The eyes of Major League Soccer will be on Detroit tonight when the United States takes on Canada in the CONCACAF Gold Cup at 8PM ET from Ford Field.
The reason?
Triple Sports and Entertainment out of Toronto, who own the Silverdome, have taken the next formal step in submitting an application to MLS to acquire an expansion team within the next few years.
“We’re in discussions with the league, and we’ve met several times,” said Steve Apostolopoulos, the president of sports at the Silverdome. “There is a process that potential ownership has to follow and we’re very happy with how things are progressing.”
The premier professional soccer league in the United States currently has 19 teams. They’ve already made it public that it is their desire to add a second team in the New York City area. However with strong fan support at tonight’s game in Ford Field, MSL officials could put Detroit in line for the 21st MLS franchise.
“MLS is aware of the interest from the Apostolopoulos family in securing an MLS team in Detroit,” MLS spokesperson Will Kuhns said in an e-mail. “The League maintains its current focus on New York as a possible home for the 20th team.”
MLS does have a pretty straight forward criteria for cities looking to acquire an MLS franchise. This includes,
- Committed long-term ownership willing to spend money
- Approved plan to build a soccer-specific stadium where the team would control revenue streams such as parking and concessions
- A healthy media market
- A strong soccer fan base
It seems as though the Detroit market has the first three requirements down. For the fourth requirement Detroit offers a pretty interesting situation for MLS. Detroit and Windsor are neighbors which could broaden the Detroit franchise’s popularity across the border into Canada.
Source: Mlive.com
