Futbol Club Cincinnati appears to be homing in on a soccer-specific stadium plan that would keep its proposed new venue in Cincinnati and complete an already-robust Major League Soccer expansion bid.

FC Cincinnati President and General Manager Jeff Berding said during a Thursday press conference he expects to finalize a stadium plan with local officials and present it to the public with newly re-elected Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and others next week.

Most details of the proposed plan as it existed Thursday couldn't be shared publicly as they hadn't been finalized, but Berding confirmed several new pieces of information that shed light on the direction of the aspiring MLS club's stadium talks:

• FC Cincinnati is now focusing on Cincinnati's Oakley neighborhood as a solution to building a venue in Cincinnati as opposed to Northern Kentucky. Berding said the club continues the pursuit of all three stadium sites, including one in Cincinnati's West End neighborhood, because a final site hasn't been selected.

• Berding declined to confirm exactly where in Oakley the club is targeting to build as there are multiple prospective sites in the area of the Oakley Station development.

• The process of getting a stadium plan approved will allow for public discourse, and votes from Cincinnati city councilmembers and Hamilton County Commissioners are expected for any site in Cincinnati, Berding said.

• It's unclear if a vote would be required if FC Cincinnati decides to build in Newport, Kentucky.

• FC Cincinnati is now committing $300 million in private money to project – an increase of $50 million that resulted from the club's decision to build a stadium with a minimum 25,000-seat capacity. The initial $250 million investment was predicated on the concept for a 21,000-set stadium that, Berding said, would no longer suit the club's attendance needs.

• FC Cincinnati is still seeking $100 million in public support for its stadium.

• As The Enquirer previously reported, FC Cincinnati's visit to the Oakley Community Council Tuesday night resulted in an affirmative vote for the club's stadium vision. Practically speaking it is a preliminary showing of support and interest in helping bring the stadium to eastside neighborhood.

Berding first discussed the Oakley vote during a Wednesday interview with Lance McAlister on radio 700WLW.

• FC Cincinnati is planning on supporting additional development beyond a soccer-specific stadium at the site they choose to build on.

Berding was peppered and probed with all manner of questions regarding elected officials' responses to the latest stadium developments, and what the final development plan might look like.

Citing ongoing talks, Berding was non-committal about how the $100 million public stake in the project would manifest itself.

OAKLEY TO SERVE AS FC CINCINNATI'S NEXT HOME?

Berding said FC Cincinnati received on Tuesday a preliminary show of support from the Oakley Community Council as the club continues to consider planting a purpose-built home venue in the eastside neighborhood.

Oakley Community Council President Sean Fausto told The Enquirer Berding attended a scheduled Tuesday meeting and made a presentation on the club's vision for its stadium.

The council then voted 8-1 in favor of a motion to write a letter of support to the City of Cincinnati "of the vision presented subject to continuing review of the development for the FCC stadium."

"Jeff was looking to get some feedback from the Oakley community on whether or not there was a chance the Oakley community wanted it (the stadium) there," Fausto said. "We gave him the feedback that, hey, we want to continue to allow them to look into it and we certainly want to be in the conversation should they choose Oakley as their site... There was an informal poll taken and you could say it was roughly 50-50 in the crowd of people. We as a board choose to vote in favor, again, just providing a letter of support."

While members of the Oakley community didn't have much advance notice for Berding's Tuesday appearance and presentation, Fausto said the council felt it was important to get FC Cincinnati on the meeting's agenda because of the upcoming MLS deadlines.

A decision on the club's expansion application, for which a finalized soccer-specific stadium plan is required, is expected in mid-December.

Like Berding, Fausto said community members would have more opportunities discuss the stadium further if more talks about Oakley materialized.

"It is a privilege for Oakley to be considered as one of the sites for the FC Cincinnati stadium," Fausto said. "People in Oakley had to be aware that we were in consideration. FC Cincinnati certainly has been talking about Oakley, West End and Newport for many months now. From that standpoint, we couldn't be surprised. There wasn't a whole lot of notice to the community but FC Cincinnati is on a schedule here so we felt it was important to get them on the agenda even without a lot of notice. A lot of Oakley residents probably didn't get a chance to weigh in on it, but we wanted to get out in front of it and let Jeff present."

The initial concept for FC Cincinnati's stadium was revealed months ago at a private event for season ticket holders.

It was at that June 12 announcement that FC Cincinnati's front office staff, ownership, and stadium architects began pushing the idea of the stadium landing in Newport.

Although Newport is part of Greater Cincinnati's urban core, the suggestion of building elicited boos from some members of the audience.

In the intervening months, some fans lobbied local elected officials in an effort to keep the stadium on the Ohio side of the Ohio River.

More:FC Cincy pitches 'model partnership' for stadium

The issue of where the club's proposed stadium ended up remained a hot topic into autumn.

With a growing fan base and years worth of evidence pointing to FC Cincinnati's relevance and popularity in southwest Ohio and beyond, some believe a soccer-specific stadium plan is the final piece of Cincinnati's MLS puzzle.

WHY ALL THE BREAKING NEWS?

FC Cincinnati's under the gun to produce on the stadium front and Berding knows it.

Two clubs in the 12-organization MLS expansion race – Sacramento Republic FC and Nashville – are in advanced stages of stadium development.

Ford family joins Detroit's MLS bid, offers Ford Field as venue

News of Nashville's approval of a stadium development plan broke this week, leaving FC Cincinnati trailing in the MLS expansion arms race, not to mention missing the biggest piece of the puzzle needed to complete Cincinnati's bid.

Berding said the club, in coordination with local officials, needs to move immediately in order to keep pace in this high-stakes race.