Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville and Sacramento are the four cities that will be chosen from to make two new Major League Soccer teams. On Dec. 6, each city had a group that presented their pitch to MLS officials and people that would help make the selection. Detroit is rumored to be out of the running for one of the spots due to their hope of using Ford Field, which isn’t soccer-specific. This means that other sports teams play there other than the soccer team, which MLS has said many times will not be allowed for these two expansion spots.
This leaves three cities vying for two expansion spots. Sacramento is thought by many to be already in, due to them being the only West Coast team, which leaves one spot open for two cities: Cincinnati and Nashville. Nashville has a very good ownership group, who all hold a lot of money. Their stadium plan, as well as their ownership group, are the reasons they are already thought to be one of the teams to get in.
However, Cincinnati should be the city to get the last spot in the MLS. This is probably my bias showing, being from Cincinnati and a massive FC Cincinnati fan, but the city has shown in the last two years they deserve to be in the top level of soccer in the U.S. The club has been able to achieve things the country hasn’t seen in any place. FC Cincinnati is in the second division of the U.S. soccer hierarchy, called the USL.
In the 2017 season, the club had an average attendance of 21,199. If that were put in the same group as MLS teams, FC Cincinnati would have the eighth best attendance. This is absolutely outstanding, considering the team is only in the second division. The club is basically already an MLS team, except in name. Also in the past two seasons, the club has had five games with over 30,000 people attending.
The city’s support of the club has been historic and has also been noticed by big businesses in the city. Just last month, they announced that if the team were to make MLS, the jersey sponsor would be Mercy Health, and this deal would be one of the most lucrative in the MLS immediately. This alone shows the city is behind the club and is ready to support them.
The announcement for the cities that will be getting into MLS will not occur until the middle of December, some people have been saying Dec. 19 or 20 are the days that should be watched. Sacramento is a shoe-in, which leaves one spot for Cincinnati or Nashville. If you like lower market cities getting teams, hope for Cincinnati to get the spot. I definitely will.
