On Tuesday, Major League Soccer, which hopes to have as many as 16 teams registered before the 2010 season, issued a statement about its expansion plans, . Of the three new franchises, one, San Jose, has been confirmed as entrant for the 2008 season. The Seattle-Post Intelligencer claims that its city is favored to win one of the remaining two slots, with the last one going to an Eastern Conference team. It's unclear when MLS will announce its two newest expansion franchises. The paper claims that if Seattle succeeds, a team would be ready by the 2009 season.
"MLS does not have a set deadline to make that announcement," MLS spokesman Dan Courtemanche said of the 15th and 16th franchises. "Thus, it may be early 2008 before both teams are announced."
The PI report says that SI.com and others have said that MLS has already agreed to expand to Seattle, although the league denies those reports. The Seattle bid is likely to involve a joint ownership between Adrian Hanauer, owner of USL's Seattle Sounders, and Hollywood executive Joe Roth and Paul Allen. The team would reportedly play at Qwest Field -- however, that doesn't meet MLS's expansion requirement that new teams have their own stadium.
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