Major League Soccer announces it will expand to at least 30 teams

Major League Soccer, and North American soccer, in general, is an evolving and shifting landscape. 

The extent of the growth and its associated costs came into clearer focus on Thursday when MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced plans to swell the league's ranks to 30 clubs from its current number of 24 over an unspecified period of time. 

The league had previously said it planned to expand to 28 teams. 

The next two teams will pay an expansion fee of $200 million. The price for expansion team No. 30 wasn't set. 

The decision to grow to 30 clubs was made by owners at Board of Governors meetings in Los Angeles. No decisions on expansion markets were finalized, but Sacramento and St. Louis appear to have a leg up on the competition as they've been asked to make formal presentations to the MLS Expansion Committee "to address each bid’s final stadium plan, corporate commitments, the composition of the respective ownership groups, detailed economics on funding, strategic plans for fan development, commitments on player development and details on community programs," MLS officials said in a news release.

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“Professional soccer at all levels is thriving in the United States and Canada and we believe there are many markets that could support a successful MLS club,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in a league statement. “Expansion during the last 15 years has been enormously successful and a key driver behind the league’s continued rise, and we are pleased that some of the top business and community leaders representing great markets in North America are aggressively pursuing MLS expansion clubs.”

Major League Soccer currently has 24 teams, with FC Cincinnati joining the league this season. MLS has added six new teams over the past five years.

Teams 25 and 26 — Inter Miami CF and Nashville SC — are scheduled to begin MLS play next year with Austin FC to come online in 2021. 

Follow the Cincinnati Enquirer's Patrick Brennan on Twitter @PBrennanENQ.