Opening Doors
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Nashville SC
Debut: May 1 vs. Philadelphia
Seats: 30,000
Cost: $345 million
Architect: Populous
General contractor: Mortenson/Messer; Walter P Moore
Naming-rights partner: TBD
KICKER: The venue is the largest soccer-specific stadium in the U.S. and Canada.
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St. Louis SC
Debuts: 2023
Cost: $457.8 million
Seats: 22,500
Architect: HOK; Snow Kreilich Architects
General contractor: Mortenson
Naming-rights partner: Centene Corp., a St. Louis-based health care company, landed the rights with a 15-year deal.
KICKER: The 2023 expansion team’s new home is expected to be completed in July.
Rights Stuff
$90 million — Annual value of the league’s eight-year media rights deals, which expire at season’s end. Fox and ESPN pay a combined $75 million and Univision pays $15 million.
Seating Chart
50% — Capacity allowed at Olympic Stadium (below), where CF Montreal will play its home opener on March 5; Montreal is the only MLS club that will start the season with attendance restrictions.
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New Looks
Five clubs — the Colorado Rapids, LA Galaxy, New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls and Seattle Sounders — have unveiled new primary kits so far. The Revolution, a founding member of MLS, have a new logo for the first time, making them the last original team to make a change.
C-Suite Notes
In the past year, three clubs have named a woman either president or CEO, joining D.C. United and Danita Johnson and bringing the total of women leading the business side of an active MLS club to four; Carolyn Kindle Betz is the CEO of 2023 expansion club St. Louis City SC.
Ishwara Glassman Chrein
Title: President, Chicago Fire FC
Start date: June 2021
Prior position: Head of sports partnerships/business development, Verizon Media
Shari Ballard
Title: CEO, Minnesota United FC
Start date: October 2021
Prior position: Retired, president of multichannel retail, Best Buy
Kristin Bernert
Title: President, business operations, Columbus Crew SC
Start date: January 2022
Prior position: Co-founder, KB2 Sports
HQ Moves
No. 1 — MLS employee number for President and Deputy Commissioner Mark Abbott, who joined the league in 1993 three years before it started play and announced that he is retiring at season’s end.
