Bill McGuire’s first target for constructing a soccer-specific stadium was St. Paul. That was 2012, and it failed to get off the ground.

In 2015, the owner of Minnesota United FC made his first public effort to gain political support for a stadium, this time in Minneapolis, and it also collapsed.

On Friday, McGuire will be front and center for an event announcing that his club will join Major League Soccer as an expansion franchise for the 2017 season. He willed its success and will celebrate bringing a second major professional sports team to St. Paul.

“I think as we look at it today, it was maybe serendipity,” McGuire told the Pioneer Press on Monday. “We ended up with, we think, the best situation.”

McGuire said his club is operating in “good faith” that their proposed $150 million stadium project, on the Midway neighborhood “Bus Barn” site, will receive confirmation of the positive political support garnered from the city of St. Paul and the Legislature. The city still must approve the site plan, and the state needs to work around other issues to grant a property tax exemption it overwhelmingly passed. Related Articles Traffic concerns amplified as soccer stadium nears vote

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McGuire, the former CEO of UnitedHealth Group, said there’s a chance the 21,500-seat stadium could be ready for the club as soon as the 2018 season. In the meantime, United FC is expected to play in the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium next season, which runs from March to November.

In a 32-minute interview, McGuire discussed the divergent and sometimes dead-end paths to build the type of stadium MLS required, the development of the existing club and his goals for the franchise. He declined to discuss the pending name change from Minnesota United FC, although “Minnesota FC” is expected to be announced as the new moniker during Friday’s news conference at CHS Field in Lowertown.

PP: In 2012, what was the first game you saw of the then-league-owned Minnesota Stars and your initial reaction to the experience?

BM: The game that I remember is the one that was the first half of the playoffs where we won at the end, and the fans broke the fence down. That’s the one I remember. … We went away with a significant point advantage and somebody (said), “With that cushion, you can’t possibly lose.” And then we lost.

PP: Did you initially think this was something that you wanted to purchase?

BM: At the time it was more just trying to get a feel for what this is and why might it be important to the community. It was more about being important to the community than to us personally. I never really thought of it as a business proposition; it was more of something that we ought to have and … it seems like we ought to be able to do it reasonably. Then it sort of got carried away.

PP: There was an email that was exchanged between you and (now-club president) Nick Rogers exploring the (St. Paul) ‘Bus Barn’ site in December 2012 …

BM: There were two separate memos. The first one … was actually a year before, when (Rogers) was in Washington and he was watching MLS with his brother, who was a goalie in Maryland. He commented that it was … “pretty decent soccer and had I ever thought about doing this up here?” Then jump forward (to 2012) with … what we saw at (the National Sports Center) in Blaine. … There weren’t that many people up there; they were just pretty revved up. How can we bring this down and put it where it’s more accessible to a lot of people? That was the discussion about what is called the “Bus Barn.”

PP: When did MLS become a goal?

BM: At the time, I really didn’t think about MLS. This was the team and (the North American Soccer League) was what we were dealing with. It was in this particular league, and the focus was on how do we keep a team here because you have (had) a team (in the Twin Cities) going back to (the Minnesota Kicks in 1976) and how do we not let this disappear? They, de facto, came with (NASL), and we were really buying into the team and keeping the team here more than anything.

The progression, of course, came as (MLS) expanded (and) pretty quickly revved up when we got in a situation where MLS decided that it might like to — or do and did, really — be in the Twin Cities. They saw this as a real, great market, potentially, so they recognized the same things that we know now and had an inkling then: You’ve got a community that is very into soccer, and it’s a community that is very much into sports in general. You have a community that is diversified and highly receptive of this world’s game.

PP: How would you describe the level of pride when MLS awarded the expansion franchise to you instead of the Wilfs and the Vikings and people from Las Vegas and elsewhere?

BM: Obviously, it was an important deal and something that we are very proud of. … I think largely that we were able pull something together, a group of people together, committed to the sport and the way we think the sport deserves to be viewed in the community and in this country: at a very high level and on its own and not a sub-tenant of something else or other things.

Minnesota and the Twin Cities, representative of Minnesota, were able to stand out against other communities around the country, so it was less of an internal battle among people in Minnesota. First and foremost, we went out over these other towns that were pretty active and in some ways much more aggressively supported by their government … than we were here.

One versus the other in ownership groups, that was probably more about having a group that was focused on the sport rather than something else and wanting it to be what it is — played outdoors, as I used to write, in great Minnesota summers, springs and falls and on grass, where (soccer) is the focus. We, of course, think this is what fans want.

PP: Do you consider yourself to be a fan first and owner second or are those tandem things?

