Sources: Chivas USA Could Miss '15 MLS Season Due To Timing Of Club's Sale

MLS "remains on course to sell Chivas USA by the end of this year and it may do so for a record price," but time "could be running out to put a rebranded team on the field" for the '15 season, according to sources cited by Brian Straus of SI.com. A front-runner "has emerged to own and operate" the team. A source said that the investor group "includes an 'L.A. component' ... and is prepared to spend more" than the $100M MLS expansion fee for NYC FC. The transaction "could be confirmed as early as Oct. 6," when the MLS BOG is scheduled to meet in L.A. Sources last week said that a hiatus for the '15 season "is on the table for a new ownership group and that MLS is prepared to play the 2015 season, and perhaps 2016, with 20 clubs." One source "called the L.A. hiatus a '99 percent certainty' and another said it was 'basically a done deal.'" But Straus noted nothing can be decided "for certain until new ownership is in place." All options "remain in play officially" (SI.com, 9/12).