Sacramento Republic FC made to wait in becoming MLS franchise
Sacramento Republic FC rates highly on Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber's list of clubs to join North America's elite division, but may have to wait until beyond 2020 until it can call itself an MLS franchise.
Republic currently plays in the United Soccer League and made the first round of the playoffs this season.
"Sacramento will be very high on our list of next clubs to come into the league," Garber said on a conference call quoted in the Sacramento Bee.
"This might be painful in the short term, but long term I believe Republic will be in this league ... and everybody will forget the drama and uncertainty of where we are today."
Garber is currently working on expanding MLS to 24 teams, and with the inclusion of New York City FC and Orlando City in 2015, the league is now up to 20 clubs. Atlanta and Los Angeles FC are due to start in 2017, and Minnesota United was given an expansion team earlier this year and is slated to begin in 2018.
The final place is reserved for David Beckham and his group, Miami Beckham United, who looks like it is finally edging closer to securing a location for a stadium. That should complete Garber's aim by his projected target of 2020.
A second wave of expansion is anticipated, with Sacramento expected to be rivaled by cities such as San Antonio, Austin, St. Louis, and Indianapolis in obtaining an MLS franchise, but there is no timeline for the next stage.
Luckily for Sacramento, there is already a verbal agreement that the city will host Major League Soccer ... one day.