Major League Soccer announced last night plans to expand to 30 teams, two more than they had planned.
And Panthers owner David Tepper has made it clear he wants one.
“Professional soccer at all levels is thriving in the United States and Canada and we believe there are many markets that could support a successful MLS club,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in a statement. “Expansion during the last 15 years has been enormously successful and a key driver behind the league’s continued rise, and we are pleased that some of the top business and community leaders representing great markets in North America are aggressively pursuing MLS expansion clubs.”
The league currently has 27 teams, and planned to picking their 28th and 29th teams by July 31. The expansion fee for those two teams was set at $200 million. There’s no timetable or fee set for the 30th team yet.
MLS is involved in discussions with Sacramento and St. Louis, and they will make formal presentations to the league soon. But Tepper has made no secret of his have a team to play in a renovated Bank of America Stadium (rather than building a smaller, soccer-specific stadium), and recently sent a survey to locals in Charlotte about interest and pricing options for tickets.
“We’ve been doing a lot of talking, obviously, so we’ll see,” Tepper said at the recent NFL owners meetings. “It’s an interesting question, from what their timeline is. it’s not just our timeline.
“We’re trying to push things forward. Listen, this is the best chance at the cheapest price. Even if we say to the city we need some money to re-do the stadium, it’s so cheap, versus $300 million that you need to build a new stadium. It’s the best bargain, ever, you know what I’m saying? if we could get something done. Because the amount of economic impact to the Charlotte region from having those games in here are so big, so we’re making a push. And that would be really good for the region if we could get it.”
Tepper, the richest single owner in the NFL, has made some other subtle suggestions that an ask for public money for his renovation is coming.
If he gets in the club, he’d join five other NFL owners in MLS: Arthur Blank (Atlanta), Stan Kroenke (Colorado Rapids), Jimmy and Dee Haslam (Columbus), Clark Hunt (Dallas), Robert Kraft (New England), with others as minority investors.