NEW YORK — Buoyed by the success
of Toronto FC, Major League Soccer is considering expanding its
presence in Canada by placing a team in Montreal.
MLS commissioner Don Garber met with
Montreal Impact president Joey Saputo, Quebec minister of finance
Raymond Bachand and Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay on Wednesday about
what it would take to locate a team in Canada's second-largest market.
"We've stated many times that
Montreal would be a great market for MLS and we look forward to
continuing our discussions," Garber said in a statement.
MLS expanded north of the border for
the first time with the Toronto franchise in 2007, and its success in
just three seasons has been startling. The club often draws more than
20,000 fans to soccer-specific BMO Field, and has more than 16,000
season ticket-holders.
Garber hopes to experience similar success in Montreal.
The Impact went 12-11-7 playing in
the first division of the United Soccer League this season, and were
competitive in two losses to Toronto FC during the Canadian
Championship. The Impact beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 6-3 on aggregate
to win the USL championship in October.
The 16-year-old franchise, which also
won USL titles in 1994, 2004 and 2009, plays home matches in Saputo
Stadium, a 13,034-seat venue opened last year that was designed so that
capacity could be increased to meet MLS standards.
The club drew more than 12,000 fans for home games this past season.
"We continued our discussions with
the Saputo family about a future MLS expansion team in Montreal,"
Garber said Wednesday, "and had very productive meetings with Minister
Bachand about securing funding for the expansion of Saputo Stadium."
Major League Soccer already plans to
expand in Philadelphia next season, giving the league 16 teams. The
Union will play their first game on March 25 at the Seattle Sounders,
and play their first home match on April 10 against D.C. United at
Lincoln Financial Field. The club will eventually move into a
soccer-specific stadium in suburban Chester, Pa.
The league has also announced plans to add teams in Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2011.
"We are very happy with the visit of
the MLS executives in Montreal," Saputo said. "It's clear for us, and
now more than ever, that the arrival of MLS in Montreal is only a
question of time. We are hoping to have news in the first quarter of
2010."
The Sounders this past season became
the first expansion team since Chicago in 1998 to reach the MLS
playoffs in its first year. The Sounders lost to Houston in the first
round.