Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber said the league will consider adding a 30th and 31st franchise after Sacramento Republic FC begins play in 2026, abandoning the long-stated 29-team ceiling and signaling MLS now views expansion through stadium viability rather than roster math.
Garber told reporters the league is "open" to two additional clubs if ownership groups deliver soccer-specific venues in markets that clear the league's financial thresholds. Sacramento's $500 million privately financed stadium broke ground in November after a decade-long pursuit, and Garber pointed to that timeline as the template: patient capital, no public subsidy drama, and a downtown site that supports ancillary real estate. The $500 million expansion fee Sacramento paid in 2022 remains the benchmark.
The statement matters because MLS has spent three years insisting 29 was the final number, a position that kept bidding cities in limbo and let the league slow-play markets like San Diego, Phoenix, and Las Vegas without formal rejection. Now the calculus shifts: if you can finance a stadium and meet the expansion fee—likely $600 million to $650 million for franchise 30—the door is open. That changes the risk profile for groups assembling land parcels in secondary markets, and it explains why Vancouver's baseball push is drawing attention from soccer operators who see similar civic infrastructure appetites.
Minnesota does not need a second MLS team; the state already has Minnesota United FC, which entered the league in 2017 and plays at Allianz Field in St. Paul. The headline reference appears to conflate Minnesota's established presence with Sacramento's incoming status. What the league is actually evaluating is whether West Coast density justifies another California franchise—San Diego remains the most credible candidate, with a downtown site controlled by FS Investors and a $2.5 billion mixed-use development tied to a 25,000-seat stadium. Phoenix has a similar pitch but no site control.
The timing aligns with MLS media negotiations. The league's Apple TV deal runs through 2032 and pays approximately $2.5 billion over ten years, but the contract includes expansion triggers that increase annual rights fees when new teams enter. Adding franchises 30 and 31 unlocks roughly $30 million in additional annual media revenue, enough to justify the league's investment in onboarding costs and schedule expansion. Apple has told the league it prefers West Coast inventory to balance evening kickoff windows, which favors San Diego and Phoenix over Midwest or Gulf Coast bids.
Garber's comments also reflect ownership fatigue with the Minneapolis model—publicly funded stadiums that require multi-year political campaigns and deliver uneven results. Minnesota United's Allianz Field cost $250 million, with $50 million in public infrastructure support, but the team's valuation has lagged expansion peers in Nashville and Austin, both of which built larger venues with stronger ancillary revenue. The league now prefers groups that can write the full check and control the surrounding real estate, which is why Sacramento's Railyards development—$1.5 billion in housing, retail, and office tied to the stadium—earned approval.
What to watch: MLS will release updated expansion criteria in Q2 2025, likely narrowing thefield to three finalists for franchise 30. San Diego's FS Investors group faces a zoning vote in June 2025 that will determine whether the downtown site remains viable. Phoenix's bid hinges on solving a land-assembly problem near Sky Harbor Airport, with a decision expected by September 2025. Las Vegas is positioning as a backup if California politics stall either bid, though the market lacks a committed stadium developer.
Vancouver's baseball pursuit, led by The Show Vancouver, is unrelated to MLS expansion but demonstrates how secondary North American markets are now competing across leagues for the same pool of facility-financing expertise. The consultants advising San Diego's soccer group are the same firms structuring Vancouver's ballpark pitch, and both are betting civic infrastructure spending in 2025 favors privately financed, mixed-use projects over single-sport stadiums. MLS is quietly watching whether Vancouver's baseball bid succeeds; if it does, the city's MLS expansion case—dormant since 2009—will return, this time with a stadium playbook already written.
The takeaway
MLS dropped its 29-team cap and will add franchises 30 and 31 if groups deliver privately financed stadiums, favoring West Coast markets with mixed-use development tied to venue sites.
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