Where or where will MLS go next? League commissioner Don Garber is touring the nation in search of the destinations for its next set of expansion teams. Local dailies across the country are reporting talks between MLS and investors in various cities, including Philadelphia, Atlanta, the Bay Area, Cleveland, Miami, St. Louis, Portland and Seattle.
The Oregonian has a comprehensive report on the proceedings in the Pacific Northwest. Michael Keston, a real estate developer with ties to former Portland Trailblazers owner Larry Weinberg, earlier this week said he’d secured exclusive rights with MLS to bring an expansion team to Portland or Seattle. The paper says Keston’s investment group was leaning towards Portland after taking a recent tour of the city’s PGE Park, but officials point out that the small city already has a professional soccer team in the form of the USL’s Timbers.
Garber, meanwhile, has talked up both Portland and Seattle as possible candidates, although Keston’s group would only operate one or the other. The developer says he’ll make the decision within a month. His group would have to move fast, as the Oregonian report says the league would want an operational Pacific Northwest franchise within two years. In all, MLS seeks to add three expansion teams to the 13 it has currently by 2010.