Watch CBS News

Commissioner: Sacramento 'Very Likely' To Play MLS Game By 2020

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A large crowd poured into the streets of Midtown Sacramento on Thursday to send a message that the city is ready for a Major League Soccer expansion team.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber says in four years, a Sacramento team will "very likely" be playing its inaugural season in the league.

The commissioner and his contingent checked out the railyards site where a future MLS stadium could be built.

A few hundred crazed fans let the commissioner know they are ready for the big stage.

"I gotta tell you when you see--I get into the hotel around 11 o'clock last night and there's 20 people waiting for me when I'm checking in," Garber said.

His whirlwind visit comes on the heels of these head-turning new sketches of what would be a privately funded soccer-only stadium, built on the northeast corner of the Railyards site with a price tag of roughly $225 million and a 25,000 seating capacity.

Garber says he came to see if the pieces were fitting, and they are.

"They have 2 years with the Republic, a great brand a strong ownership group..they've already solidified their site they've solidified their ownership group--so they're ahead of the rest of the pack," he said.

That pack includes five other cities vying for four expansion spots. There's a strong likelihood this will be one of them.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.