#1 Sacramento
#2 St. Louis
#3 Cincinnati
#4 San Antonio

(Not predicting in any particular order) although Sacramento has a strong brand in the Republic FC, a large USL fan base, shovel ready stadium, youth soccer academy, jersey sponsorship and a diverse ownership group with deep pockets. I think the MLS would pass over Sacramento given its proximity to San Jose (MSL Earthquakes) except that Sacramento has reached every expansion benchmark the MLS has asked for; making it difficult for MLS to say no. I think San Antonio, Cincinnati and St. Louis are all markets MLS is interested in expanding in sooner rather than later so my guess is that this will be the four expansion markets. We'll see soon enough.

SA FC looks promising!
 

Off to a great start for season #2!:tup:

https://therivardreport.com/ownershi...league-soccer/

If the Crew does move to Autin, kiss MLS in SA goodbye:

http://www.espnfc.com/columbus-crew-...n-to-austin-tx

Sports in SA is looking grim right now. Lost the Missions, Sold the Stars, and now Austin may get the MLS Franchise many here hoped for.

1. Property in downtown Austin is very expensive for soccer stadium. Owner wants a downtown Stadium.

2. Austin is Longhorn country plain and simple.

1. We are not building a DT stadium. Ours is well Northeast of DT

2. If an established club sees a city with no stadium more viable than one that has a stadium, seventy miles away, then MLS doesn't see us as viable either.

3. San Antonio is Spurs country plain and simple.

SA didn't lose the Missions. They are becoming Triple A in 2019.

I grew up in Austin. It's Longhorn country for sure, but there are a ton of soccer fans there. I honestly believe an MLS team would do very well in Austin. I'd even go as far as saying MLS could be as successful in Austin as it has been in Portland.

That said, I do agree it will be very hard to get a stadium built downtown given the current and planned development. I honestly don't know where they would put it - but never say never. Austin has had success with the Express in Round Rock and both the Stars/Spurs in Cedar Park, so city leaders could convince MLS to build outside of downtown. Austin's been waiting for a pro franchise for a very long time. I can see this happening.

The ESPN article quoted the owner saying he would move if he couldn't get a new stadium deal. I've lived in SA long enough to have heard that said about us before (looking at you Raiders). This could be a case of MLS using Austin as other pro franchises have used SA. But my gut tells me to believe their is serious interest in moving the franchise to Austin and if that happens you can absolutely say goodbye to any chance of SA getting an MLS team. Which is disappointing. I really think MLS would do great in SA.

It's worse baseball. Not nearly as many viable prospects in Triple A as in Double A.

So, yes. We lose.

LOL!!!
GO SPURS GO!!!!!!!!:cheers:

Other than being annoying without contribution, do you have a point?

And yes Go Spurs Go!!!:cheers:

I think the Spurs sold the Stars in order to focus more on getting a MLS franchise. I just don't think it's going to happen.

The City of Austin wasn't making any effort to get a MLS franchise, and there doesn't appear to have been any significant private effort to get a franchise. This just fell into Austin's lap so to speak, like the F1 track. Even with a team almost being handed to Austin, I don't think there will be enough public support to get it done. At this point I still think it's more likely that S.A. will land a team before Austin.

I believe Triple-A is better baseball:

Triple-A: A mixture of the game’s most major league-ready prospects, 4-A players, career minor leaguers, and the non-official “taxi squad” players for a major league organization.

Double-A: The entrance to the “upper minors,” the jump to Double-A tends to be the most difficult for prospects, and tells us the most about them.

https://www.fangraphs.com/tht/unders...league-levels/

Lot's of opinions on this, but most people that watch baseball believe the better game is in Double A.

It doesn't really matter, as once again we settle for less than the top league.

I believe that too
 

And since I don't believe the MLS is ever coming here, it is a net loss.

To be fair though, I didn't follow the Stars much, and it doesn't seem much of San Antonio did either.

GO SPURS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
COACH POPOVICH FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!:cheers:


YESSSSS SIR!!!!!!!:tup:

FAIRNESS-DIVERSITY-HUMILITY:yes:

There just might be a silver lining to this cloud...if there was an NBA and MLS here the powers that be might feel the population wouldn't be able to support any other pro sports. I'd rather hold out for an NFL team rather than MLS

I certainly don't care if MLS comes here or not, though it may be a moot point:

https://woai.iheart.com/content/2017...managed_social

"Had Bexar County been made aware of such a rights, we would not have invested in Toyota Field," Wolff wrote.

When asked if the idea of an expansion big league franchise in San Antonio is 'dead,' he replied "it sure sounds like it to me.'"

NFL Owners decide which city gets an NFL team. I doubt Jerry Jones will allow a major Cowboys fanbase like the one in San Antonio to disappear. On the other hand, Major League Baseball would do very well in San Antonio. We can always team up with Austin to build a stadium in San Marcos. Both SA & Austin growing metros combined are over 4 million. San Marcos can be what Arlington is to the Rangers.

Agree with you Re the NFL, but I disagree with you on MLB. Not the point about SA supporting and MLB team, but that we have to share with Austin. San Antonio can support major sports, and we don't need the Austin factor to be viable.

This is getting to seem defeatist. "We need Austin to agree to a regional airport"; "We need Austin for a major sports franchise"; We need Austin...ad nauseum".

As a couple of our posters point out, whom I probably don't agree with on much, we are not Austin. They don't want to blend South, and I don't want to blend North.

So, can we stop with the "regional" nonsense, and try to be a city of San Antonio, by San Antonio?