According to multiple St. Louis media outlets, Major League Soccer will be officially award a franchise to St. Louis, with the announcement set to come on Tuesday, Aug 20. The hope is that play would begin by 2022. Final plans for the team’s name, colors and stadium financing have not been revealed.
The MLS ownership group #MLS4TheLou comprised of Carolyn Kindle Betz, of Senior VP of Enterprise Holdings and Jim Kavanaugh, CEO of World Wide Technology led the charge. The group included Andy Taylor, an Executive Chairman of Enterprise along with six other females from the Taylor family, which would make the St. Louis franchise the first female majority owned club in MLS history.
The leading site for an open-air soccer stadium would be adjacent to Union Station in downtown St. Louis.
MLS expansion appears set for 2021, with Inter Miami CF (2020), Nashville SC (2020) and Austin FC (2021) beginning play in the next two years, bringing the total of MLS clubs to 27 with St. Louis and Sacramento to fill in the 28th and 29th spots. Phoenix, Detroit, Charlotte, Las Vegas and San Diego were also in the running for expansion clubs and could still be added down the road. There is talk MLS would eventually like to expand to 32 teams.