If they want to get a national TV contract commiserate with d1 status they need to be in the biggest markets.
And they already are there or planning on it. New York, LA, Chicago, San Francisco etc. There are some markets that the NASL will have to go in and compete with MLS in order to reach their goal but there are also plenty of markets MLS may never reach that are still attractive markets like Detroit, Baltimore, Nashville, Boston etc. tapping into some of those markets are ideal.
He can answer it himself, but I don't think the savings would be big at all. It may lower travel times. After Minnesota United leaves for MLS the closest team to Edmonton would be ... Ottawa/Indy? Edmonton is a good chunk closer to the PNW2 teams, Real Monarch's, Colorado Springs and likely Reno & Sacramento ... heck, technically both LA teams and Phoenix and the Oklahoma teams are probably closer to Edmonton than Ottawa or Indy. Flights are what they are and getting a shorter one doesn't always lower costs so I think unless you're able to take a bus (like Atlanta would/could to a lot of teams in their area), you're not looking to count on saving $$. The fact that they'd play in the same time zone would be another "perk" but offer no real "savings".
I think if it comes to that point, the CSA will emergency scramble to prop up FCE and form a national Canadian league, forcing Vancouver/Toronto/Montreal's USL teams and Ottawa to join along with CFL-backed teams in Winnipeg, Calgary, and Hamilton. They have more impetus now than ever due to the US/Canadian Dollar exchange rate.
They would be in the western conference and wouldn't have to travel east of the Mississippi river and have shortish trips to Vancouver and Seattle.
Of course. That gives them an argument to recieve a CCAF Champions League berth...sought after since the Cosmos joined. It technically gives them other legal arguments, and allows them to promote themselves as MLS equals. The whole gambit is based on being named D1. Was that ever in question?