Joseph Lam San Jose, Calif. I’ve just learned that the Rochester Rhinos are proposing a new 20,000-seat stadium. I was wondering if the Rhinos are a strong candidate to join MLS since so far they’ve demonstrated that they can compete against MLS teams (they beat the Colorado Rapids 2-0 to win the U.S. Open Cup) and they’ve shown that they can attract a lot of fans to their games since they averaged 11,000 fans last season. They’re also showing a lot of commitment to soccer by proposing a new stadium much like the Columbus CrewÆs. What other cities do you think are strong candidates to be rewarded an MLS franchise? Poul Swain Rochester completed a feasibility study on a new stadium, but the deal is far from complete as there are some political obstacles to overcome in order to pony up the $18 million that would need to come from city, county or state funds. The Rhinos have committed $26 million to the project. If the stadium does get built, Rochester would seem like a shoo-in for expansion. The only question would be if they can afford to cover the expansion fee, after spending so much on the new stadium. Back in 1998 Ken Horowitz bought the Miami Fusion for $25 million. The same year Phil Anschutz bought the L.A. Galaxy for more than that. Of course, Rochester is an established team with, like you said, a good track record, on and off the field, so some kind of exception may be made. Expansion has been delayed to 2002 at the earliest. Candidates, aside from Rochester, include San Diego, Houston, Philadelphia and Seattle. (If you have a question for a Soccer America Magazine editor, click “Q&A with SA Editors” in the left column of the home page under “Interactive.”)