Minnesota being considered for MLS expansion, San Antonio is not

Major League Soccer has announced three cities that will be competing for the final upcoming expansion slot, as the league attempts to grow itself to 24 teams by 2020. Those three finalists include Minneapolis, Las Vegas, and Sacramento:

Three markets will present their case for a Major League Soccer expansion team on Thursday in New York as the league looks to meet its stated goal of 24 teams by the end of the decade.

The league office confirmed on Wednesday that representatives from Las Vegas, Minneapolis, and Sacramento will make presentations at MLS headquarters on Thursday, November 20.

New York City FC and Orlando City will debut in 2015, while new clubs in Los Angeles and Atlanta will launch in 2017.

According to the league, following Thursday’s meeting, future expansion will be discussed further at the MLS Board of Governors meeting, set to be held on December 6.

Minneapolis is already an NASL market, while Sacramento has long been rumored to be a target of the league. It's interesting that San Antonio is not mentioned, however, as there have been recent reports that a group had interest in purchasing the Scorpions and joining MLS.

Ideally, Don Garber and company will settle on Las Vegas, leaving the Minnesota and Sacramento markets for NASL sides. That said, it will be interesting if they create a team to compete with Minnesota United, potentially leaving both untapped markets for the NASL to claim.