Expansion

San Diego MLS expansion bid garners required petition signatures

San Diego waterfront

San Diego's MLS expansion bid appears to have considerable local support, following the news that the bid group obtained well more than the required number of signatures, and in record time.


FS Investors, the group behind San Diego's expansion bid, announced on Wednesday they have collected more than 108,000 signatures for their redevelopment project of the Qualcomm Stadium site in Mission Valley, dubbed "SoccerCity." The signatures were collected in just 12 days.


While regulations required the group to collect 71,646 valid signatures of San Diego voters to either have San Diego's city council approve the project outright or submit the plan to voters to approve or reject it at the ballot box, the group argued the volume of signatures and rapid pace in which they were collected shows widespread local support for the SoccerCity proposal. For now, the decision is in the hands of the city council.


San Diego was one of 12 American cities to formally apply for an MLS expansion team in January. Announcements on the first two of those expansion teams are expected later this year.