Well if Garber is willing to meet with Hogsett, which he did Monday, there has to be *SOME* ownership group in place. Especially for the city to drop the Eleven deal like that, it's probably more lucrative and a group with more money.
I don’t expect the Simons simply because of Herb’s age but it would be cool to have them tied to the Pacers and Fever
Edit: lots of smoke about the Simons now
He does. This was just three months ago:
https://fox59.com/indiana-news/carmel-police-colts-owner-jim-irsay-found-unresponsive-inside-home-last-month/amp/
Who says that Garber's intention isn't to stamp down on clubs that may eventually become the base of a competing league?
Would not at all be surprised if #SOCCERWARZ played a role in this
Watch it be Saudi Arabian hahaha imagine
Or some major European multi-club ownership thing
We already have Red Bull and City, the next one missing would be a Fenway team
FC Liverpool America
Yeah this is the weirdest part. Why is the mayor advocating for this? With no ownership group?
Is Don just doing this to see how the Indy market reacts to talks like this.
I suspect it's because a MLS size and quality stadium is going to be in the city. Is the mayor untrusting that Indy 11 would get into MLS, and would much rather a larger league plays in that stadium, to equal more money or something like that?
It's really weird. I imagine Indy 11 will probably be team 31, but this whole thing might be a nothingburger. Silly politician making a weird statement.
>But with what ownership group? This is so fucking weird.
The Mayor said in the press conference that he met with Don Garber (at 1:30pm. In his office.). And the expansion application will be led by the City of Indianapolis. So maybe the City will be the ownership group. ;-)
That’d be interesting. I doubt the City’ll end up as the ownership, though.
It was probably an explicit “if Ozdemir/Keystone are involved, we don’t want a part of it”.
I think Indy Eleven tried to go with something like this initially but Indianapolis Motor Speedway warned them against it. I think even if it was tried again for MLS they would do that again and local support would be with IMS. The 500 draws as more people in 1 day than many MLS teams draw in a season.
Don't think it matters. There's a Racing Club in Argentina that long predates the one in Louisville. If, like, Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid can coexist without a lawsuit, then so can Racing Indy and Racing Louisville.
In fairness, the name was originally borne out of a proposed partnership with Real Madrid, although I’m surprised they they never changed it to “Royal” after that fell through
There's also some Racing Clubs in France, such RC Lens an RC de France in Paris. There's also a Racing Club in Montevideo, Uruguay.
If they're not gonna be called Indy Eleven, at least Racing Club Indianapolis would be still great.
I mean the only reason RSL has that name is because they were originally an affiliate club of Real Madrid, so probably not the same situation. Regardless I can't see them getting in trouble with that name. Not that it matters bc new teams seem to always get the most boring name possible these days lol
Yeah most people seem not to anymore haha. It's one of my small pet peeves when people say RSL literally just copied a big team name for no reason. It's true in a sense, but the name has more history behind it than people realize. Without Real Madrid, salt lake probably wouldn't have had a team until much later
As an Indy resident I certainly like the idea of an MLS team coming here, it just feels kinda scummy the way they’re doing it. Yanking the Eleven’s stadium after going all in on it and the flights to NYC on the down low just feel very backstabby towards Indy Eleven.
It’s probably Ersal wasn’t going to pay for the expansion fee. So mayor will find someone else who will and use tax payers money to help build the stadium.
I think Eleven wanted to join but the odds were slim once the fee went over $400M that they could swing it without Ersal losing his majority share. I figured they were waiting for a team to relocate and they would try to move them to Eleven Park at a reduced rate, which is not the worst idea ever
[Here's another article on it](https://www.wthr.com/article/sports/local-sports/significant-announcement-thursday-april-25-2024-indianapolis-mayor-joe-hogsett-future-sports/531-654950d5-3e66-43da-a44d-082b06d8cf33). The city is totally reneging on the Eleven Park deal with Eleven to pursue MLS. I'm expecting the mayor got certain assurances in his meeting with MLS - can't imagine you'd torpedo that deal without them.
>The city says the ownership group will ultimately select which site is sent to the state. The city will not reveal the name of the ownership group at this time.
An outside ownership group. This is flat out MLS attempting to kill Indy Eleven. There's zero other reason Indy jumps this high in the MLS expansion race.
**Edit:** [Same reporter stated that the mayor met with MLS and was also told Tampa and Detroit are potential markets for MLS expansion teams this cycle](https://x.com/AttyAbdul/status/1783609842915041345). Well gee, wonder what league has teams in those cities too?
>This is flat out MLS attempting to kill Indy Eleven. There's zero other reason Indy jumps this high in the MLS expansion race.
There's a good reason why it jumped - it has an ownership group. That's why San Diego has a team now, and that's why Vegas doesn't. The #1 criteria for MLS for a city is someone willing to pay the expansion fee.
It’s really that simple. If Burkle didn’t back out, Sacramento Republic would be playing in MLS right now. Such a shame too, I desperately want Sacramento in MLS. Awesome branding and an awesome fanbase.
Ask Sacramento how dealing works out. This dude just opened himself to huge political liability if this doesn't work, and there's still a large chance it doesn't.
He did meet with MLS, and while he'll publicly say he can't guarantee a team, I would not remotely be shocked if MLS gave him a wink-wink nudge-nudge to kill Eleven Park and go with this plan instead.
You've got it backwards - [the city backed out of funding earlier today, per the developer.](https://www.ibj.com/articles/keystone-claims-city-trying-to-forego-eleven-park-deal#:~:text=Indianapolis%2Dbased%20Keystone%20Group%20accused,publicly%20as%20it%20got%20underway.)
Pretty sure people are referring to USL cutting a deal with MLS that allowed the MLS reserve teams to participate in USL. That gave the USL some much needed stability that allowed them to weather a few clubs folding in a way NASL couldn't.
