Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber confirmed Thursday that the league will accept expansion applications through December 2024 for its final two franchise slots, bringing total membership to 28 teams. The entry price: $500 million per team, double the $325 million Charlotte FC paid in 2019 and triple what Atlanta United paid eight years ago.
The announcement ends three years of speculation about MLS's terminal count. San Diego remains the front-runner for slot 29, pending stadium clarity. Phoenix, Las Vegas, and a second team in Detroit have all circulated exploratory presentations to league offices since February. Only one bid is expected to clear the December gate, with the 28th franchise decision likely deferred to early 2026 once Apple's streaming numbers from the 2025 season clarify per-team media value.
The $500 million number matters less as a check written and more as a benchmark for existing franchise valuations. Atlanta United, purchased for $70 million in 2014, now carries a league-assigned enterprise value near $900 million in private secondary transactions. LAFC, which paid $110 million in 2014, traded a minority stake in March at a $1.2 billion valuation. The expansion fee sets the floor; the Apple media deal and new sponsor categories set the ceiling.
For ownership groups, the calculus hinges on revenue share. MLS distributed approximately $600 million to clubs in 2023 from media, sponsorship, and Soccer United Marketing revenues. That number climbs to an estimated $850 million annually once the Apple deal fully scales and the league's in-stadium alcohol and sports-betting partnerships mature. A 28-team league divides that pot differently than a 30-team league. Two fewer slices means $30 million more per team per year by 2028, enough to justify the current owners' preference for a hard cap.
The bid process will require stadium control, local broadcast partnerships in Spanish and English, and at least $150 million in corporate sponsorship commitments. San Diego's bid, led by real-estate investor Michael Stone and Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour, already has Qualcomm and Sempra Energy attached. The Phoenix group, anchored by Footprint Center owner Mat Ishbia, is still negotiating with Arizona State University over a proposed 25,000-seat venue in Tempe.
What makes this round different: MLS is now a mature asset class. Family offices that wouldn't touch the league in 2015 are now running pro formas on clubs the way they would on English Championship sides. The Tampa Bay Rowdies, a second-division club, fielded three acquisition inquiries in Q1 alone from groups positioning for an eventual MLS promotion path that doesn't exist. That's not confusion—that's anticipation.
The Apple deal, worth $2.5 billion over ten years, pays clubs a per-subscriber fee that scales with League Pass uptake. Charlotte FC, in year three, is already seeing $18 million annually from that line item alone, ahead of internal projections. If San Diego enters in 2026 with a built-in Southern California subscriber base, the per-team media economics tilt even further in favor of closing the expansion window now.
Garber's December deadline also forces a reckoning in Sacramento, where the Republic FC ownership has spent seven years in MLS expansion purgatory. The club was conditionally approved in 2019, then delayed indefinitely over stadium financing. If Sacramento doesn't submit a revised bid by year-end, the spot goes to someone who will. Bid deposit: $50 million, non-refundable.
Watch for San Diego's formal announcement in September, likely timed to Leagues Cup. The 28th team decision will hinge on whether Apple's 2025 subscriber numbers justify adding inventory or protecting per-team payouts. MLS already has its answer; the applicants just don't know it yet.
The takeaway
MLS's **$500M** expansion fee doubles Charlotte's price, setting valuation floor as league closes to 28 teams by 2026.
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