MLS, Minnesota United FC near deal, thanks to outdoor stadium plan

Major League Soccer is planning an expansion franchise in Minnesota, and it wants that team to play in its own outdoor stadium.

MLS commissioner Don Garber said Monday the league and Minnesota United FC are in "advanced discussions" about the second-tier team moving up the play in MLS and that the league is "particularly excited about their plans for a new soccer-specific stadium that will serve as the club's home."

United FC has risen to the top in a battle for the last of four expansion franchises as the top U.S. pro soccer league expands from 20 to 24 teams by 2020. The Vikings and a group from Sacramento, California, were the other major suitors.

A source with knowledge of the talks between United FC and MLS said attorneys are going through contracts and documents to make a formal announcement within the next month. No announcement is expected until United returns March 25 from a 12-day preseason trip in Brazil.

United FC owner Bill McGuire has partners in Twins owner Jim Pohlad and Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor. The group has been working on plans to build an outdoor stadium near the Twins' Target Field in downtown Minneapolis.

The stadium would have a grass field, seat about 18,000 and could cost as much as $150 million. Over the past 10 years, the State Legislature has approved public money to build new stadiums for the Twins and Vikings; finding more for a soccer stadium might be difficult, if not impossible.

Governor Mark Dayton, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, and House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, agreed Monday that state lawmakers have no interest in doling out public subsidies for another stadium.

"They shouldn't even come by," said Bakk, who voted for the Vikings stadium bill in 2012. "I told the commissioner of soccer when I talked to him on Feb. 6 that the appetite just was not here."

In a statement, Dayton said he has been "told by legislative leaders that there is very little support for state assistance in building another pro sports stadium. Thus, I would advise that any new soccer stadium would need to be privately financed."

An expansion franchise awarded to Miami has run aground over a stadium site, but it appears United wouldn't face many hurdles for its target location near the light rail line.

Daudt said he would also oppose any legislation to allow Hennepin County to fund the project, although the county would be free to act on its own.

The Vikings' $1 billion indoor stadium, nearly half of which will be financed by public money, was a key component in the MLS bid by owners Zygi and Mark Wilf. Scheduled to open in Fall 2016 and seat 65,000, the stadium would use a "house-reduction mechanism" to bring capacity to about 25,000 for MLS.

The Wilfs have expressed interest in an MLS franchise since they bought the Vikings in 2005. The stadium legislation approved in 2012 gave the Vikings exclusive rights to MLS for five years.

If awarded the franchise, United has expressed a willingness to play some games in the new Vikings stadium, perhaps during early spring or late fall or for rivalry games that could draw larger crowds.

The Vikings expressed disappointment in MLS's decision to pursue a soccer-specific venue but in a statement released Monday did not officially bow out of the race.

"We offered MLS an ideal situation -- a stadium that is certain and will be completed in 2016, a plan that was funded by the public and private sectors to host MLS, and an option that will not require additional government approvals," the team said. "The new multipurpose stadium also would have accommodated the length of the MLS season and the growth of the sport in this market."

The Twin Cities area has a history of supporting soccer. The Minnesota Kicks began play in the NASL in 1976 and averaged more than 30,000 fans in the late 1970s at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington.

Former Kicks player Alan Willey said United's stadium plans fit the mold for soccer in the U.S. Sporting Kansas City's soccer-specific stadium, a publicly financed $200-million venue with a natural-grass field and seating for about 18,500, is considered the gold standard in MLS.

"That's the perfect size for what soccer is doing around the country right now," said Willey, United's color commentator for TV broadcasts this season. "If you went to the (new Vikings stadium) and it's a 60,000-seat stadium and you've got 20,000 people in there, the atmosphere is nothing. That's what they are trying to get with the new stadium."