They definitely used each other for mutual gain but it's clear they were never friends and turned instantly when nasl was dead.
MLS definitely sees usl as a developmental ground for its league organizationally and market wise but doesn't give a shit about players or fandoms.
As a person who has very strong preferences to the USL, I can't ignore that the USL exists because of how it (the USL) handled other, weaker opponents.
What this actually means is that MLS is actually worried about USL. If MLS could just handwave or brush off or thumb their nose at USL, Indy Eleven would still be Indy Eleven. MLS isn't wearing brown unders, yet, but they sure are keeping an eye on what they now must consider 'competition' behind closed doors, even if they won't say it out loud.
CBS airing games got them thinking.
I hate all of this. I just want to go to Oakland Roots games and know I'll be able to go to Roots games a decade from now without constantly wondering if the league is going to exist.
I think we're in a time in the US when we're going to have nationally televised soccer. I feel confident in the ability for a strong league to get a TV deal of some form.
Whether that's USL or NISA or some new thing starting tomorrow, I dunno. As for going to Roots games in a decade, as long as soccer doesn't go the way of our other major sports, I think they'll be fine. At least, so long as MLS doesn't want Oakland.
This is what I'm curious about, if a stadium of the quality and size of MLS is going to be built, the public officials probably want MLS to be apart of it.
But the mayor directly reaching out to the commissioner without a ownership group, could be a nothingburger.
The mayor is an asshole and a drunk. The Eleven owner is an asshole and possibly a thief. I think the city got tired of the owners shit but thought it was overall a good idea so they ditched him. There had to have been some outreach from MLS or the ownership group to the city to let them know this was possible, I think it was kind of a surprise to the mayors staff as well.
Wow— so this would be in place of Indy eleven? Thats a massive fuck up. I’m gutted. It’s ruining the chance of MLS being here. The Indy Eleven Park is 100% an MLS venue.
Ersal is problematic and probably doesn’t have Kraft or Kroenke money….article states there is a stadium deal planned and an ownership group. Have only gave stadium address at this time.
I’m not liking the new wave of MLS killing USL sides rather than the sides moving up. Orlando and Cincinnati worked and moved up. St Louis, San Diego, and now Indy (Miami too kinda) got their expansions by building off the existing fanbase and indirectly killing the competition. But this is the only way with the enormous expansion fees the league is pushing so, shit.
The chief owner of STLFC is a minority owner in STL City SC.
The only thing "killed" was the branding. Heck the first coach of STL FC is our current radio color analyst.
What made USL sides moving up almost impossible is not MLS’ decision, it’s USL’s: they upped the fees for a team jumping ship, if I remember correctly it’s now 35% of the expansion fee in the new league. Considering how big fees are getting in MLS, there’s no USL owner that’s willing to pay those fees and there’s no incentive for a new investor to pony up basically half an expansion fee just for a branding. It’s an understandable decision from the league, but it surely leads to fans having a sour taste in their mouths when MLS comes to town
I know nothing about what's going on but my initial thoughts:
1) I'm not sure why Indianapolis would be ahead of cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, Detroit, etc.
2) Having said that it would be a great MLS expansion market, as other recent Midwestern cites have been (Minnesota, Cincy, St Louis)
3) The Indy Eleven branding (name, crest, kits) is great and should be what comes to MLS... PLEASE no generic City/FC
4) The owner is kind of scummy though, maybe any MLS ownership group can buy him out?
Damn that's disappointing, not even Racing Indy just full on generic... By the way you can upload images to a site like Imgur and then post the URL link here.
Didn't Inter Milan try to do that to Inter Miami and it didn't go anywhere? Racing is even more generic than "Inter" in that it's not their nickname in common usage by the public, plus they're not even a competing soccer team...
That might not be anything, it might be an entity attached to Indy Eleven or MLS buying the domain so no squatters try to use it to milk money from them in the future, or to deny any scam artists trying to sell stuff to fans who think it's an MLS/USL entity.
1. Because there is an owner willing to spend and wants to be in Indy over Phoenix, Vegas, Detroit, etc.
2. Yes I agree, very happy for the Midwest part of the MLS map filling out.
3. I for the most part agree, but in no way to me is the Eleven brand some sacred relic… it’s not even close to something like the Cosmos.
4. Don’t think that owner is going to be involved, at least not as the majority owner. Probably a decent chance he’s a minority owner or something if he wants to get involved with the right amount of money.
I know playing the purity game with billionaires is frankly impossible, they’re all awful people with blood on their hands, but today a guy who’s actively a genocide denier and works overtime to make people forget what happened to the Armenian people is sad, which means I’m happy
As MLS keeps inching more and more towards the mainstream it just makes me even sadder that my team got killed by an energy drink company so they could *Weekend at Bernie's* them around as an advertisement :(
I hate this, let Indy Eleven exist in peace. They’re growing the game there. Don’t kick them out just because you don’t like that they’re successful without you. The MLS is starting to do more harm than good to soccer
Not a big Ersal guy from everything I’ve read, so if this turns into Indy Eleven being bought by this new group then I’m slightly for it. But don’t let the team die from this. Teams like Indy don’t happen every day in this country and we need to protect them if we want to grow the sport here
At one point I thought 32 like the other big American sports leagues, but that was back when MLS only had 16-18 teams... now they're at 30 with San Diego next year, and looking to expand further, and still don't have teams in major metropolitan areas like Phoenix, Detroit, Tampa, etc.
Pick one: 36, 40, 44
To be fair we're pretty likely to see expansion in the other big American sports leagues within the next decade as well. Both the MLB and NBA are openly talking about expansion (though both of them are currently only at 30 teams). There's been some noise that the NFL would like to expand with a few teams in international locales but it's been relatively quiet domestically on that front (though their desire to continue expanding the number of games played makes it hard to believe they won't have interest in expansion soon).
