Most Likely MLS Expansion Cities
On the west coast there is Sacramento, California; a city which ranks first among 25 other markets without an MLS team.
Major League Soccer (MLS) currently has 30 teams playing competitively and with plans to expand the league. What cities could get an MLS team? Similar to the NFL, the MLS could expand to 32 teams, so could we see an expansion in both the Eastern and Western conference?
MLS is not likely to surpass 32 teams and although a 32 team league is not imminent, a few cities stand out among the rest as potential targets for a team. The east and west both have some decent picks.
Starting out on the west coast there is Sacramento, California; a city which ranks first among 25 other markets without an MLS team. Market factors include money, stadium infrastructure, ownership opportunities, population, and crowd attraction.
Sacramento already has an amazing soccer attraction in their city with current United Soccer League (USL, a lower US soccer League) side Sacramento Republic. The Republic are one of the bigger USL teams in America and have a great fan base.
In 2023, San Diego FC became an established team in the MLS, but it put an end to the USL team, San Diego Loyal. It is hard to tell whether or not fans would accept a new MLS team or would they want their old USL club back.
Another famous city in the west is Las Vegas. Las Vegas is ranked 12th for a soccer market and has been in the headlines a lot recently. Las Vegas is a key target of the MLS and would pull in a lot of soccer attraction
In early 2026, the Vancouver Whitecaps were on sale since 2024, looking for new ownership but were never bought out. The Whitecaps also didn't even own the stadium they played in which had them missing out on so much revenue in marketing, parking, concessions and many more.
With these financial struggles, the Whitecaps were almost rebranded and would have most likely been moved into Las Vegas, but with fan engagement and intervention with the slogan, #Savethecaps, the Vancouver Whitecaps were able to stay in the city and will stay at the stadium through the 2027 sprint season, but their future is still undetermined.
Similar to the Columbus Crew in 2018. Previous owner, Anthony Precourt, wanted to relocate the Columbus Crew to Austin, Texas. Again, with fan help, the Crew was able to stay in Columbus and Anthony Precourt went on to create a new team in Austin - Austin FC.
Leading the charts in the east, for cities without an MLS team, there is Louisville, Kentucky.
The Western Conference has many potential MLS expansion opportunities, but what about the eastern conference? Looking to the east some cities stand out.
Leading the charts in the east, we have Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville has many great qualities, first being that they already have a great fan base there. Louisville already has the USL team, Louisville City FC as well as the NWSL team Racing Louisville.
Already having great soccer markets put Louisville high up on that list and also considering they have great stadium infrastructure they are even more recognizable.
Louisville has the potential for great rivalries with Cincinnati and Nashville with how close Louisville is to those cities, creating an even more exciting reason why a team would be great for Louisville.
Another city making some headlines is Indianapolis, Indiana. Indianapolis is already a giant city home to USL side, Indy Eleven, and other big sports, including NBA and the Indy 500, one of the biggest motor sports racing events in the world.
Indianapolis had a request from the Indy Eleven to expand their current stadium, but it was rejected with plans to hopefully expand a team to the MLS. Even with the MLS hopes, Indy eleven still fight for a bigger stadium.
There are millions of cities in the United States, but which ones truly make the cut to become an MLS city? Even though an expansion is likely not imminent, it is fun to think about what cities we could possibly see getting an MLS club in the future.