ClapThe continued expansion of Major League Soccer is something that we’ve all come to deal with over the course of the last few years, and in some instances, you aren’t dealing with it, you’re celebrating it. That really does depend on your perspective, as the MLS aims to have as many teams as the other four major North American sports leagues.
We can understand the logic behind that, and in equal measure, we can understand why they’ve chosen some of the locations that they have. There are so many cities across North America that deserve a chance in the MLS, and there are a lot of different reasons as to why. For now, though, instead of going on and on about all of them, we’re going to focus on one specifically: St. Louis.
As reported by CBS Sports and STL Today, St. Louis is on the verge of being announced as an expansion team winner with an announcement being rumoured for next week.
The rise of St. Louis
There has been no official word from the St. Louis bid just yet, but with the league expanding from 27 to 30 teams, this seems progressively more and more likely. It appears as if Sacramento is going to land a team, too, fitting nicely alongside the NBA’s Kings.
You’re always going to have critics for projects such as these, if only because they just want to find something new to complain about. It’s impossible to stop that 100% of the time, so instead, we’re just going to say a big old congrats to St. Louis.
The departure of the Rams a few years ago certainly didn’t help the development of pro sports in the city, as you can imagine. Some fans still support the franchise now that they’re in Los Angeles, but the majority of folks aren’t nearly as interested as they once were.
Making some waves
They’re already got a few other teams to their name which is great for the city, but with the popularity of the MLS growing with each and every passing year, we can’t help but feel like this is such great news for Missouri. There’s a soccer foundation embedded within the state and the city specifically, their fans are incredibly passionate, and they seem to have a really strong team managing and running this project. When you add all of those elements together, it seems obvious to suggest that this is a home run.
Once the confirmation is made, the attention will obviously turn towards bringing in the necessary players to help this new club continue to go from strength to strength. That isn’t exactly going to be an overnight job as you can probably imagine, but it already looks like the infrastructure is there.
While it may not stereotypically be a great market in comparison to other cities around the country, STL is still going to be a great place for players both young and old to prove themselves in North America’s top soccer league.
Good luck, guys.
