After stadium progress, what's next for FC Cincinnati's MLS expansion push?

Back in December, when Major League Soccer's expansion process was still running on time, it became clear over two expansion-related events in New York and Nashville that the league was going to miss its mark for inviting two teams to MLS by the end of the year because only one (Nashville) was ready.

Following Monday's events in the council chambers of Cincinnati's City Hall, it appears Futbol Club Cincinnati and the Greater Cincinnati region are now as close to earning an MLS bid as they've ever been.

FC Cincinnati cleared a major hurdle Monday evening, putting it one step closer to a new, $212.5 million stadium in West End as City Council narrowly passed an ordinance that clears the way for the city to put just under $40 million toward stadium infrastructure.

More: FC Cincinnati: City Council OKs deal for West End stadium by 5-4 vote

Conveniently, FC Cincinnati's latest piece of progress came on the eve of the MLS Board of Governors' meeting Tuesday in Los Angeles. There's a deadline at work and FC Cincinnati President and General Manager Jeff Berding said Monday he was confident his team had fulfilled what was required of the deadline.

Still, exactly what was demanded by the latest deadline imposed by MLS isn't precisely clear. Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld has been the most forthcoming about it, telling The Enquirer his understanding was Tuesday amounted to a kind of "D-Day" for Cincinnati's MLS bid.

The league confirmed to The Enquirer that expansion was on the agenda for Tuesday's meeting. Berding confirmed Monday he'd been keeping the league abreast of the latest civic developments relevant to expansion in Cincinnati.

But as always, no one's really certain what will go down in the Board of Governor's meeting. It seems MLS is in a position to render a final decision on FC Cincinnati's MLS fate, but that doesn't mean it will.

Here are two most-likely outcomes for Tuesday's Board of Governors meeting:

• MLS accepts FC Cincinnati for the league, with an announcement to follow in the coming days or weeks: The relief on the faces of FC Cincinnati staffers at Monday's council meeting was impossible to ignore. So, too, was the social media footprint left behind by a few of those same people. Their social media candor, combined with the fact FC Cincinnati's bid now appears to be at an advanced stage, suggests to me the league now has enough assurances from relevant government entities and FC Cincinnati that they can finally make a decision in the affirmative regarding the Cincinnati bid. My read on MLS attitudes toward Cincinnati late last year was that they wanted to admit Cincinnati back in December but had been through enough stadium fights to know what local residents here learned the hard way over the last four months – that this city and county had a long, tough conversation ahead of it before it could be reasonably suggested that a stadium was truly coming. That stadium fight eroded FC Cincinnati's seemingly unstoppable momentum coming out of 2017, and maybe even soured some in MLS on Cincinnati. But now the matches are back. Nippert Stadium is drawing record-breaking crowds again. FC Cincinnati not only has real assurances on a stadium, but it's back to the things – soccer and rabid support – that made it one of the best stories in American sport last summer. That version of FC Cincinnati is one that will be very hard to keep out of MLS.

• MLS takes more time to review the latest developments out of Cincinnati and opts to table the discussion until a later date: Achieving significant movement from MLS with regard to expansion could be likened to attempting to turn a cruise ship: It's a slow, methodical process that takes time. And MLS has shown it's not often compelled by outside forces to act quickly. FC Cincinnati met a deadline to have some things lined up for Tuesday's meeting, but seemingly with just hours to spare. Is that enough time for this board of governors to weigh everything they'll want to weigh? It's possible but doesn't seem likely based on how much time's already been taken during this process. I think FC Cincinnati's MLS bid is a question of "when" and not "if," but the "when" doesn't seem likely to arrive today.