Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber was in Toronto on Wednesday to meet with Canadian business leaders. He also attended Toronto FC's game against the Montréal Impact in the Amway Canadian Championship, Canada's equivalent of the U.S. Open Cup.
Garber spoke with reporters at halftime of the game, and made some significant headlines. He said that the league may be ready to make an announcement soon about adding a second team in the New York market:
Given MLS' struggles thus far to nail down that franchise, there was quite a bit of speculation on Twitter that the attempt to bring a second team to the Big Apple - specifically, to a plot of land near Citi Field and the USTA National Tennis Center in Queens - had failed.
Dan Courtemanche, MLS' executive vice president of communications, quickly took to Twitter to try to clarify matters:
Courtemanche's remark sounded to me like confirmation that New York was back in front. So did this report out of Toronto:
Note how it doesn't say that there's not going to be a second team in New York. It only says what the ownership group won't be.
I've talked with multiple sources and have been told that the owners of English Premier League powerhouse Manchester City are now once again in the lead to take hold of MLS' 20th franchise.
You may recall that back in December, Bloomberg reported that City's principal owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was "close" to a deal with MLS. That was as much as we heard, though.
Soon thereafter, Empire of Soccer reported that MLS had filed a trademark registration for the name "New York City FC." Given Manchester City's potential involvement - not to mention the simple allure of such a name - it made sense.
From what I've heard, talks have continued to progress. There is no deal in place yet - and that bears highlighting, given the sensitive nature of these things.
But Garber's remarks Wednesday night seem to indicate that the matter has reached a stage that is advanced enough for the head of MLS to speak publicly about it.
Exactly when the team would begin playing in MLS isn't clear yet. Among other factors, the proposed stadium in Queens hasn't been approved yet.
This much is known, though: Manchester City will be in New York at the end of May to play a friendly against fellow Premier League power Chelsea at Yankee Stadium. There will be a lot of ears perked up to see if an announcement gets made at that time.
And if it does, you can be sure that a lot of people will take notice. Not only will it finally get MLS a team inside New York's city limits, but the announcement would also come just months before the start of the league's next round of negotiations for national television deals.
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