Pat Brennan | Cincinnati Enquirer

The Enquirer / Patrick Brennan

NEW YORK CITY – At first glance Wednesday night, you wouldn't have known Futbol Club Cincinnati President Jeff Berding had just directed one of the most important and pressure-packed meetings of his professional life.

Berding seemed loose and comfortable as he stepped forward to address media members despite being mere minutes removed from having his soccer team's final pitch for Major League Soccer expansion poked and prodded by a room full of MLS's top brass.

Berding wasn't nervous going, he said, and there wasn't much need for intensive preparation for his remarks to MLS, which amounted to a closing argument in the club's years-long push to join America's top-rung soccer league.

"There's no pressure, really," Berding said. "We've worked real hard for two (seasons)."

He was his typically persuasive self, and it gave the appearance of a successful presentation before MLS Commissioner Don Garber and the league's expansion committee.

Whether or not it was actually successful will only be revealed in the days and weeks to come. Berding and representatives from three other expansion-finalist organizations played their proverbial cards close to the vest following Wednesday's two-hour-long presentations at the league's Fifth Avenue headquarters to bookend the expansion process.

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A vote of MLS owners Dec. 14 will determine which teams from the group of four finalists earns the right to join the league.

Berding and the traveling FC Cincinnati delegation in attendance certainly looked afterward as though they'd scored a victory on the day.

While Sacramento Republic FC and an expansion group representing the Detroit market spent portions their respective media sessions seemingly backpedaling in an effort to reassure observers that their teams were on sound footing, Berding kept his foot on the gas.

Berding provided a Power Point slideshow to MLS in which he emphasized many key subjects, including a $350 million private investment by ownership and the club's growing footprint as it now pulls fans from Indiana, Tennessee and Illinois.

Berding characterized it as a “great visit.” He said more than once “We left nothing on the table and forgot nothing at home.”

Afterward, spoke with enthusiasm on the team's proposed soccer-specific stadium, which last week gained the necessary governmental support in Cincinnati and Hamilton County despite some criticism for how the planned was revealed publicly.

"I don't think there's any question that our bid can check the box of a soccer-specific stadium," Berding said.

Of course, the stadium did come up. Berding: “We had a very in-depth discussion about our plans to privately finance the stadium. There was certainly discussion about our plan.” — Sharon Coolidge (@SharonCoolidge) December 7, 2017

He also broadened out the conversation, shifting from known areas of success to further undertakings that would strengthen the club, such as a development academy.

"Now it's in the expansion committee's hand," Berding said. "As I stand here tonight, I think we gave our best representation of Cincinnati and our ownership group and our city."

Final presentations were made behind closed doors Wednesday by Cincinnati, Sacramento, Detroit and an expansion group representing the Nashville market.

Pat Brennan / The Enquirer

The organizations presented to Garber and the league's expansion committee, which will use the information gathered to make a recommendation to the rest of the league's owners as to which of the finalists should be admitted to MLS.

Some finalists appeared to depart New York City with some chores to tidy up relative to their bids, but all seemed mostly comfortable with the final product they offered to MLS brass.

An announcement regarding which teams are selected should follow shortly after the league owners' Dec. 14 vote.

Video by Joey Garrison

FC Cincinnati was last to make its presentation, but the finalists that completed their presentations before the sun set on New York revealed little about the content of the meetings, except that they almost uniformly emerged from the roughly two-hour-long sessions with wide smiles and reports on constructive dialogue with league officials.

"What an incredible presentation," Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said on behalf of Republic FC, a current member of the United Soccer League. "I can tell you that we were incredibly well-received."

It was clear, however, that the day's events were not just an opportunity to glad-hand and celebrate the finalists' past accomplishments. It was a necessary opportunity for MLS officials to probe for answers to important questions about the teams vying to join their ranks.

Asked about the Detroit bid's controversial pivot from a plan to build a soccer-specific stadium to using Ford Field, an NFL venue, Detroit Pistons Vice President Arn Tellum stated, "It's really not for me to say. … We were able to answer their questions on a number of fronts and we'll see what they think. That's really what it's all about."

Tellum also indicated, along with representatives from the Sacramento organization, that they had some loose ends to tie up prior to the owners' vote next week.

For fans of the teams involved, the day was a festive wait to see what, if any, positive information might trickle out regarding their cities.

Many FC Cincinnati supporters took to social media to show support for their club and Berding ahead of his pitch.

Berding was joined in his presentation by majority FC Cincinnati owner Carl Lindner III. part-owner Scott Farmer and Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley.

.@JohnCranley: “They were repeatedly saying just how astounding our fan base is and how incredibly successful FC has been. Commissioners mentioned that a couple of times.” — Sharon Coolidge (@SharonCoolidge) December 7, 2017

“They were repeatedly saying just how astounding our fan base is and how incredibly successful FC has been,” Cranley said. “Commissioners mentioned that a couple of times.”

On the streets of New York City outside the 5th Avenue building that houses the MLS offices, Sacramento Republic FC fans chanted. Club officials reportedly planned to meet up with the traveling fans later Wednesday at a nearby bar.

Proven.... and still growing. The sky is the limit for club and city. @fccincinnati — Alan Koch (@AlanKochYVR) December 6, 2017

WHO DID THE FINALISTS PRESENT TO?

Garber, along with the league's expansion committed, surveyed the presentations, which each lasted about two hours.

Expansion committee members include Jonathan Kraft (New England Revolution), Cliff Illig (principal owner of Sporting Kansas City), Bill McGuire (owner, Minnesota United), Andrew Hauptman (owner, Chicago Fire SC), Jay Sugarman (owner, Philadelphia Union) and noted Seattle Sounder FC owner, Joe Roth.

THE NEXT STEP IN THE EXPANSION PROCESS

While Wednesday's closing arguments are effectively the most important days in the history of the respective organizations involved, they'll all be waiting for at least eight days before they learn their respective fates.

The six-member MLS expansion committee will make recommendations to the MLS Board of Governors, which is comprised of all current MLS owners.

The owners will then meet Dec. 14 to vote, and could vote on which expansion applicants get to enter the league that day.

Each owner receives one vote in the process.

MLS is expected to select two teams for expansion and announce those teams around Dec. 19.

MLS officials have also said they won't rush an unequipped candidate into the league, and could potentially admit just one team if it finds two or more of the candidate organizations aren't suited for admittance in this round of expansion.