MLS Owners Discuss Increasing League Expansion Fees To $50M

The MLS BOG at a July 24 meeting in Toronto discussed the possibility of raising the league expansion fees to $50M, according to Tripp Mickle of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. MLS team owners "left the meeting ambivalent about how many teams to add, what expansion fees should be, and how additional teams might affect the league." MLS Commissioner Don Garber said that the next expansion fees "will be $40[M], but some owners are advocating raising them to $50[M]." That would be a 400% increase from the $10M Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment paid for Toronto FC, which joined the league in '06. Sources also said that the level of interest in potential expansion "led owners to discuss adding not just two but four teams in the coming years." Advocates of adding four teams "pointed to the immediate benefit of their expansion fees and the overwhelming demand to join the league." But those who opposed the idea "questioned whether adding so many teams so quickly would dilute the current owners’ share of [SUM] revenue from sponsorship and TV, and weaken the player talent pool" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/4 issue).