MLS expansion bids are due today at 5:00pm ET, with at least 10 cities having been "invited to bid for up to four new teams." SMI President & CEO Marcus Smith confirmed that he "will move ahead" with a bid for a Charlotte team, even though the city council last week "declined to consider spending" $43.75M to help fund a stadium. SMI Chief Strategy Officer Mike Burch said that Smith "will ask the city for the original request" of $43.75M in the belief that council members "will ultimately vote for subsidizing the project" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 1/31).
Detroit's bid "will be submitted today." Pistons Owner Tom Gores and Cavaliers Owner Dan Gilbert are planning for a 25,000-seat stadium downtown (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 1/31). USL Tampa Bay Rowdies Owner Bill Edwards has "turned in the required formal paperwork" already: a "bulky packet filled with more than 200 letters of support" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 1/31). MLS Commissioner Don Garber yesterday on the "flight deck of the USS Midway Museum" accepted a San Deigo investor group's application (AP, 1/31). NASL Indy Eleven Owner Ersal Ozdemir "plans to personally hand in the paperwork" to MLS this afternoon (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 1/31).
