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San Diego's SoccerCity Project Will Attempt To Delay MLS Expansion Announcement

The group behind the stalled SoccerCity remake of Qualcomm Stadium yesterday announced that "they'll try to get" MLS to "delay announcement of its expansion franchises until after San Diegans can vote on the project next year," according to San Diego-based KFMB-CBS. SoccerCity investors have "applied for an MLS expansion franchise but said they wouldn't move forward with their project if they aren't picked for a team." While an initiative in support of SoccerCity "qualified for the ballot, the City Council opted to place the question" on the November '18 general election ballot. By doing so, the council "rejected a plan" supported by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer to "conduct a special election this fall." FS Investors, the group pushing SoccerCity, said that the "Wait for SD" campaign will include "frequent fan events to highlight the enthusiasm for soccer in the San Diego market, a social media push to exhibit the engagement of local fans and contact with the league to socialize the value of waiting for San Diego." MLS officials have said that they "want to expand by four teams before the end of this year" (CBS8.com, 7/24). In San Diego, Kevin Acee notes the SoccerCity campaign "still teeters on the precipice of death familiar to so many proposals in these parts, but its backers are willing to fight for life for another 15 months or so." SoccerCity project manager Nick Stone said, "We’ve consistently heard -- even still -- the refrain that people definitely want Major League Soccer in San Diego, and we’re willing to fight for that.” Acee notes MLS has not yet "determined the timetable for the selection of clubs 27 and 28, but also intends to set the timetable by the end" of this year. Privately, some league officials have said that they "don’t want to wait beyond the first few months" of '18 (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 7/25). 

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