MLS has taken the initiative upon the Rams departure from St. Louis to push the envelope for an expansion in the Midwest.
When the St. Louis Rams left St. Louis, MLS commissioner Donald P. Garber wasted no time. He immediately sent a letter to St. Louis mayor Francis Slay offering his condolences for the loss of such a beloved sports franchise. However, he closed his letter of condolence by expressing his excitement over building a MLS expansion team in St. Louis.
That excitement is building as the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that MLS is searching for a stadium location in downtown St. Louis “immediately.” Some locations that are being looked at include the riverside location that was proposed for the new Rams stadium as well as Union Station.
MLS and St. Louis have long seemed like a perfect fit but due to the city’s preoccupation in saving the Rams, no deal was being worked on. Instead, cities like Sacramento and San Antonio were taking the lead. Yet it was always clear that all St. Louis had to do was put forth an effort and they would have their very own MLS franchise.
St. Louis has a foundation pre-established for MLS success. For starters, Sporting KC is right down I-70 and as we can tell from the age-old Royals/Cardinals rivalry, there is no love lost between the two cities. Sporting KC has free reign to the Midwest but an expansion in St. Louis would build a rivalry to match MLB’s Missouri rivalry. One of the main ways to build a fan base is to provide a rival and MLS would require no external effort to provide that.
Sporting KC coach Pete Vermes even gave his approval: “I think St. Louis would make for a great cross town rival for us. In a lot of respects, their history in the game probably deserves one.”
St. Louis also has a stout fan base for the sport already in play. In attending a Bosnia vs Argentina international friendly at Busch Stadium, it was quite clear that this city took it’s soccer seriously. Numerous Bosnian faithful were seen launching flairs onto the field and being escorted out of the stadium, still holding flairs.
Ah, the passion that soccer brings. St. Louis has also had the pull to attract friendlies like Inter Milan and Real Madrid to that cavern known as the Edward Jones Dome. It attracted a massive 54,184 fans, which was a record for soccer attendance in the city.
If the Midwest can pull in Cristiano Ronaldo for a day, surely they can maintain MLS relevance. St. Louis has a history of soccer excellence, as leagues have existed in the city dating back to 1907. It also begs to be mentioned that every single United States World Cup team has had at least one member from St. Louis.
Commissioner Garber noted that MLS is looking to expand to 28 teams and St. Louis is absolutely going to be one of them. The only question is when it will happen.