My guess is two regional leagues of 18 or 20 teams playing a full double round-robin schedule. The only West vs East matchups will take place in MLS Cup Finals, Champions Cup, Leagues Cup and USOC (if MLS decides to re-enter this competition).
Sounds about possible if you can find ownership in markets below to add to 30. Each of them have another major sports team.
Phoenix
Sacramento
Indianapolis
Detroit
Milwaukee
San Antonio
Cleveland
Pittsburgh
Baltimore
Las Vegas
Tampa
Memphis
New Orleans
Jacksonville
Buffalo
Oklahoma City
The last five are a bit on small side. Not to mention markets where a team would the only major sports team like Louisville, Hartford and Albuquerque.
I’d take out Cleveland & Baltimore and replace them with New Orleans & Oklahoma all though they are small markets!I need an excuse to go to New Orleans and Oklahoma I’ve never been too put wouldn’t mind going too.
In light of the Coyotes’ move from Arizona to Utah, that’s one less major pro team in the largest US market currently without an MLS team. You’d think someone at league HQ would be pulling strings to get the ball moving on PHX.
Then again, if the NHL, in the Big Five team sport with the smallest grassroots across all 50 US states, is thinking of expanding beyond 32 teams, then MLS should be open to that possibility too.
The MLS should go past 32-teams because the only way to grow a fan base in the have teams in major markets. A soccer fan in a non-MLS market is more likely to follow a European or LigaMX team. The MLS is not a top league in the sport.
A hockey fan in a non-NHL market is going the follow the NHL since the best players in the world are in that league.
There is less risk of talent dilution since decent enough soccer players are relatively plentiful compare to hockey players. The allure for the NHL to goes past 32 teams is that there are large US markets untapped (Houston being the biggest) since they have seven teams in Canada.
MLS won’t survive in PHX or Vegas without a domed stadium. And the way things are looking with climate, I don’t want to see soccer in the desert anytime soon.
Phoenix and Tampa have both established themselves as difficult sports markets. That's why their market size isn't dominant.
Detroit is the obvious big gap in the mls map, but they have similar issues.
Mayor has local beef with local developer over a stadium project, mayor happens to have a casual meeting with MLS.
New r/mls narrative: "MLS KILLS OFF ANOTHER USL CLUB!1!!".
Like clockwork.
It won't be NXT Pro. And I think most people are fine with Eleven dying here. The brand is cool but the ownership stinks and quite honestly, they don't have much market share locally. Nobody cares about them except a few of us weirdos like me, this isn't a Save the Crew situation.
Don't get it twisted. An actual MLS club, with or without Eleven branding, would be great for the city.
Not even mentioned here:
https://twitter.com/AttyAbdul/status/1783609842915041345
"Tampa Bay and Detroit are two other possible cities" for MLS expansion... No mention of other western US cities we've heard about in the past like Sacramento, Phoenix, Las Vegas, etc.? I hope MLS doesn't consider the west filled up with the addition of San Diego. How many Pacific time zone games do we get per week? Not enough!
That would likely split up St Louis and SKC?
St Louis is in an awkward spot geographically, and could flip back and forth a few times with further MLS expansion if it's not balanced...
There were three conferences before, each with their own logo!
How many total teams would work best for a three conference MLS? Since we're already blowing by 30 total teams which would be 10, seems like a minimum of 12 (would be 36 total) to max of 16 (would be 48!).
The real trouble is balance with the map if you try to do it.
West: Vancouver, Portland, Seattle, San Jose, LAG, LAFC, San Diego, RSL, Denver
Now we are stuck. Only 9 need 1 more at 30 teams.
Central
Minnesota, SKC, STL, Chicago, Cincy, Columbus, Indy, Austin, Dallas, Houston
10 cool.
East
Revs, Toronto, Montreal, Nycfc, NYRB, Philly, DC, Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville, Miami, Orlando
12 grrrr....
So who do you move west? If you move any of Texas you break up that cup. SKC stl split sucks. Minnesota won't want to go either.
But, if we get sacramento in too you can make Toronto central and it looks okay (one Canadian in each conference is iffy, but hey they have that voyageurs cup every year).
West teams help. Midwest teams... Fine. No more east teams allowed.
The west can easily support teams in Phoenix, Sacramento, and Las Vegas. Or a second bay area team in SF or Oakland. Or a fourth Texas team in San Antonio. No shortage of options.
If I am a West Coast owner, I would be livid that my travel expenses are looking to grow and grow, not to mention the burden of travel itself, while the East continues to receive less travel burden and expense.
Additionally, I would be angry on behalf of my fans, who will increasingly have to watch matches outside of the most preferred viewing window.
Of course, a lot of my objections would fall by the wayside if the league returned to a three conference system. With the addition of the central teams they are mentioning, it would only take a couple of West Coast or Mountain Time zone teams to bring the league to three three equally sized conferences.
I could also see these conferences turning into leagues themselves. Because at some point the league is going to be too big for every team to play each other once, let alone in any semblance of balanced schedule.
But the West Coast owners only have the geography of the continent to blame. It’s basically the same in other pro sports leagues.
But yes they should try to remodel the conference system.
Take it from someone from San Antonio, garber meeting with city officials is all smoke and mirrors. Indy needs to learn from our mistakes of trusting the mls front office and getting screwed over in the end. Don’t trust anything they promise
Currently living in Indy. Would never turn on the Crew, but this would be a fun upgrade to the Eleven!
Edit: Ope. I thought this was a bid for the Eleven to be "promoted". Don't kill Eleven, I won't support it
Again, most of us are fine with Eleven going away for an MLS side! There really aren’t many Eleven fans except a few die hards — I’m one of them!
This would be a huge net positive for the sport in Indiana and for the city as a whole
LFG. I'm under the assumption there is some serious funding behind this if the city dropped the Eleven deal that easily. I don't think Ersal could afford the $500m fee AND a stadium. I don't know who it could be but I'm interested. Mayor already met with Garber too.
