MLS Commish Say Las Vegas Is Frontrunner For 30th League Team, But San Diego, Phoenix In Play, Too
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Las Vegas is the frontrunner to be Major League Soccer’s 30th team with Milwaukee Bucks owner Wes Edens and fellow billionaire Nassef Sawiris in talks with MLS to create an expansion team in this market.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber chatted about Las Vegas in his 2021 State of the League address Tuesday.
But Garber said Phoenix and San Diego are also involved in talks.
“We’re making progress in Las Vegas,” Garber said. “We’re excited about the market, as are all the other leagues in North America. Wes is a guy we have long-standing relationships with, he had looked at other MLS clubs over the years. We’ll continue those discussions and continue to try and get something done with our 30th team within the next 10 months.”
Our LVSportsBiz story in July forecast Major League Soccer’s serious interest in the Las Vegas market. At the time, Allegiant Stadium hosted the Gold Cup soccer match between Mexico and USA.
The city of Las Vegas unsuccessfully proposed using public money earmarked for its parks to help subsidize building a MLS stadium with a private developer in downtown Symphony Park in 2015.
More recently, the city has talked privately with another development group about rebuilding the Cashman Center area with a new soccer stadium along a section of Las Vegas Boulevard. But those negotiations have not yielded a deal.
It looks like the Edens deal is the most serious one under discussion for an MLS team in Las Vegas.
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