TAMPA, Florida — The 2023 MLS Season has begun its second game week of soccer, and many fans from 29 teams across the league may be busy supporting their side this weekend.
But that may not be the case for soccer fans whose cities aren't in MLS — yet.
Speaking during a kickoff event on Feb. 22 ahead of the new season at the league’s new television studio built together with Apple TV, MLS Commissioner Don Garber expressed hope to pick a 30th team by the end of the year.
“We do need more teams. The 30th team will come at some point soon. Hopefully, we'd like to get that announced by the end of the year," Garber said. “We say we're going to stop at 30 but the other major leagues are larger than that. I never say never in Major League Soccer. There are many other markets that are opportunities for us."
One of the cities that Garber hinted at becoming the 30th MLS team is none other than Tampa.
His reason, Garber said, is because of how big Tampa is growing as a sports city and that soccer is becoming more popular in many areas across the country.
"Tampa is another big city," Garber said. "Soccer is exploding professionally everywhere on the professional side, on the men's and women’s side, so we’ll see."
Although the idea of having a Tampa-based team in the MLS once again was teased, the league's commissioner said that a team from San Diego or Las Vegas remain as frontrunners.
"I think San Diego and Las Vegas are the most likely opportunities for 30," Garber said. "But we don’t have a team in Phoenix, we don’t have a team in Sacramento, we don’t have a team in Detroit, all big markets in our country so you never know."
Florida currently has two teams competing in the league: Orlando City SC and Inter Miami CF. Both sides joined the MLS within the last eight years, with Orlando playing their first season in 2015 and Miami in 2020.
Should Tampa be selected as the 30th team, it will be the first time that the city had an MLS team since 1996 when the Tampa Bay Mutiny played in the league.
That team was part of the league up until 2002 as the Mutiny could not convince any prospective owner to take over and the MLS decided to fold the club.
This is also not the first time that the Tampa Bay area has tried to make the jump to the MLS since over two decades ago.
In 2016, the Tampa Bay Rowdies launched their #MLS2StPete campaign to push and be a part of future rounds of MLS expansion teams. The plan also included an expansion for Al Lang Stadium on the downtown waterfront in St. Petersburg, which is where the Rowdies play their games, since the stadium's capacity only sits at 7,500.
League officials decided to decline Tampa Bay's bid to join MLS and named Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville and Sacramento as the top four contenders up for consideration. Eventually, Cincinnati and Nashville were chosen as the newest expansion teams.
Despite not claiming a spot in MLS, the Rowdies still play in the United Soccer League and begin the upcoming 2023 season on Saturday, March 11.
The area is also home to another professional soccer team — the Tampa Bay Strikers. They are one of the newest expansion teams in the National Indoor Soccer League, which is currently made up of five teams and all organizations have a men's and women's squad to root for on the turf.
A 10-year, $2.5 billion partnership between Apple TV and MLS kicked off on Feb. 1 with the launch of Season Pass. Every match — regular season, postseason, Leagues Cup, the All-Star game and developmental leagues — can be accessed on the Apple TV app, allowing fans to watch without local blackouts or restrictions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.