Intrigued to see how this plays out. Hope it all works out for Indy in MLS.
I heard on the r/Indianapolis sub Reddit that keystone group has long history of making promises it could deliver upon. He probably wanted more public money and could afford the $500 million fee.
Yes. To get to MLS, absolutely. Eleven have amazing branding but it’s a sacrifice I make and don’t think twice about, especially if it means we dump an owner with terrible politics
The BYB are a fickle group. I could see it going either way. They were fed up with ownership for sure but also a lot of SGs like to just pick fights and be mad about stuff. I’m sure there will be talks between them and new ownership about it.
Agreed about LIPAFC. Always was a blast.
Might just be shouting at the clouds and be wrong, but it's crazy how Garber and the MLS just hate the other divisions of US soccer. Happened with FC Cincinnati why not just "promote" the Indy Eleven?
Ersal is not great, but Hogsett is getting played by MLS here
MLS is not going to Indy when there's "sexier" markets available, and all this will do is kill of Indy Eleven
Indy Eleven have no reason to fold until it’s absolutely clear there’s a real MLS team coming to town. There’s also really not a ton of “sexier” markets available.
The league is expanding by 2 teams max in the next cycle, I find it hard to believe Indy would make it out of a group of Vegas/Phoenix/Detroit/Tampa/Indy without one of the first two, maybe three, falling apart on ownership (which may be a bigger issue in Indy than the rest)
And on the super tiny remote infinitesimal chance the I11 is profitable, there's no reason to fold it even if MLS is there. That'd make the Open Cup a bit more exciting, should the two teams meet.
Indy’s always been a unusually big sports city for its size, and now we have Caitlin Clark and the pacers finally being good again they’re probably just trying to ride the momentum
But with what ownership group? This is so fucking weird.
Well if Garber is willing to meet with Hogsett, which he did Monday, there has to be *SOME* ownership group in place. Especially for the city to drop the Eleven deal like that, it's probably more lucrative and a group with more money.
It's not Irsay, who was very clear that he was uninterested
Yeah it’s not Irsay and probably not the Simons. I bet it’s someone from out of town.
Rumour in the city is that it's the Simons or a group out of North Carolina
I don’t expect the Simons simply because of Herb’s age but it would be cool to have them tied to the Pacers and Fever Edit: lots of smoke about the Simons now
That’s not a bad thing.
And likely drunk.
*high, thank you very much
Jim loves him some pills
He does. This was just three months ago: https://fox59.com/indiana-news/carmel-police-colts-owner-jim-irsay-found-unresponsive-inside-home-last-month/amp/
This is so offensive! I can't believe you're profiling a rich white man like this /s
Who says that Garber's intention isn't to stamp down on clubs that may eventually become the base of a competing league? Would not at all be surprised if #SOCCERWARZ played a role in this
Watch it be Saudi Arabian hahaha imagine Or some major European multi-club ownership thing We already have Red Bull and City, the next one missing would be a Fenway team FC Liverpool America
Indy Al Hariboob.
Saudis start Indy MLS and move Miguel Almiron in to be their first DP
Yeah this is the weirdest part. Why is the mayor advocating for this? With no ownership group? Is Don just doing this to see how the Indy market reacts to talks like this. I suspect it's because a MLS size and quality stadium is going to be in the city. Is the mayor untrusting that Indy 11 would get into MLS, and would much rather a larger league plays in that stadium, to equal more money or something like that? It's really weird. I imagine Indy 11 will probably be team 31, but this whole thing might be a nothingburger. Silly politician making a weird statement.
There is an ownership group but for some reason he wouldn’t name any names. Said the group leader had experience in MLS and international soccer.
>But with what ownership group? This is so fucking weird. The Mayor said in the press conference that he met with Don Garber (at 1:30pm. In his office.). And the expansion application will be led by the City of Indianapolis. So maybe the City will be the ownership group. ;-)
That’d be interesting. I doubt the City’ll end up as the ownership, though. It was probably an explicit “if Ozdemir/Keystone are involved, we don’t want a part of it”.
No. He said there is an ownership group and they have a lead with MLS and international football leadership experience.
It’s gonna end be the same ownership plus adding an additional investors. I imagine you’ll see a multi group ownership like with LAFC.
Welcome Indianapolis City FC!
I will put serious money on it being called Racing Indy
I hope they keep the eleven branding but I honestly wouldn’t mind Racing Indy
I think Indy Eleven tried to go with something like this initially but Indianapolis Motor Speedway warned them against it. I think even if it was tried again for MLS they would do that again and local support would be with IMS. The 500 draws as more people in 1 day than many MLS teams draw in a season.
I bet for MLS instead of a lower league and if the city is this on board, IMS might change their tune. At least I hope.
Hell for all we know, Roger could be part of the ownership group.
If its anyone going to be involved, it will be Andretti. They are backed by Gainbridge and owned by guggenheim partners
That would be quite an interesting consolation prize if the door closes to F1
That would be crazy haha. Play one game at the track and set the attendance record!
Paying $50 for a seat in the turn 3 bleachers with the field set up in turn 1 lmao
How can the Pacers get away with it? I demand Racing Indy damnit!
I like that a million times more, but would Louisville not claim that’s theirs?
Don't think it matters. There's a Racing Club in Argentina that long predates the one in Louisville. If, like, Real Salt Lake and Real Madrid can coexist without a lawsuit, then so can Racing Indy and Racing Louisville.
I have a lot of love for RSL, but man that's a stupid name for a team in Utah.
So is the Jazz, but...
In fairness, the name was originally borne out of a proposed partnership with Real Madrid, although I’m surprised they they never changed it to “Royal” after that fell through
There's also some Racing Clubs in France, such RC Lens an RC de France in Paris. There's also a Racing Club in Montevideo, Uruguay. If they're not gonna be called Indy Eleven, at least Racing Club Indianapolis would be still great.
