Las Vegas might be getting a professional soccer team
Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber created excitement among fans. On Tuesday, December 7, 2021, it was confirmed that Las Vegas is in the lead to become the league’s 30th soccer team.
The MLS is conversating with Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Wes Edens on a potential club in Las Vegas. The league is also navigating two other markets for a new team. Those two choices right now are Phoenix and San Diego.
Purpose
“I think that the interest in MLS is continuing to grow,” the commissioner told KTNV13 News. “The value that investors look at when they’re determining how they want to engage with professional soccer or professional sports overall, is at an all-time high.”
“We’re making progress, as has been announced—or has been leaked—in Las Vegas,” Garber said in his State of the League address. “We’re excited about the market, as are all the other leagues here in North America.”
The recent success of the Vegas Golden Knights and the Las Vegas Raiders makes the market satisfying to local fans. He called the Knights’ expansion, “one of the greatest expansion team launches of professional sports.” He also stated that what the Raiders organization has done in Vegas is, “spectacular.”
“I’m just blown away by what’s been going on in Las Vegas, and I’ve been in the sports business for a long time,” Garber said. “I didn’t see it coming.”
Last Team To Join
Austin Football Club (Austin FC) was founded in 2018. The club began playing in the MLS in 2021 at Q-2 stadium. Based in North-Central Austin, the stadium holds a capacity of 20,500 people. They were the 27th team added to the league in 2021.
Austin FC are the first professional sports team to play in the capital of Texas. Prior to 2021, Austin was the lone city that did not host any team in its city.
The team is coached by longtime MLS star Josh Wolf. In their inaugural season, Austin FC finished 12-overall in the Western Conference. The team also finished 24th out of the 27 teams in the league. As a result, they missed the playoffs by a wide margin.
Announcement
The MLS is expected to make an announcement within the next 12-months. There are still rumors going around about the Oakland A’s eventual move to Las Vegas.
Potential Site for Baseball Team
The Oakland Athletics have a made a move towards transferring the team to Southern Nevada. The MLB club is in hopes of purchasing new stadium land. Many news outlets have reported that the A’s have made an offer to purchase land in the Las Vegas region.
The one concern is no one knows where the land is. None of those outlets could verify where the land is located, how much the A’s would pay for the land, and what it would be occupied for? That’s the burning question. The organization was unable to answer these questions.
The A’s have been reveling to 13 Action News that they’ve made a list of nearly two-dozen likely sights for a new ballpark in Southern Nevada. They promised they would narrow their choices down to three or four sights after the end of the World Series.
While the World Series has been over for 2 months now, we still haven’t heard anything about the stadium location. We will just have to wait and see.
Activities
With the MLS on the shortlist and hopefully coming to Vegas, fans would be able to enjoy other activities as well. There are many wonderful restaurants, casinos, shows, etc., to see while visiting Las Vegas!
When you’re around town, check out Go-Kart Racing. There is always a need for speed!