MLS is just months away from fielding its 30th team, but after years of constant growth, that number may be in place for a little while.
Addressing reporters at a press conference ahead of Wednesday night’s MLS All-Star Game, MLS commissioner Don Garber said that expansion — a near constant for a league that has added at least one team in seven of the last eight seasons — may be paused for an unspecified period of time.
“It’s going to be the end of expansion for a period of time, until we’re ready to expand again,” Garber said. “Right now there isn’t a specific plan to expand.”
Later asked if he could clarify how much future expansion might cost an incoming team, Garber laughed before stating that “it’ll be more than $500 million.” That figure was reported as the price San Diego FC’s ownership group paid to gain its place in MLS.
Garber did not close the door on expansion, conceding that if the right situation presented itself, MLS would continue adding teams.
“If there’s a good market for us to expand in, if that market makes sense, if we have the right owner and the right city — like any league — we would consider strongly expanding beyond 30 teams that we have now,” stated the commissioner.
MLS to Indianapolis? Not so fast
Garber’s declaration will be bad news for Indianapolis. Mayor Joe Hogsett declared in April that he had discussed the city’s expansion prospects with Garber, causing a local uproar over a related decision impacting a planned stadium project for USL Championship club Indy Eleven.
The commissioner acknowledged that Hogsett is in Columbus and has been seen at events relating to the All-Star Game, but did not further clarify the status of the city’s bid to get itself an MLS team.
MLS will become a 30-team circuit in 2025 when San Diego FC begins play, which — despite being the norm across U.S. sports — is uncommon in soccer. Global standards for larger countries skew towards 18- or 20-team top-flight leagues.
The only modern example of a 30-team league is Argentina’s three-season experiment with a 30-team Primera Division from 2015-17, which saw multiple competitive formats used. That league scaled down to 24 sides in the seasons that followed, only to expand back up to 28 from 2022 to today.
MLS started the 2016 season with 20 teams, but has moved aggressively to grow since then. San Diego FC will be the 10th team to join the league over that timespan.
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