MLS Commissioner Don Garber on Friday announced Minnesota United FC "would become the 22nd franchise" in the league, according to Andy Greder of the ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS. Team Owner Bill McGuire "convinced Garber" of the name Minnesota United FC, which the club has used since '13, "was the best option." Minnesota "will join Atlanta United as expansion sides" for the '17 season. With DC United as an inaugural franchise when the league began in '96, Garber "thought three clubs with identical traditional monikers was one too many." After the league filed a U.S. trademark application for “Minnesota FC” in February, Garber "reconsidered because United, citing the added meanings of bringing together" Minneapolis, St. Paul and other surrounding communities. Garber: "We put aside what we at the league thought might be best and ultimately agreed with their approach." Greder noted after the trademark filing, the team "began to slowly remove the word 'United' from its Loons logo." All the banners, logos and graphics at Friday’s nearly 30-minute presentation "had been scrubbed of 'United.'" McGuire's plan is for a "20,000-seat arena in St. Paul’s Midway, a location between the Twin Cities." Garber said that the effort "was another factor into MLS’ decision to allow the name to remain." McGuire said that the club "probably will break ground" on the privately financed $150M stadium before the Legislature reconvenes in '17. The plan is to "open the stadium" sometime during the '18 season. In the meantime, the team "plans to play home games" at the Univ. of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 8/20).
BREAKING GROUND? In Minneapolis, David La Vaque noted the team "has been designing" the stadium, and on Wednesday, the St. Paul City Council "signed off on plans for the stadium site and surrounding development." The 16-acre stadium site "would include parking and green space." Inside, the building would have "food vendors, retail space for team merchandise and potentially a craft beer taproom." The team "was dealt a blow" when Gov. Mark Dayton announced Thursday that there "would be no special legislative session." A tax bill intended for the special session "included a property tax break for the stadium site." McGuire "has said tax relief would be critical to construct the stadium." Dayton at Friday's event said, "We will get the tax pieces [in the '17 legislative session]" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/20). In St. Paul, Frederick Melo noted Garber "had long shown interest in having United join the league, but he had made his support contingent on the team acquiring its own professional sports stadium, which it has yet to do" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 8/20).
