Major League Soccer is reportedly close to securing a soccer-specific stadium in Queens, New York City, right across from Citi Field. The stadium will cost the MLS three-hundred million dollars, while it is normally the responsibility of the team to secure a stadium. Construction on the stadium is supposed to begin in 2013, when the New York Cosmos begin play in the North American Soccer League (one step below MLS, like AAA Baseball or the American Hockey League). The league will auction off the franchise to potential bidders upon construction of the stadium, so the Cosmos won’t necessarily be the winning bid, although the MLS would surely love to add that brand. As great as it would be to bring the Cosmos back, there are also some negatives about the expansion. Placing the 20th team in New York leaves the overwhelmingly obviously hole in the Southeast, which hasn’t hosted a team since the 2001 contraction of the Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny. Furthermore, the already-existent New York Red Bulls fan base will be chipped into severely, as Red Bull Arena is located in a rather inconvenient location in New Jersey, while much of the New York population will find it easier to access the new stadium, and if the Cosmos brand is used, the Red Bulls will find that nostalgia is against them as well. New York State and City officials will still have to approve the arrangement before the expansion can be officially announced. The new New York franchise will not take the field until 2014 at the earliest, making 2013 the first season since 2004 (the 2006 Houston Dynamo and 2008 San Jose Earthquakes were a situation similar to the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens situation in the NFL) in which there has not been at least one new expansion team in the league.
With the expansion into New York, the league will be forced to realign. Two potential realignment possibilities include:
Simply moving the Dynamo to the Western Conference, and putting both conferences on the Eastern Conference schedule format.
Eastern Conference
Chicago Fire
Columbus Crew
D.C. United
Montreal Impact
New England Revolution
New York Cosmos
New York Red Bulls
Philadelphia Union
Sporting Kansas City
Toronto FC
Western Conference
C.D. Chivas USA
Colorado Rapids
FC Dallas
Houston Dynamo
Los Angeles Galaxy
Portland Timbers
Real Salt Lake
San Jose Earthquakes
Seattle Sounders FC
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Another possibility would be to divide each conference into two divisions, with the Dynamo still going to the West. The top three teams in each division make the playoffs, with the 2nd and 3rd teams playing and the winner facing the first place team. The division winners in each conference would then play, with the winner going to the MLS Cup. Teams would play division rivals four times each, teams in their conference’s other division twice each, and every team in the other conference once, expanding the season from 34 to 36 games.
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
D.C. United
New England Revolution
New York Red Bulls
New York Cosmos
Philadelphia Union
Central Division
Chicago Fire
Columbus Crew
Montreal Impact
Sporting Kansas City
Toronto FC
Western Conference
Northwestern Division
Colorado Rapids
Portland Timbers
Real Salt Lake
Seattle Sounders FC
Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Southwestern Division
C.D. Chivas USA
FC Dallas
Houston Dynamo
Los Angeles Galaxy
San Jose Earthquakes
