There is an unwritten rule that any proper American professional sports league must have at least two franchises in the greater New York City area. Major League Baseball has them. The NBA and the NFL do too. The NHL has three. Being well-represented in the Big Apple is part of being big time.

Naturally, Major League Soccer, covetous of the mainstream as it is, is feverishly working at adding its own second franchise in New York. And with the Red Bulls way out in New Jersey, at least a 30-minute PATH ride from Manhattan, the new team is to be housed within one of the five boroughs.

"A second team in New York would build on the momentum New York Red Bulls have built," explained MLS spokesman Dan Courtemanche.

But while MLS has explored 20 potential stadium sites over the last few years, most recently Pier 40 on Manhattan's Lower West side, and remains in discussions with several, no deal has been reached. Approaching it in reverse to the usual process, the league will secure a location for its stadium first and find a suitable ownership group later. League commissioner Don Garber has claimed several times that there will be no shortage of candidates who will cough up an expansion fee and stadium construction cost that will run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Front-runners for the second New York franchise have come and gone. The Cosmos were revived by English property magnate and former Spurs vice-chairman Paul Kemsley only for his ownership group to collapse a year later. The Cosmos are now owned fully by a group from Saudi Arabia but still in the running. New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon was a contender too but was left cash-strapped by Bernie Madoff. Former CONCACAF Secretary General Chuck Blazer is leading another group. And there are said to be more.

If the ambition was originally for the 20th MLS team to start playing by 2013 – although there was never a fixed timetable – that now seems at least two years away. The second New York stadium, and a team to occupy it, remains a castle in the clouds, of sorts, as the process drags on and on.

This may, however, have created an opening for an enterprising Englishman in a market known better for taking New York's elderly citizens off its hands than its sports franchises.

"Right now we remain focused on securing a 20th team in the New York City," said Courtemanche. "But we haven't finalized that in New York so that leaves the door open to other markets."

Like Orlando, Florida, where Phil Rawlins is quickly building a strong case for his Orlando City Soccer Club – currently operating in the third pro tier in the promotion/relegation-free setup – to pry away one of the coveted slots in MLS.

Rawlins bought a stake in Stoke City in 2000, where he'd been a season ticket-holder from the age of five, after selling off his IT consultancy company and joined the board. He'd relocated to the U.S. by then. And when he was asked if he knew of an American club Stoke might sign a marketing partnership with during a board meeting, Rawlins decided to start his own club in the U.S. to affiliate with Stoke instead.

He founded the Austin Aztex in 2008 and signed them up for the amateur Player Development League. In 2009 they turned professional. It soon became apparent, however, that there was no future in the economic climate in Austin. After the 2010 season, Rawlins moved his team to Orlando and re-branded his club the Orlando City Soccer Club.

"Orlando is a fantastic marketplace for a number of reasons," explained Rawlins. "There's a lack of competition from a professional sports standpoint. It's just the [NBA's Orlando] Magic, and they have a different season. It's a very young, eclectic population, which is a perfect demographic for soccer. There's really no competition or franchise in the Southeast, so Orlando offered a tremendous base of opportunity for an MLS franchise. When you add all that together Orlando made for a tremendous choice."

"We've seen teams in Florida before be not as successful," said Orlando-native, New York Red Bulls and sometime U.S. midfielder Dax McCarty, referring to the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion, both contracted in 2001 because of a combination of poor attendance, ownership and stadium situations and a failure to gain any traction in overcrowded sports markets. "But Orlando has the business model and people behind it for it to succeed. Orlando's got the space and got the market for it and I think they can have a very successful MLS team."

In 2011, Orlando won both the regular season and playoffs in its first year in the USL PRO division, setting attendance records and drawing the most people of any club outside of MLS. This season, it again sits in first place and is drawing 7,116 fans per home game, a whopping number for a minor league team. Orlando City has drawn big sponsors too. Not to mention the attention of the league.

Garber visited in February, was overwhelmed by raucous fans and supportive billboards and walked away duly impressed. "Orlando was not on our list," he said at the time. "It's on our list now."

Of the club's chances, he said it wasn't "a matter of if, but when."

"Down in Orlando what they've done in a lower division with the crowds they've drawn and the success they've had is really remarkable," said Courtemanche.

But why have Rawlins and his ownership group gone to such trouble? "The owners and investors are business people," said Rawlins. "But you don't just do this because it's a business. There's a certain level of philanthropy and love and passion for the game. My biggest reason for doing this is to help the game grow in the U.S. and make a contribution to it."

And he gets to implement the things he's learned at Stoke on a clean slate. "What I've learned being involved for a professional soccer club for 12 years now is that there's not one thing you can do to make a soccer club successful but there is 20 different things you have to do very well," said Rawlins. "Execution on your strategy is critical to being successful. And it's really, really important to minimize and negate your mistakes. You're bound to make mistakes and then you keep moving forwards and implementing your strategy."

Ownership, market potential and stadium standards have to be met to join MLS. And Rawlins has fostered an environment that has Orlando on pace for all of them. "Orlando has all of those things," said Courtemanche. "It's a market that we certainly believe could be a good Major League Soccer team."

The team has grown understandably confident of its chances. "The league is very committed to the 20th franchise being in New York," said Rawlins. "I can't say we'll get in ahead of New York. But I can say if things in New York don't happen in the time that they would like we're ready to take their place. We're ready now. We've run ourselves as a mini-MLS club. We've got the staff and setup and we're ready to go."

After 18 months of talks with MLS, the only remaining hurdle for Orlando to clear is the comprehensive stadium plan and financing, the very one keeping a second New York team from spawning. But whereas New York remains a question mark, Rawlins predicts he'll have checked that box in another 18 months. "We're top of the list for a new franchise and that will cement that we'll get it," he said. "I think we're looking 2015, 2016 as a timeframe."

The conclusion is unavoidable that the longer the league focuses on New York, pursuing a perfect scenario in a saturated market with nary any real estate worth having that's affordable, the more likely it becomes that Orlando jumps into the lead. Because the longer the league dawdles in its headquarters' backyard, the closer Orlando is to its stadium deal, making its franchise allocation incontestable.

The league insists the two franchises aren't mutually exclusive. That there will be expansion after a 20th team, albeit at a slower pace than the eight teams it has added in the last eight seasons. A team in the Southeast will be a priority. And Florida's failure to support previous franchises won't be held against it. "The soccer landscape in North America and the development and evolution of Major League Soccer has changed so much in the last 10 years that it really doesn't impact our thought process," said Courtemanche.

"Back when the two Florida teams were in it, soccer definitely didn't have the pull that it does now," said McCarty. "I don't think the fan base or people are necessarily different but that it's a matter of MLS having a lot more credibility and marketing power. It's much better timing."