as it is. My choices were more for (in order of priority) geographical representation, stability, and population centres: Charlotte, St Louis, San Antonio, Phoenix, Detroit, Nashville/Las Vegas.
Rochester, which sits right between Buffalo and Syracuse on the Erie Canal, might merit consideration. At this point in time, the only traditional soccer hotbeds that are not in MLS are St. Louis, Rochester, Tampa & the Research Triangle area in North Carolina. Although Rochester is no longer the high tech capital of the country, the greater metropolitan area of Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse probably has greater media exposure than, say, Austin, Las Vegas, Quebec or Ottawa. I don't think that Rochester is viable right now, but it might be a good location for expansion after the round of expansion to 28 or for a relocated MLS team. Not all that long ago, Kansas City was considering relocating to Rochester. As for the current nominees, I think that Cincinnati and Indianapolis would have a sweet local rivalry with Columbus if they get in. Just sayin'.
its not WHY- its- is there any other canadian city suitable for a MLS franchise? - i see none that can support it- even ottawa, our capital, is just not big enough to pull it off IMO having 3 in MLS is good for a small population, expansive country- and 2 cities- TO and montreal- are serious contenders for MLS Cup as both have ambitious, progressive owners and have heavily invested in star players
The only reason why MLS might want to do it is that Canadians - judging by fan support for the Impact, Whitecaps and TFC - love soccer and adding a team in Ottawa or Quebec would create instant rivalries with Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Ultimately, soccer is a passionate game and great rivalries fuel the T.V./cablecast ratings needle.
Buffalo -- cool little city, and I feel a bit sorry for them, their decline, abandoned buildings, potentially losing Bills one day, so give them a soccer team. Great pro sports culture. Potential for a great team name. Buffalo Hearts? There's also potential for extreme weather conditions to keep things interesting, I like an occasional blizzard game on TV. Rochester -- if I give a team to Buffalo, I will feel sorry for Rochester, because they were supposed to be the center of soccer in Western New York. So I'll give them a team too. They can be rivals. San Francisco proper -- put a team in Candlestick area. Ocean winds, cold, rain, maybe some fog games. This would be the most Scottish experience in MLS. Baltimore -- good city, good sports fans. Rivalry with DCU. Use some abandoned rowhouses for facade of the stadium. Blue collar feel and the Wire will make this the favorite team for neutral hipsters. It will be like St. Pauli of MLS. OKC -- to annoy people from Tulsa. Canada: Calgary -- a pretty rich, growing city. If some city in Canada can sustain a team, Calgary is probably the best bet, especially looking 20,30 years from now. I'd say Quebec City because it's a cool little old city and I feel sorry for them losing their NHL team and not even having a Canadian football league team, but I already felt sorry for two cities here.
I'd rather buy out Canadian franchises, pay each of them $100m, give'em their intellectual properties and tell'em to go ******** with the CPL than adding another Canadian team.
That's even less likely than adding another Canadian team, Which isn't particularly likely to start with.
My pie-in-the-sky final MLS configuration that limits clubs to within the top 40 TV markets (for TV Contract revenue), keeps most current rivalries together (to build traditions), and spreads out the game among the largest geographical area (for national footprint and game-day experience) would be the following: EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic: DC United New York City FC New York Red Bulls Philadelphia Union Central: Chicago Fire Columbus Crew Minnesota United St Louis Northeast: Detroit New England Revs Montreal Impact Toronto FC Southeast: Atlanta United FC Charlotte Miami Beckhams Orlando City SC WESTERN CONFERENCE California: Los Angeles FC LA Galaxy San Diego San Jose Earthquakes Cascadia: Portland Timbers Sacramento Republic Seattle Sounders Vancouver Whitecaps Mountain: Colorado Rapids Las Vegas Real Salt Lake Phoenix Southwest: FC Dallas Houston Dynamo San Antonio Sporting Kansas City Playoffs would as now, except giving only the Conference Champion with a bye and have the play-in round among the other 3 division winners and the next 3 teams with the highest point totals in the Conference. I'm hoping this setup would be fairly balanced in the long run. You don't want too many strong or weak divisions. Any cities feeling left out can go to NASL (sorry Cincinnati/Indianapolis). To be honest, I'd be fine if there was no Miami and it was replaced with another team. At some point MLS is just going to have to let that city go.
Miami is big. The only major North American pro leagues missing a city that size is the NHL not being in a couple southern cities and the NFL not having a Toronto team. It's much larger than the optional cities you've left out; I think the next biggest is Cleveland. Yes, the interminable delays are annoying, but it's not like the NFL ignored LA in expansion and relocation for two full decades before now, either.
good points! but i dont think it will happen- 1.2 million people in the greater ottawa area- i just think there are just too many usa cities that could have a bigger impact and have a larger imprint for the growth of soccer in NA