The Las Vegas City Council is making another push to land a Major League Soccer expansion team with local station KVVU-TV reporting this week that the council approved a contract with sports investment bank Inner Circle Sports to develop a comprehensive plan for a new club in the city.
The City Council, which last year had a similar contract connected to a specific stadium site, has tasked Inner Circle Sports with identifying investors for an MLS expansion team, determining funding sources for the club and venue, and creating a marketing plan.
“I believe the city is most definitely deserving of a franchise that is the largest and the fastest growing sport in the country, in the world for that matter,” Councilman Ricki Barlow said in the report.
In recent years Las Vegas has been at the center of expansion speculation across a number of professional sports and MLS has figured among them. The National Hockey League recently announced the Vegas Golden Knights will launch for the 2017-18 season.
In December MLS announced a timeline and list of requirements for upcoming rounds of league expansion. Interested ownership groups are expected to submit an application to the league by the end of January, with proposals to be reviewed and the MLS's 25th and 26th teams to be announced later this year.
Thus far, the list of ownership groups acknowledged by the league from markets that have publicly expressed interest in securing an MLS expansion team includes: Charlotte, Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, Raleigh/Durham, Sacramento, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa/St. Petersburg.
