MLS has expanded at an impressive rate in the modern era (David Beckham AD-Present), going from 13 teams in 2007 to 26 in 2020. The League will further expand to (at least) 27 by 2021 and to 30 by some unknown date; probably by no later than 2024. At that point, who knows what form the league will take, as there will likely be at least a few strong candidates who could be left on the outside looking in.

The fight to get into MLS (no matter how you think of the process, especially in the context of soccer in the US and globally) has been filled with intrigue, elation, disappointment and even anger, with allegations of fraud and misrepresentation in at least a couple of cases.

In this series, I’ll be interviewing people on the ground to get a sense of how the local markets feel about MLS, soccer and their cities prospective bids to join MLS. I hope to chat with at least one person involved in the bid, and also review the bid with a media member to discuss what the feeling may be on the ground. This will be an offshoot of the Socceresq Podcast, which can be found on Sounder at Heart.

I think I’ll (at least initially) try to do them in relative order of likelihood of entry into MLS, but no guarantees. The following are the cities I’ll be doing shows for (again, not necessarily in that order).

Sacramento

St. Louis

Las Vegas

Phoenix

Raleigh

Charlotte

Indianapolis

Detroit

San Diego

Tampa Bay

Louisville

Miami*

Nashville*

Austin**

*Expansion team in 2020

**2021 (expansion?) team

Obvious disclaimer that the order of these interviews will be subject to timing and availability of guests. Also, if you have ideas for guests (or contacts for people who would be important/interesting interviews) please feel free to contact me or send me a DM on Twitter or through my Facebook page.