November 13, 2007 by Jeff Cooper

My apologies for this being my first blog in over a month.  I have several reasons for being so late, including my “day job” requiring a significant amount of my attention in recent weeks and we’ve been quietly, but diligently, working behind the scenes toward our goal of bringing a Major League Soccer expansion franchise to St. Louis.  Also, as the father of three youngsters, I’ve been immersed in fall soccer, as I am sure many of you have been as well.

Today comes the formal announcement of Seattle being admitted as the 15th MLS franchise, to begin play in 2009.  The league is making a great choice in Seattle, which has proven over the years to be an excellent soccer market at the professional and youth level.  I congratulate everyone involved in the new Seattle franchise and commend the league for following through with its mandate to expand the league’s national footprint in a smart and promising manner.

So, that begs the question, what of the 16th team?  Where does our candidacy stand?

First, we continue to be in excellent shape.  Our stadium deal with the city of Collinsville, Ill., is approved and awaiting the green light from MLS before we begin to break ground.  And we continue to fine-tune our ownership group and structure so that we will follow through with our own mandate to fund and operate the model MLS franchise in all respects.  We have one chance at this, and we owe it to the league – and to you – to do it right.  That’s what we are committed to, and that is what we are working toward.

To that end, we will be in Washington, D.C., this week for all the league activities leading up to and including the MLS Cup match on Sunday.  While in Washington, we plan to touch base with league officials, team personnel, marketing partners and more to make sure everyone knows how ready St. Louis is for MLS soccer.  But this is the league’s showcase week, not ours.  We’re not going to crowd anyone or attempt to steal a moment that rightfully belongs to the league or its conference champions, the New England Revolution and Houston Dynamo.  We’ll do a lot of watching and listening, and I assure you we will leave a terrific impression on behalf of St. Louis and the greatest soccer fans anywhere in North America.

For the record, no one is expecting the league to make an announcement on the awarding of another expansion franchise this week, as once had been thought.  We see that as opportunity to continue to strengthen our group and build our reputation as the ideal expansion market when the league expands – as planned – to 16 teams in 2009.  Whatever the league’s timetable may be, we will respect it and we plan to meet it.

In the meantime, encourage your fellow MLS fans to tune into the title match on Sunday on KDNL 30.  A good television rating here in St. Louis will reflect well on our reputation as Soccertown USA, and our local guys – Taylor Twellman, Pat Noonan and Steve Ralston from the Revs, and Brad Davis from the Dynamo – deserve our support