MLS announces plans to expand to 30 teams

St. Louis and Sacramento, California, have been invited to submit formal bids for franchises as Major League Soccer's Board of Governors formally unveiled plans Thursday to expand to 30 teams.
Commissioner Don Garber made the announcement at the board's meeting in Los Angeles, pointing to expansion as one of the key drivers of the league's growth in North America in recent years.

"We continue to believe that there are many, many cities across the country that could support an MLS team, with a great stadium and a great fanbase and great local ownership that will invest in the sport in their community," he told reporters following the meeting.

They're not stopping at 30. I think 32 will be their final number. They still need to plug the geographical holes of Phoenix and the Carolinas.

Honour demands that Preki be the first manager of both teams.

No doubt now that the league will grow to 32 teams in my mind. It would give them two 16 conferences thus allow the regular season to essentially have an east and west league and cut down on travel.

$200 million per team, and potential owners are lining up to compete to buy at that price. Whew. MLSE's 10 million seems like an unbelievable bargain, risky as it seemed at the time.

I could see them going beyond 32, but it would mean the end of play against every team every season. 2 Conferences of 3 divisions of 6 teams each. Play home-and-away in-division, play one game against every other team in the conference and play 2-of-3 opposite conference divisions for a 34 game season.