San Diego named 30th MLS club; debut in '25
Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber announced on Thursday that the city of San Diego has been handed an expansion franchise, thereby increasing the league to a total of 30 teams.
www.espn.com
SAN DIEGO -- Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber announced Thursday that the city of San Diego has been handed an expansion franchise, thereby increasing the league to 30 teams.
The news was revealed during an event at Snapdragon Stadium, which is set to be the 35,000-capacity home for the San Diego franchise when it debuts in 2025. MLS' latest expansion team will be owned by Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour, the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation (now the first Native American tribe to co-own a U.S. professional soccer team) and San Diego Padres star Manny Machado.
"We are thrilled to welcome San Diego to Major League Soccer as our 30th team," Garber said in a Thursday news release. "For many years we have believed San Diego would be a terrific MLS market due to its youthful energy, great diversity, and the fact that soccer is an essential part of everyday life for so many people. Mohamed Mansour and the Sycuan Tribe have an incredible vision for building a club that will inspire and unite soccer fans throughout the city and region."
"I am grateful for the opportunity to join the San Diego MLS ownership group," added Machado in the press release. "I continue to plant roots in this amazing community that means so much to me and build upon my connection with the incredible fans."
Additional owners include the Zephyr Partners' Brad Termini and the Right to Dream's Tom Vernon and Dan Dickinson. Controlled by Mansour's London-based Man Capital firm, the Right to Dream is a Ghana-based academy that also owns the Danish top flight's Nordsjaelland. MLS players including the New England Revolution's Emmanuel Boateng and FC Dallas' Ema Twumasi are products of the Right to Dream academy.
Additional Right to Dream locations have been built in Denmark and Egypt, with plans for a San Diego-based academy in the future.
"We look forward to introducing Right to Dream's unique developmental approach and unparalleled soccer expertise to San Diego and MLS by delivering tangible benefits to the community as we look to open doors and identify and nurture talent from across the county and beyond," said Mansour, who has stated that seven Right to Dream academy graduates took part in the 2022 World Cup.
Tom Penn, former president of LAFC, has been named as CEO for the new MLS franchise, with a name and crest to be revealed at a later date.
The San Diego project recently surpassed Las Vegas in the race for the league's 30th team. In February, Garber stated that both cities were "the most likely opportunities for 30." By last month, ESPN reported that San Diego's group had gained more momentum. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, the expansion fee for the MLS franchise "is in the $500 million neighborhood."
San Diego will begin playing in MLS nearly three decades after former league commissioner Doug Logan noted in 1996 that the city was a "prime candidate" for expansion. Since then, an increasingly long list of rumors and reports have emerged regarding interested groups that wanted to bring the top flight of the sport to the Southern California city.
