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Official: NASL expanding to Puerto Rico, with Carmelo Anthony as an owner

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

On Thursday, after much of speculation and teasing from NASL officials, the league's newest expansion side. Puerto Rico FC, was officially announced. This club will not be affiliated with the last Puerto Rico side to play in the NASL, the Islanders.

The expansion side was announced on Thursday, and as expected, will be owned by none other than Carmelo Anthony, the basketball player for our fellow New York team, the New York Knicks. He accompanied the Cosmos on their recent trip to Cuba, along with Pele, where rumors of NASL ownership followed him. With his father hailing from the island, Anthony said in a NASL article that it was an "honor" to bring football back to the island.

The club is slated to begin play in the fall of 2016, and will play its matches in a newly renovated Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium, the current home of the Puerto Rican national side, and the former home of the Islanders. With the Islanders on suspended hiatus, and this new team being announced as  an expansion into the island, it seems that the club on hiatus is all but officially dead. However, from the ashes of this failed project comes a new team with a big-name owner and a lot of potential market-wise for a well-designed, well-headed soccer club to pick up where they left off.

Keep an eye on the NASL's website and Twitter feed, as well as here for more information as this story develops.