Quote:Speculation intensified Thursday about an anticipated announcement from Major League Soccer that Charlotte will land an expansion team, but Commissioner Don Garber stopped just short of saying the deal is done.

After leading a regularly scheduled board of governors meeting in New York, Garber spoke about the bid for a team here by Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper. The final step for Charlotte will be guaranteeing soccer-specific improvements at the Panthers’ NFL stadium uptown — a contingency that not-so-subtly signals the need for city government to kick in $100 million to help pay for renovations as well as an MLS headquarters for Tepper’s team.

Marc Ganis, an industry consultant known for forging relationships with NFL owners and executives, said Thursday that reports by CBJ and others of an announcement in Charlotte on Dec. 17 make sense.

“The MLS has done a masterful job of timing announcements to advance both the league and the new expansion teams,” he said. “An announcement before the holidays would fit this pattern of effective and strategic expansion introductions.”

Tepper is expected to pay a record entry fee of $300 million to $325 million and invest more than $400 million overall in startup costs.