It has become something of a tradition of the MLS All-Star Game: Don Garber makes an appearance during the halftime show and drops a big announcement. But if fans are expecting Garber to make any sort of official announcement about Minnesota United FC’s future with MLS during tonight’s halftime show, they shouldn’t hold their breath.
Here’s the open secret: in 2017 it is all but assured that Minnesota United FC will enter Major League Soccer under a new name (likely Minnesota FC) and play at TCF Bank Stadium. FiftyFive.One has spoken to numerous sources who have confirmed this plan. Twice this summer major announcements have been scheduled and then canceled. Hesitation hangs over everything the Loons do right now.
Waiting on the Legislature
The decision to hold off on announcing entry into MLS is due to the legislative gridlock in Minnesota. Tacked onto a bipartisan tax bill, the small request of giving United tax-exempt status on the bus barn site fell victim to the Republican legislature and Democratic governor’s general impasse over other issues.
At the end of the 2016 legislative session, the stadium was delayed by Governor Dayton’s pocket-veto of the omnibus bill. Months later, Dayton and the legislators announced a special session would be called for mid-August.
Minnesota United’s principal owner, Dr. Bill McGuire, likely doesn’t want to jeopardize their legislative ask by announcing entry into MLS and losing all leverage over legislators. By announcing before the bill gets passed, McGuire would run the risk of legislators making the case that the team could simply play permanently at TCF Bank stadium or the new Vikings stadium.
Multiple sources close to the legislative process have said that that a lot of behind the scenes work is going into ensuring the legislative special session is not contentious and that both sides get what they want out of it. As with politics never say anything is a done deal, but insiders are telling us that they believe the way is being made from both parties to get through a special session quickly and efficiently without a lot of waves. And so, in all likelihood, we are looking at a late-August announcement of the thing we all already know.
Knock-on Effects
In a recent Q&A on Facebook Live, Don Garber alluded to Minnesota’s status as being in limbo: “We will announce soon, likely, another team that’s in the Midwest coming in. We just have not been able to get that announcement out, so I’m gonna be careful but I think everybody knows who that second team is.” Sources have told FiftyFive.One that the league has been waiting for Minnesota’s final commitment and it is not a matter of the team waiting for the league to approve them.
Minnesota United will need to exponentially increase their season ticket base, build an entire roster, scale up to an MLS-sized front office, and start work on building a stadium—and all of this with a new name.
If the league waits upon the team, which in turn waits upon the Minnesota legislature, the widespread pause is having knock-on effects that will spread into the future. It is just over 200 days until the beginning of the 2017 MLS season. In that time, Minnesota United will need to exponentially increase their season ticket base, build an entire roster, scale up to an MLS-sized front office, and start work on building a stadium — and all of this with a new name.
Ticket sales since Minnesota’s first MLS announcement have been drastically up to a limit. Attendance from 2014 (before MLS was announced) to 2016 is up 43% to the current average of 8,768. This is a very good number — top of the NASL. However, though the team has “sold out” many of its matches in Blaine this season, they readily admit that they could pack more fans in. The stadium could fit something more like 11,000 fans before they would need to be turned away.
And while the Target Field friendly against Club León this summer was a success with 18,505 fans in attendance, it was a limited success. In one week, the AC Milan v Chelsea International Champions Cup friendly is set to break the record for largest soccer crowd in Minnesota history (the same night as a Minnesota United FC home match). The soccer audience is there and United has not fully tapped it yet.
The task of tripling a season ticket base of roughly 5,000 to something like 15,000 in seven months is a monumental task. It is also a task made exponentially more difficult by the decision by Major League Soccer to force Minnesota United into a name change. The team will be selling tickets for a team under a different name in a different league while continuing to play under their current name, in their current league.
The MLS delays have had an effect on the field as well. Several players — most notabaly Christian Ramirez — are out of contract at the end of the season. Christian has already been attracting interest from clubs in Mexico and he is demanding an MLS-sized paycheck.
Minnesota United can’t commit to massive wage increases until they know for sure that those paychecks will be paid for by MLS. Even players like Justin Davis and Kevin Venegas, who have signed long-term contracts with the club, have not been signed by MLS yet and so they too exist in an odd, limbo state.
In a more immediate concern, the Loons can’t really reinforce their current squad without being able to offer players long-term (i.e., over six months) stability. Nor can they bring in players who they might want to bring to MLS, because those players will want assurances that the team can’t yet commit to.
While the Minnesota legislature has not officially committed to a date for a special session, it is set to occur in mid-August. For MLS, the team, players, and fans, that date can’t come soon enough when the open secret can finally come out and concrete plans for 2017 can be made.
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