Could Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, or Jacksonville be an option for expansion? The MLS as it looks now EASTERN CONFERENCE 01. Atlanta United FC 02. Chicago Fire 03. Columbus Crew SC 04. D.C. United 05. Montreal Impact 06. New England Revolution 07. New York Red Bulls 08. New York City FC 09. Orlando City SC 10. Philadelphia Union 11. Toronto FC WESTERN CONFERENCE 01. Colorado Rapids 02. FC Dallas 03. Houston Dynamo 04. LA Galaxy 05. Minnesota United FC 06. Portland Timbers 07. Real Salt Lake 08. San Jose Earthquakes 09. Seattle Sounders FC 10. Sporting Kansas City 11. Vancouver Whitecaps FC What Cities are next? We can all speculate but will we ever know until it is actually announced what cities have been awarded an expansion team. Article on the MLS website naming 12 cities - https://www.mlssoccer.com/topic/expansion/2017/expansion-cities-bids Cities listed in the article Charlotte Nashville Indianapolis Detroit Phoenix St. Louis Raleigh / Durham San Antonio Sacramento Cincinnati Tampa Bay / St. Petersburg San Diego + maybe Las Vegas
I'd say very unlikely. Even if MLS expands to 32, there are still more markets than spots available, and the ones you're asking about would rank behind all on the current list. Obviously, nothing is guaranteed, and Cinderella stories do happen, but I wouldn't bet on it.
No chance for Pittsburgh. Riverhounds struggle to bring in fans as majority are families of their programs. Disfunctional state organization and youth scene for way too many years. Very sad for such a great city and great history of pro sports.
Those cities would be great targets for NASL if they could get over themselves and just merge with the richer USL clubs to form a strong D2 league. (Whispers) that someday might have a case for D1.
I dont think any of those really has a chance. I think Pittsburgh would have the best chance to get a team. Jacksonville is too small. Milwaukee doesnt add much that Chicago and Minnesota dont already cover. Baltimore is already somewhat covered by DCU.
Remember that the NFL passed over Baltimore when it awarded expansion franchises to Jacksonville & Charlotte -- and only got back into the NFL by swiping the Browns. In the '70's, Baltimore lost the NBA Bullets to the D.C. suburbs and in the '80's lost the Colts to Indianapolis. Although, Baltimore has proven itself to be a great baseball & football town and although the corridor between The Notrhern Virginia & Harford County (both the O's & the Ravens have strong fan support in the D.C. Suburbs) is a high growth area, Balitimore is not necessarily a sexy destination for MLS. There may be some traction for MLS expansion to Baltimore because D.C. United's new stadium is going to be undersized for a very sizeable metropolitan area. For what it's worth, Orioles and Ravens games are cablecast in the D.C. suburbs.
Sure, it could happen. I could also get a date with a 28 year old super model with a huge bank account and a willingness to take me on a 6-month long cruise. That's more likely to happen than any of those four cities at this point.
As a former resident of the Pittsburgh area, it would shock me to see them in MLS. They had a bankruptcy a short time back, and bounced back, sort of, only to have more financial problems (another bankruptcy?), and I'm seen lots of talk about leaving Highmark (already) and building somewhere else. I'm under no impression is has anything to do with MLS. If it does, some deluded people live there.
Those problems come from a bad business plan. You can have a bad business plan anywhere - Pittsburgh, Portland, Seattle, Toronto. They used 10+ mil, mostly in loans, to built an un-expandable, 3500 seats, minor league stadium, whose best feature is city view (which is nice for tourists, but you are targeting local season ticket holders). Would fail anywhere.
Any city can make it. All it takes is some real estate mogul wanting to use a club as leverage to redevelop something.