Hartford City FC will be the NASL's newest expansion side, according to reports

North American Soccer League expansion was the talk of much of this winter, and on Monday, we're hearing reports of the latest expansion city. Most fans likely expected to hear about a west coast club to help the league comply with US Soccer requirements for Division 2 status, but it turns out the league may have found themselves a local rival for the New York Cosmos as well.

FOX CT Sports Director Rich Coppola is reporting that the NASL is coming to Hartford, and will be known as Hartford City FC, and will play at Dillon Stadium. The report also suggests that the club is planning to begin play in 2016, which would be quite the feat if they could pull it off*.

*Hopefully the Hartford ownership group has paid close attention to the recent success stories in New York, Ottawa, Jacksonville, and Indy and don't rush for the sake of getting on the pitch.

I have a hard time looking at this as anything other than sensational news for the Cosmos, who don't have a NASL rival in the northeastern United States. Putting a club in Hartford would give the club a rival within reasonable driving distance, something that all of the supporter's groups in the area should be excited about. The Cross Island Crew certainly is:

Hartford would be great. Great community, not to mention a sweet away day.

— Cross Island Crew (@CrossIslandCrew) May 11, 2015

We'll have more details as they become available. Stay tuned...