The Indianapolis City Council on Monday voted in favor of locating land for a potential Major League Soccer stadium.
According to the Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis mayor Joe Hogsett already has his sights set on a plot of land in the downtown area. It has only been a month since Hogsett took decisive action against the Indy Eleven Park project. The decision was met with mixed reviews, but now city leadership has proved they have a plan to bring the MLS to Indy.
There are currently 30 MLS teams and talks of expanding the league to 32 teams. Indianapolis is among the top contenders to earn one of the expansion teams, and the city's competition includes the likes of Detroit and Tampa, Fla.
Related: Human Remains Unearthed at Indy Eleven Stadium Site in Indianapolis
Among many factors in Indy’s favor is the fact that they already have the land on deck for a stadium, the votes to pass the needed financing, and the city doesn't have an MLB team. In the summer months, MLB is the biggest competitor to the MLS, guaranteeing that at least in Indianapolis, sports fans will flock to the only in-season option: soccer.
So what are the next steps? Indiana’s state government and the Indianapolis city leadership, along with the future owners of the team, will need to send an official application to the MLS. The potential future owners have not yet been named.
Meanwhile, soccer fans in Indianapolis are left to wonder about the future of the Indy Eleven, Indianapolis's USL team. Previously, the Indy Eleven owner, Ersal Ozdemir, and the city of Indianapolis had plans to build a 20,000-seat stadium for the Eleven. According to Fox 59 Indiana, the city has backed out of these plans.
The next weeks and months should reveal the potential owners of the Indianapolis MLS team, the city’s official MLS application, and fate of soccer fans in the Circle City.
