Detroit has plenty of competition for a Major League Soccer franchise

Detroit will face stiff competition in its pursuit to land one of the four Major League Soccer expansion franchises. Tuesday is the deadline for submitting bid applications. At least 10 other cities are expected to apply.

In the second half of this year, the league is expected to name two franchises that will begin play in 2020. Two more franchises will be announced at a later date to begin play in 2022. MLS has 22 teams and will get to 24 with the addition of LA in 2018 and Miami (to be determined)

Detroit's bid is backed by NBA owners Tom Gores (Detroit Pistons) and Dan Gilbert (Cleveland Cavaliers).

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"We are working through the application process and intend to submit by tomorrow's deadline," said Kevin Grigg, Pistons vice president of public relations.

At a meeting with the Associated Press Sports Editors in April, MLS commissioner Don Garber ranked seven cities in order of their expansion odds. The cities, in order, were: St. Louis, Sacramento, Detroit, San Diego, San Antonio, Austin and Cincinnati. However, Garber did not mention Austin when discussing expansion cities in December during a conference call after the MLS Board of Governors meeting.

Five other cities are expected to submit bids, too: Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Nashville and Phoenix.

Sacramento appears to lead the pack for expansion. Sacramento Republic FC is a United Soccer League team with 9,500 season-ticket holders. The Sacramento City Council approved a proposal for a development project in November that includes a new soccer-specific stadium at the city’s downtown railyard.

According to the Sacramento Bee, Garber said in April that Sacramento Republic FC had “been able to check the boxes that are required.”

"It’s almost worked against them because they’ve been so turnkey in what they’ve done,” said Fox Sports soccer analyst Alexi Lalas, a Birmingham native who attended Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood. “That Sacramento is ever mentioned is not a surprise to me. I think they’re always going to be there and because they are salivating and waiting, there’s this ‘Pick me!’ kind of scenario with them. MLS can play that off of others, leverage that off of others because they know they have that in their back pocket.”

San Diego’s bid for an MLS team seems to have been improved with the NFL Chargers’ decision to relocate to Los Angeles. A group of investors last Monday unveiled plans for a $200-million soccer stadium as part of a $1-billion redevelopment of the Qualcomm Stadium site, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The redevelopment would include a stadium, projected to open in 2020, that would contain between 20,000 and 30,000 seats and would be used by an MLS team and the San Diego State college football team. The plan also would include setting aside 15 acres for an NFL stadium to be built in the next five years, if a team wants to relocate there.

Nick Stone, a partner of FS Investors, told the Union-Tribune that the group plans to file an application for an MLS franchise and to begin a signature-gathering campaign to qualify for an initiative on the 2018 city ballot. Stone said the investment group is seeking full control of the site to ensure it will be developed appropriately and would serve as a sports and entertainment district.

A poll of 700 adults conducted for the Union-Tribune and KGTV-10 News by SurveyUSA showed 70% support for the soccer proposal, with a 3.5% margin of error.

The expansion effort in St. Louis, meanwhile, has had some struggles. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the sponsor of a city proposal to put $80 million into a new MLS stadium said the bill is effectively dead. But another proposal for about $60 million gained traction.

City officials, according to the Post-Dispatch, wanted MLS investors to ask for less public money to build a $200-million stadium. The proposal called for the city to own the stadium and lease it to an MLS team, which would be responsible for maintenance and cost overruns for a 30-year period.

"It highlights how quickly the perception of market can change and internally how the appetite for that market can very quickly change," Lalas said of St. Louis once being considered the front-runner and now that not necessarily being the case. "This is a race if you will. There’s going to be different leaders at different times based on what’s happening on the ground and how ownership and Don Garber conceive it from the outside.”

San Antonio’s expansion effort involves the ownership group of the NBA’s Spurs. The city already has a USL team, San Antonio FC, and has launched a soccer academy.

The Austin Aztex suspended play in USL to try to build a stadium and won’t play in 2017, according to the Austin American-Statesman. The Aztex debuted in 2015 and rented out high school facilities for home games. The Aztex ownership group told the Statesman that it would need a 5,000-seat stadium, at a cost of $5 million-$6 million, not counting land purchases, to meet USL standards.

Garber recently visited Cincinnati, according the Cincinnati Enquirer. FC Cincinnati is expected to identify sites in the greater Cincinnati area that could be used to build a soccer-specific stadium. FC Cincinnati has paid more than $2 million for soccer-friendly renovations to the University of Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium, which would bring the stadium up to FIFA standards, according to the Enquirer. Garber has said he would prefer MLS teams to play in soccer-specific stadiums.

Marcus Smith, the CEO of Speedway Motorsports and son of billionaire racetrack owner Bruton Smith, is behind the effort to bring MLS to Charlotte. The Charlotte Observer reported Thursday that the Charlotte City Council refused — for now — to spend $43.75 million on a soccer stadium. It’s unclear whether Smith will continue his bid.

North Carolina FC, formerly the Carolina RailHawks, announced plans to pursue an MLS franchise and build a new 20,000-plus seat stadium in December. North Carolina FC is part of the North American Soccer League and plays at a 10,000-seat stadium in Cary, N.C.

The Tampa Bay Rowdies last month announced plans to spend up to $80 million to upgrade Al Lang Stadium as part of a bid to get an MLS team. The plan would hinge on the Rowdies gaining an MLS franchise, according to the Tampa Tribune. Rowdies owner Bill Edwards told the Tampa Bay Times that he wanted to be the first of the competing cities to get an expansion team.

Phoenix Rising FC, which plays in the USL, announced plans on its website Thursday to submit an application for MLS expansion. Phoenix Rising FC has a long-term land lease in Scottsdale.

The Tennessean reported that Mayor Megan Barry proposed the Nashville fairgrounds as the site for a new pro soccer stadium. The bid effort in Nashville is led by a group called Nashville MLS Steering Committee, according to the Tennessean. The city has a USL club, Nashville SC.

Contact George Sipple: gsipple@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgesipple.