That's my understanding as well. This bid being a majority female ownership, 100% local, Enterprise family (a big MLS sponsor), and privately funded stadium in a non-NFL market is a pretty hard thing for MLS to say no to. The biggest downside I see is that we don't have the TV market that Phoenix does.Transmogrified Tiger wrote:From what I understand, the biggest barrier to STL getting a team is that MLS wants to stop at 28 teams. 23 were in the league this year, Cincinnati, Nashville, and Miami have all been announced, and a consequence of the Save the Crew effort is that Precourt gets an expansion team he'll put in Austin. That leaves one spot with a bunch of potential suitors: San Diego, Phoenix, Sacramento, Detroit, San Antonio, probably a couple others I'm forgetting. The STL bid is pretty easily in the Top 2-3 both in terms of desirability and in lacking obstacles to being approved(e.g. San Diego just shot down a stadium in a public vote), but it's not clear enough to be super confident they'll be the ones for that "last" spot.
There is a rumor that the Taylor's/Kavanaugh have been told by MLS that the last spot is their's if they can get the stadium package together. They've hinted at this multiple times. We also know for certain that they have been in regular communication with MLS along the way. And, people speculate that the owners wouldn't have put their reputation on the line like this if they didn't have assurances from MLS. CBK's recent and public "stadium tour" is another sign that St. Louis has an inside track. They appear to have support from other owners across the league.
But, this is the Don and MLS. So I fully expect it to be a [expletive] show where St. Louis gets screwed over.