Major League Soccer will confirm this week that Minnesota has been awarded an expansion franchise, according to people familiar with the matter. The announcement caps a two-year process that saw the league evaluate stadium financing, ownership depth, and market demographics in a region that lost the Minnesota Stars to Atlanta in 2009.
The ownership group, led by Bill McGuire, former UnitedHealth Group CEO, cleared MLS's financial threshold—$100 million expansion fee plus commitments for a soccer-specific stadium. McGuire's group includes the Pohlad family (Minnesota Twins owners) and Glen Taylor (Timberwolves), giving the franchise access to suite buyers and corporate partners already writing checks in the Twin Cities. The stadium site remains undisclosed, but Minneapolis and St. Paul both submitted proposals in early 2014. The league prefers downtown locations; the Pohlads control land near Target Field.
The Minnesota award is the league's 20th franchise and the first northern expansion since Montreal joined in 2012. Atlanta and Miami were awarded teams earlier in 2014, but Minnesota's climate presents a structural challenge: MLS runs March through October, meaning home openers in Minneapolis face snow risk through April. The league studied attendance data from Sporting Kansas City and Chicago, both cold-weather markets, and concluded that regional corporate density matters more than temperature. Minnesota has 18 Fortune 500 headquarters, more than any MLS market except New York. Those companies need hospitality inventory.
For sponsors, Minnesota opens a market with 3.6 million people and no NFL/NBA/MLB competition from March through May. Kit and sleeve sponsors will target the state's Scandinavian diaspora—soccer participation rates in Minnesota youth leagues are 22% higher than the national average, per US Youth Soccer registration data. The franchise also gives adidas (MLS's league-wide kit supplier through 2024) a northern retail anchor between Chicago and nothing until Vancouver.
The financial structure matters for other expansion hopefuls. Sacramento and St. Louis are both pursuing MLS slots, and the Minnesota approval signals that the league will prioritize ownership groups with crossover from existing pro franchises. Sacramento's lead investor, Ron Burkle, owns the Pittsburgh Penguins; St. Louis has the Taylors and Enterprise Holdings family. MLS wants owners who already know how to sit through a luxury tax negotiation.
Watch for the stadium financing announcement within 30 days of the franchise award. If the Pohlads use their downtown land, construction starts in 2015 and the team kicks off in 2017. If St. Paul wins, the timeline stretches to 2018 because the site needs environmental clearance. MLS will also name a general manager within 90 days—the smart money is on someone from Sporting Kansas City's front office, which built a contender in another northern market with corporate suite revenue. The coaching hire follows six months later, after the GM finalizes the technical staff.
The Pohlads haven't publicly confirmed their stadium site, but they attended both MLS Board of Governors meetings in 2014 and sat with McGuire at the MLS Cup final in December.
The takeaway
Minnesota's **$100M** expansion fee and Fortune 500 density prove MLS will take cold-weather risk if corporate suite buyers are locked in.
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