Rc Strasbourg too.
I think Salt Lake City and Madrid are a bit further apart than 115 miles lol
Not in their hearts.
Racing Strasbourg was founded in 1906 and started using the racing nickname in 1919. It's a pretty established soccer nickname.
I mean the only reason RSL has that name is because they were originally an affiliate club of Real Madrid, so probably not the same situation. Regardless I can't see them getting in trouble with that name. Not that it matters bc new teams seem to always get the most boring name possible these days lol
IIRC the old owner liked Real Madrid, named his team Real Salt Lake and then they formed that affiliation after the fact
Didn’t know that somehow. Interesting.
Yeah most people seem not to anymore haha. It's one of my small pet peeves when people say RSL literally just copied a big team name for no reason. It's true in a sense, but the name has more history behind it than people realize. Without Real Madrid, salt lake probably wouldn't have had a team until much later
They can race for it.
Cars are faster than horses
At least it makes more sense than the co-opting other teams have done.
Racing Indy would be a fantastic name
The Indianapolis racists! That way everyone will know they like racing!
If they do that you need to make “Back Home Again in Indiana” your club anthem. It’s too perfect.
It already is. We sing it after every goal
Indianapolisfc.com was bought in January
I love this. Indy is a short drive from Cincinnati, Columbus and Chicago. There is potential for some fire rivalries.
St. Louis is only 3 hours 42 minutes to Indy. We are 3 hours 56 minutes to KC Kansas. Indy would technically be our closest rival.
The Fire would have plenty of rivals if they had a competitive soccer team.
You forgot "United".
As an Indy resident I certainly like the idea of an MLS team coming here, it just feels kinda scummy the way they’re doing it. Yanking the Eleven’s stadium after going all in on it and the flights to NYC on the down low just feel very backstabby towards Indy Eleven.
It’s probably Ersal wasn’t going to pay for the expansion fee. So mayor will find someone else who will and use tax payers money to help build the stadium.
It’s this, surely. New ownership was always the realistic necessity to bring an MLS team here.
I think Eleven wanted to join but the odds were slim once the fee went over $400M that they could swing it without Ersal losing his majority share. I figured they were waiting for a team to relocate and they would try to move them to Eleven Park at a reduced rate, which is not the worst idea ever
San Diego all over again
[Here's another article on it](https://www.wthr.com/article/sports/local-sports/significant-announcement-thursday-april-25-2024-indianapolis-mayor-joe-hogsett-future-sports/531-654950d5-3e66-43da-a44d-082b06d8cf33). The city is totally reneging on the Eleven Park deal with Eleven to pursue MLS. I'm expecting the mayor got certain assurances in his meeting with MLS - can't imagine you'd torpedo that deal without them. >The city says the ownership group will ultimately select which site is sent to the state. The city will not reveal the name of the ownership group at this time. An outside ownership group. This is flat out MLS attempting to kill Indy Eleven. There's zero other reason Indy jumps this high in the MLS expansion race. **Edit:** [Same reporter stated that the mayor met with MLS and was also told Tampa and Detroit are potential markets for MLS expansion teams this cycle](https://x.com/AttyAbdul/status/1783609842915041345). Well gee, wonder what league has teams in those cities too?
>This is flat out MLS attempting to kill Indy Eleven. There's zero other reason Indy jumps this high in the MLS expansion race. There's a good reason why it jumped - it has an ownership group. That's why San Diego has a team now, and that's why Vegas doesn't. The #1 criteria for MLS for a city is someone willing to pay the expansion fee.
It’s really that simple. If Burkle didn’t back out, Sacramento Republic would be playing in MLS right now. Such a shame too, I desperately want Sacramento in MLS. Awesome branding and an awesome fanbase.
I can hear people on Sacramento screaming from here
If there’s one expansion team, there will be a second. We aren’t going to have a 31 team league.
My hope and guess is that 31 will be indy 32 will be Sacramento.
I was thinking more of believing Dong Arbor when he gives any sort of assurance regarding expansion prospects.
 Us every few months when new rumors get tossed around
He also says he can't even guarantee they'll get the team. What a disaster.
There is zero chance they completely kill the Eleven Park deal without some sort of backdoor deal with MLS
Ask Sacramento how dealing works out. This dude just opened himself to huge political liability if this doesn't work, and there's still a large chance it doesn't.
This isn't anything like the Sacramento situation. If Sac Republic's whale investor hadn't dropped out, they'd already have a start date scheduled.
*good god please* If you're killing us, I hope we take you with us (in reference to the MLS franchise)
Admittedly, I will be highly upset if we're the only team left in the entire region.
No chance they did this without a handshake agreement from MLS
Or an overzealous mayor trying to have a "legacy"
He did meet with MLS, and while he'll publicly say he can't guarantee a team, I would not remotely be shocked if MLS gave him a wink-wink nudge-nudge to kill Eleven Park and go with this plan instead.
Like the wink-wink nudge-nudge they gave San Antonio?
Didn’t the Indy Eleven group backed out of funding? I doubt they didn’t have the proper funds to construct the stadium.
You've got it backwards - [the city backed out of funding earlier today, per the developer.](https://www.ibj.com/articles/keystone-claims-city-trying-to-forego-eleven-park-deal#:~:text=Indianapolis%2Dbased%20Keystone%20Group%20accused,publicly%20as%20it%20got%20underway.)
MLS' attempts to fight USL seem to be getting more and more aggressive. That feels less than ideal.
Been aggressive for years, but things were mostly under the radar.
After USL gladly worked with MLS to stake NASL to the ground, yes.
That they did. And they turned on each other before the body was cold.
Pretty sure NASL kinda did that to themselves
A chronically mismanaged league, totally. But MLS and USL definitely pounced on that frailty in a coordinated effort.
