(11-29-2017 11:50 AM)BearcatMan Wrote:  MLS Announces that Sacramento, Nashville, Cincinnati, and Detroit will be the 4 cities pitching for the first two expansion spaces. One has to figure that Sacramento is in and Detroit is out, so for all intents and purposes it is between Cincinnati and Nashville.

Same media market sizes
Relatively similar geographic area (regionally speaking)
One has a couple years of established 20,000 average crowds in the second division, an ownership group valued at $4.9B, a $50m shirt sponsorship deal locked up (3rd largest in the MLS), a youth academy program in the second most densely populated youth participation area in the country, a built in regional rival (for now), established relationships with two European clubs, and are working on a stadium deal while the other has a secured stadium deal, has an owner who runs a small book publisher. and literally no sporting infrastructure and nothing showing they can draw a crowd.

And it's going to go to Nashville because MLS reasons.

Unfortunately Cincinnati is never going to get to MLS without significant restructuring of the current system. They'll always be blocked out by larger cities who can pay more.