COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Sacramento Republic are optimistic about their chances of gaining entry into Major League Soccer.

The USL team got an early Christmas gift last week when MLS commissioner Don Garber said that the league intends to expand to 28 teams. Sacramento has touted its efforts to meet the expansion requirements in an effort to make inclusion in MLS an inevitability.

"I think Sacramento will be very high on our list of next clubs to come into the league," Garber said during his state of the league address last week. "Now, we're going to continue to monitor what goes on there, we'll pay close attention to how they continue to develop their USL team, but I want to applaud the city for what they've done to support the Republic's desire to be in our league."

Last week, the Sacramento City Council approved plans for the team's stadium to be built at the Sacramento rail yards. The ownership group contains deep-pocketed investors that include the likes of Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York. On the field, the club continues to fill Bonney Field. The team averaged 11,323 fans per game, making them the only USL side whose average attendance was in five figures.

"We have so much momentum, and it's hard to get these moments," said Kunal Merchant, who is working as a special adviser to Republic managing partner Kevin Nagle. "These moments don't last, and you want to harness the energy of fans who are excited."

Merchant described how when the city council was meeting to discuss the club's stadium plan, an informal vote was taken to gauge support of those in attendance. Over 200 people voiced their support. Merchant said there were no dissenting votes.

"That never happens in Sacramento," he said. "It's a government town, everybody is involved in politics, that never happens. So we have a moment that we have to harness on the team side that Warren is going to do, but even on the new stadium side, we want to take advantage of that but also be cognizant of bigger business decisions that you have to make based on timeline."

The Sacramento Republic averaged 11,000 fans per game at Bonney Field this season. Stephen Lam/Getty Images

Maintaining that momentum, however, could be tricky, depending on how long Sacramento has to wait. Over the next three years, MLS is expecting to see Atlanta United, Minnesota United and Los Angeles FC all join the league. With David Beckham's group appearing to have solved its stadium location problems in Miami, that city is poised to be the 24th team.

In terms of adding teams after Miami, MLS has been light on the details in terms of the timeline. But as it has all along, Sacramento has made it clear it is prepared to join the league as early as 2017 if MLS gives it the go-ahead. Given the problems Miami has encountered along the way, it's prudent for Sacramento to be on standby.

"[MLS is] going through a process right now and they're trying to figure out what is best for them from a timing standpoint," said team president Warren Smith. "I think what we're hearing is keep your head down and keep working and that's really our focus."

The trickiest part may be determining how far down the stadium construction path the organization should go. For the moment, there is plenty of work to be done on the regulatory side, including an environmental impact report that Smith says will be completed by next summer. Then comes the decision as to when to put shovels in the ground by October, with construction complete by the beginning of 2018.

Merchant says it's too early to determine whether the Republic should wait for official approval from MLS before starting construction.