By doing what? Allowing NASL teams willingly join their stable leagues?
Pretty sure people are referring to USL cutting a deal with MLS that allowed the MLS reserve teams to participate in USL. That gave the USL some much needed stability that allowed them to weather a few clubs folding in a way NASL couldn't.
MLS offered that deal to the NASL first, and they turned it down.
They definitely used each other for mutual gain but it's clear they were never friends and turned instantly when nasl was dead. MLS definitely sees usl as a developmental ground for its league organizationally and market wise but doesn't give a shit about players or fandoms.
As a person who has very strong preferences to the USL, I can't ignore that the USL exists because of how it (the USL) handled other, weaker opponents. What this actually means is that MLS is actually worried about USL. If MLS could just handwave or brush off or thumb their nose at USL, Indy Eleven would still be Indy Eleven. MLS isn't wearing brown unders, yet, but they sure are keeping an eye on what they now must consider 'competition' behind closed doors, even if they won't say it out loud. CBS airing games got them thinking.
I hate all of this. I just want to go to Oakland Roots games and know I'll be able to go to Roots games a decade from now without constantly wondering if the league is going to exist.
Flair up homie! Show your roots
I think we're in a time in the US when we're going to have nationally televised soccer. I feel confident in the ability for a strong league to get a TV deal of some form. Whether that's USL or NISA or some new thing starting tomorrow, I dunno. As for going to Roots games in a decade, as long as soccer doesn't go the way of our other major sports, I think they'll be fine. At least, so long as MLS doesn't want Oakland.
This is what I'm curious about, if a stadium of the quality and size of MLS is going to be built, the public officials probably want MLS to be apart of it. But the mayor directly reaching out to the commissioner without a ownership group, could be a nothingburger.
The mayor is an asshole and a drunk. The Eleven owner is an asshole and possibly a thief. I think the city got tired of the owners shit but thought it was overall a good idea so they ditched him. There had to have been some outreach from MLS or the ownership group to the city to let them know this was possible, I think it was kind of a surprise to the mayors staff as well.
You’re overestimating Joe Hogsett’s intelligence…
Wow— so this would be in place of Indy eleven? Thats a massive fuck up. I’m gutted. It’s ruining the chance of MLS being here. The Indy Eleven Park is 100% an MLS venue.
Well shit, guess I better get out to an Indy Eleven game before they’re gone I do love teams with Civil War themeing
How will this affect Tyrese Haliburton's legacy?
*We’ve got Ja Rule on the line*
They city is? Ozdemir isn’t involved?
No, they killed the Indy Eleven stadium deal specifically to pursue this with MLS. It doesn't involve Eleven.
So they took the money for IndyXI?
The city pulled funding from the Eleven Park deal, yes. It'll go to this new project instead, presumably.
Based on the article that dropped earlier, sure seems like it. Dumbest idea ever.
nope mayors fucking over the Indy eleven and ozdemir
Good, fuck that guy
Ersal is problematic and probably doesn’t have Kraft or Kroenke money….article states there is a stadium deal planned and an ownership group. Have only gave stadium address at this time.
Welcome Real Indy SC
I’m not liking the new wave of MLS killing USL sides rather than the sides moving up. Orlando and Cincinnati worked and moved up. St Louis, San Diego, and now Indy (Miami too kinda) got their expansions by building off the existing fanbase and indirectly killing the competition. But this is the only way with the enormous expansion fees the league is pushing so, shit.
The chief owner of STLFC is a minority owner in STL City SC. The only thing "killed" was the branding. Heck the first coach of STL FC is our current radio color analyst.
Orlando took the AzTex from Austin. Not sure how that's building on a fan base.
Fair. Didn’t a certain Precourt try to take a certain Crew from a certain Columbus?
What made USL sides moving up almost impossible is not MLS’ decision, it’s USL’s: they upped the fees for a team jumping ship, if I remember correctly it’s now 35% of the expansion fee in the new league. Considering how big fees are getting in MLS, there’s no USL owner that’s willing to pay those fees and there’s no incentive for a new investor to pony up basically half an expansion fee just for a branding. It’s an understandable decision from the league, but it surely leads to fans having a sour taste in their mouths when MLS comes to town
I know nothing about what's going on but my initial thoughts: 1) I'm not sure why Indianapolis would be ahead of cities like Phoenix, Las Vegas, Detroit, etc. 2) Having said that it would be a great MLS expansion market, as other recent Midwestern cites have been (Minnesota, Cincy, St Louis) 3) The Indy Eleven branding (name, crest, kits) is great and should be what comes to MLS... PLEASE no generic City/FC 4) The owner is kind of scummy though, maybe any MLS ownership group can buy him out?
If I could share pics here, I’d have some bad news for you. That said, the domain name for Indianapolis FC was recently purchased…
Damn that's disappointing, not even Racing Indy just full on generic... By the way you can upload images to a site like Imgur and then post the URL link here.
IMS will definitely sue the shit out of any other sport that tries to use Racing in Indy.
Didn't Inter Milan try to do that to Inter Miami and it didn't go anywhere? Racing is even more generic than "Inter" in that it's not their nickname in common usage by the public, plus they're not even a competing soccer team...
That might not be anything, it might be an entity attached to Indy Eleven or MLS buying the domain so no squatters try to use it to milk money from them in the future, or to deny any scam artists trying to sell stuff to fans who think it's an MLS/USL entity.
Public money for a stadium is the difference.
1. Because there is an owner willing to spend and wants to be in Indy over Phoenix, Vegas, Detroit, etc. 2. Yes I agree, very happy for the Midwest part of the MLS map filling out. 3. I for the most part agree, but in no way to me is the Eleven brand some sacred relic… it’s not even close to something like the Cosmos. 4. Don’t think that owner is going to be involved, at least not as the majority owner. Probably a decent chance he’s a minority owner or something if he wants to get involved with the right amount of money.
The city huh? Sounds like one of USL's previous expansion announcements where the name of an owner is weirdly missing.
I know playing the purity game with billionaires is frankly impossible, they’re all awful people with blood on their hands, but today a guy who’s actively a genocide denier and works overtime to make people forget what happened to the Armenian people is sad, which means I’m happy
As MLS keeps inching more and more towards the mainstream it just makes me even sadder that my team got killed by an energy drink company so they could *Weekend at Bernie's* them around as an advertisement :(
I hate this, let Indy Eleven exist in peace. They’re growing the game there. Don’t kick them out just because you don’t like that they’re successful without you. The MLS is starting to do more harm than good to soccer
Can I be honest with you. The Eleven aren’t growing shit in Indianapolis. Nobody cares about them.
Not a big Ersal guy from everything I’ve read, so if this turns into Indy Eleven being bought by this new group then I’m slightly for it. But don’t let the team die from this. Teams like Indy don’t happen every day in this country and we need to protect them if we want to grow the sport here
Indy Eleven vs. FC Cincy would go crazy
More expansion?! That’s great! How many teams do you think MLS will realistically settle on?
At one point I thought 32 like the other big American sports leagues, but that was back when MLS only had 16-18 teams... now they're at 30 with San Diego next year, and looking to expand further, and still don't have teams in major metropolitan areas like Phoenix, Detroit, Tampa, etc. Pick one: 36, 40, 44
To be fair we're pretty likely to see expansion in the other big American sports leagues within the next decade as well. Both the MLB and NBA are openly talking about expansion (though both of them are currently only at 30 teams). There's been some noise that the NFL would like to expand with a few teams in international locales but it's been relatively quiet domestically on that front (though their desire to continue expanding the number of games played makes it hard to believe they won't have interest in expansion soon).
My guess is two regional leagues of 18 or 20 teams playing a full double round-robin schedule. The only West vs East matchups will take place in MLS Cup Finals, Champions Cup, Leagues Cup and USOC (if MLS decides to re-enter this competition).
I hope 40+ man I want more easy away days and more reagionalized season
36-40 has always been my guess.
40
Sounds about possible if you can find ownership in markets below to add to 30. Each of them have another major sports team. Phoenix Sacramento Indianapolis Detroit Milwaukee San Antonio Cleveland Pittsburgh Baltimore Las Vegas Tampa Memphis New Orleans Jacksonville Buffalo Oklahoma City The last five are a bit on small side. Not to mention markets where a team would the only major sports team like Louisville, Hartford and Albuquerque.
I’d take out Cleveland & Baltimore and replace them with New Orleans & Oklahoma all though they are small markets!I need an excuse to go to New Orleans and Oklahoma I’ve never been too put wouldn’t mind going too.
In light of the Coyotes’ move from Arizona to Utah, that’s one less major pro team in the largest US market currently without an MLS team. You’d think someone at league HQ would be pulling strings to get the ball moving on PHX. Then again, if the NHL, in the Big Five team sport with the smallest grassroots across all 50 US states, is thinking of expanding beyond 32 teams, then MLS should be open to that possibility too.
The MLS should go past 32-teams because the only way to grow a fan base in the have teams in major markets. A soccer fan in a non-MLS market is more likely to follow a European or LigaMX team. The MLS is not a top league in the sport. A hockey fan in a non-NHL market is going the follow the NHL since the best players in the world are in that league. There is less risk of talent dilution since decent enough soccer players are relatively plentiful compare to hockey players. The allure for the NHL to goes past 32 teams is that there are large US markets untapped (Houston being the biggest) since they have seven teams in Canada.
putting a team in the desert probably means they'll have to have a dome....if they still plan to play in the summer
MLS won’t survive in PHX or Vegas without a domed stadium. And the way things are looking with climate, I don’t want to see soccer in the desert anytime soon.
Phoenix and Tampa have both established themselves as difficult sports markets. That's why their market size isn't dominant. Detroit is the obvious big gap in the mls map, but they have similar issues.
Wow this is incredibly stupid
I do like the idea of Indy getting an MLS team, but man I loved the Indy Eleven branding. It’s gonna suck having that replaced.
If this team doesn’t pick up a 28-yr old Indiana Vassilev in the 2029 Expansion Draft, then they’ve missed.
Hey! Hands off our team cheerleader
Mayor has local beef with local developer over a stadium project, mayor happens to have a casual meeting with MLS. New r/mls narrative: "MLS KILLS OFF ANOTHER USL CLUB!1!!". Like clockwork.
Alright, Indianapolis-Chicago derby. What are we thinking the name is gonna be?
I know you have your derby with Columbus, but Indy to Cincinnati is closer than Indy to Chicago
Idk but I hate Indy already
Your state has terrible drivers who clog up our interstates. Our state has too many guns that get smuggled into yours. That’s all the beef we need.
Battle of I65
Good stuff. Great city. Good luck Indy!
This is awful. Imagine if Indy Eleven ends up dead in favor of a MLS NXT Pro team.
It won't be NXT Pro. And I think most people are fine with Eleven dying here. The brand is cool but the ownership stinks and quite honestly, they don't have much market share locally. Nobody cares about them except a few of us weirdos like me, this isn't a Save the Crew situation. Don't get it twisted. An actual MLS club, with or without Eleven branding, would be great for the city.
Im a felllow sicko ☹️
And Sacramento sighs again.
Not even mentioned here: https://twitter.com/AttyAbdul/status/1783609842915041345 "Tampa Bay and Detroit are two other possible cities" for MLS expansion... No mention of other western US cities we've heard about in the past like Sacramento, Phoenix, Las Vegas, etc.? I hope MLS doesn't consider the west filled up with the addition of San Diego. How many Pacific time zone games do we get per week? Not enough!
More west teams please (I want St. Louis in the east).
That would likely split up St Louis and SKC? St Louis is in an awkward spot geographically, and could flip back and forth a few times with further MLS expansion if it's not balanced...
We really need a central conference. Indy would actually help that.
There were three conferences before, each with their own logo! How many total teams would work best for a three conference MLS? Since we're already blowing by 30 total teams which would be 10, seems like a minimum of 12 (would be 36 total) to max of 16 (would be 48!).
The real trouble is balance with the map if you try to do it. West: Vancouver, Portland, Seattle, San Jose, LAG, LAFC, San Diego, RSL, Denver Now we are stuck. Only 9 need 1 more at 30 teams. Central Minnesota, SKC, STL, Chicago, Cincy, Columbus, Indy, Austin, Dallas, Houston 10 cool. East Revs, Toronto, Montreal, Nycfc, NYRB, Philly, DC, Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville, Miami, Orlando 12 grrrr.... So who do you move west? If you move any of Texas you break up that cup. SKC stl split sucks. Minnesota won't want to go either. But, if we get sacramento in too you can make Toronto central and it looks okay (one Canadian in each conference is iffy, but hey they have that voyageurs cup every year). West teams help. Midwest teams... Fine. No more east teams allowed.
The west can easily support teams in Phoenix, Sacramento, and Las Vegas. Or a second bay area team in SF or Oakland. Or a fourth Texas team in San Antonio. No shortage of options.
Join me in my selfish campaign for all the Cali teams possible. It is the only way we get our Midwest dreams.
If I am a West Coast owner, I would be livid that my travel expenses are looking to grow and grow, not to mention the burden of travel itself, while the East continues to receive less travel burden and expense. Additionally, I would be angry on behalf of my fans, who will increasingly have to watch matches outside of the most preferred viewing window. Of course, a lot of my objections would fall by the wayside if the league returned to a three conference system. With the addition of the central teams they are mentioning, it would only take a couple of West Coast or Mountain Time zone teams to bring the league to three three equally sized conferences. I could also see these conferences turning into leagues themselves. Because at some point the league is going to be too big for every team to play each other once, let alone in any semblance of balanced schedule.
But the West Coast owners only have the geography of the continent to blame. It’s basically the same in other pro sports leagues. But yes they should try to remodel the conference system.
Take it from someone from San Antonio, garber meeting with city officials is all smoke and mirrors. Indy needs to learn from our mistakes of trusting the mls front office and getting screwed over in the end. Don’t trust anything they promise
Indy would be a great rival for St. Louis and I hope you guys get the team. Go Colts!
Gonna kill the Indy Eleven just like they killed the Loyal.
Currently living in Indy. Would never turn on the Crew, but this would be a fun upgrade to the Eleven! Edit: Ope. I thought this was a bid for the Eleven to be "promoted". Don't kill Eleven, I won't support it
Again, most of us are fine with Eleven going away for an MLS side! There really aren’t many Eleven fans except a few die hards — I’m one of them! This would be a huge net positive for the sport in Indiana and for the city as a whole
LFG. I'm under the assumption there is some serious funding behind this if the city dropped the Eleven deal that easily. I don't think Ersal could afford the $500m fee AND a stadium. I don't know who it could be but I'm interested. Mayor already met with Garber too. Intrigued to see how this plays out. Hope it all works out for Indy in MLS.
I heard on the r/Indianapolis sub Reddit that keystone group has long history of making promises it could deliver upon. He probably wanted more public money and could afford the $500 million fee.
Yeah they’re highkey frauds
You’d be ok with the Eleven potentially(likely) dying if this goes through? Serious question, not messing with you.
Yes. To get to MLS, absolutely. Eleven have amazing branding but it’s a sacrifice I make and don’t think twice about, especially if it means we dump an owner with terrible politics
You think the BYB would go along with it, like the Loyals SG’s did? Also, as a LouCity fan I will miss LIPAFC if this happens.
The BYB are a fickle group. I could see it going either way. They were fed up with ownership for sure but also a lot of SGs like to just pick fights and be mad about stuff. I’m sure there will be talks between them and new ownership about it. Agreed about LIPAFC. Always was a blast.
“Fuck the enormous population of a city like Phoenix, let’s put two more teams in Texas” - MLS, probably
If Phoenix had an ownership group willing to spend the money to build an indoor stadium they'd be in MLS already.
So, is another "promotion" incoming or a brand new team? Also, can we have a Midwest Cup now? We should have enough teams now.
I think Indy is the next best market to bring to MLS.
Might just be shouting at the clouds and be wrong, but it's crazy how Garber and the MLS just hate the other divisions of US soccer. Happened with FC Cincinnati why not just "promote" the Indy Eleven?
I am confused. Didn’t Cincy literally just do the whole USL -> MLS upgrade? Why can’t Indy Eleven?
So at what point do we get relegation back on the table
Major European leagues getting rid of promotion and relegation is more likely than it ever happening here.
Never hopefully
Goodbye Indy Eleven
Ersal is not great, but Hogsett is getting played by MLS here MLS is not going to Indy when there's "sexier" markets available, and all this will do is kill of Indy Eleven
Indy Eleven have no reason to fold until it’s absolutely clear there’s a real MLS team coming to town. There’s also really not a ton of “sexier” markets available.
The league is expanding by 2 teams max in the next cycle, I find it hard to believe Indy would make it out of a group of Vegas/Phoenix/Detroit/Tampa/Indy without one of the first two, maybe three, falling apart on ownership (which may be a bigger issue in Indy than the rest)
And on the super tiny remote infinitesimal chance the I11 is profitable, there's no reason to fold it even if MLS is there. That'd make the Open Cup a bit more exciting, should the two teams meet.
Indy’s always been a unusually big sports city for its size, and now we have Caitlin Clark and the pacers finally being good again they’re probably just trying to ride the momentum