BM: It’s probably hard to divorce the two when you are both. I could not be an owner or a participant in something like this if I wasn’t a fan. I would have to believe it; I have to enjoy it. I couldn’t do it as anything other than that.

PP: When MLS awarded the expansion franchise to you publicly in March 2015, how did you feel about the course correction you had to take when things didn’t work out in Minneapolis?

BM: I think it was on the one hand you step back and say, “I spent some energy on this and now I have to change course.” I think as we look at it today, it was maybe serendipity. We ended up with what we think is the best situation — a site that is very central, has existing public transportation and now with the (Bus Rapid Transit), another kind of public transportation and something that is very consistent with where we think the whole country is going on public transportation and fewer cars and a lot of appeal to people. In hindsight, we see that (Southwest light-rail line from Minneapolis to Eden Prairie) really hasn’t been resolved yet for the area we were looking at.

PP: With developments possibly happening Wednesday (at the St. Paul) City Council, and the Legislature’s special session still up in the air, how do you view the lingering uncertainty of the stadium plan?

BM: We are hopeful that some of the uncertainty, at least part of it, gets resolved. I don’t think there has been a lot of uncertainty with things at the city level. The city of St. Paul has been pretty supportive of this, and the mayor (Chris Coleman) in particular and his staff and Chamber of Commerce have been really supportive. Relative to the Legislature, we continue to work on this and invest in this in good faith knowing that they had a very, very strong support for the simple continuation of the Bus Barn property not taxed. And assurances we’ve had from the legislative heads of support that this will get finalized as having passed once (and when) they resolve some other things and have their special session or next get-together. We have been operating on good faith and continue to work on this because we have to. We can’t wait forever or what caused us to get an (MLS expansion club) award … will go backward.

PP: Are you still circling 2018 to open the stadium?

BM: There is still a timeline. It’s not as easy as if we would have started three months ago or five months ago. There are a lot of nuances in the construction. There is a site there that we’ve tried to position. The stadium was very much predicated in part on what it could do to improve and enhance the area, so we positioned it so it can serve as a centerpiece for a new redevelopment.

PP: MLS is still on the horizon, but has there been any discussions or thoughts on a National Women’s Soccer League companion club?

BM: Of course, nobody thinks about one thing at a time. You think about all of these. You also have to think about a reserve team and have to think about an academy system, which leads us into thinking about how can we work with existing amateur development that is already occurring in the state rather than think we are going to take over those things. We want to be a facilitator and all of those things are going on. You think about women’s soccer as well. That is not an imminent thought at this moment, but it’s certainly a consideration down the road.

PP: Your history includes philanthropic efforts to create Gold Medal Park and to the Walker Art Center. Then there’s the other side with perceptions about what happened during your time running UnitedHealth Group and your forfeiture and fine (relating to back-dated stock options). How do you respond to those perceptions of you and how do you answer to that part of your history?

BM: I can’t comment on other people’s perception. I know who I am and what we’ve done and what our values are. I’ve tried to act to the best of our ability and be participants in the community. We do that because we think that’s who we are and what we want to be. I know a lot of people tell me, and other people that are making this happen, “Thank you.” That feels good. All of that.

There is no reason for me to go backward. I ran a very successful company that built tens of thousands of jobs and has done a lot of good things here and around the country. There were some issues raised, and I was the captain of the ship at the time and sometimes you suffer those consequences. That’s a great company and has continued to be a great company. I’m proud of my participation in helping to get there and the people that have continued to make it good.

But the focus is about now and what we can do and what we can continue to do. I’ve said this many times, that the people that have come together to be a part of this are all people committed to this community. They don’t have to do what they do. They do it because they care about it. They care about it for now. They care about it for the generations that are coming, and they are trying to do things that make a difference, a positive difference in this community, and I think each and every one of those can be shown to have done that already and will continue to do it.

PP: You’ve invested on the player side with new signings and the front office at the new spot in Golden Valley and a staff of 50 to 60 people. The current results on the field are probably not what you’d like to see. How do you view the development and the progress of the team?

BM: Again, mixed. If you look over the four years, we, week-in and week-out, have been at the top. When you have a first-half champion and a second-half champion and a full-year champion and then a cup winner, you can get none of those — or you could get two of them and feel dissatisfied or you could feel satisfied. I try to bring myself back and look at the total record, and that is pretty public, and (ours has been) one of the best records in North America, certainly. From that standpoint, pretty good.

There are disappointments. We’ve had so many injuries. With this year, that’s a tough one because you’ve got everybody thinking about next year. You are obviously looking at players not just for this year but next year, and arguably next year in a league that requires other things than you may right now. There are a handful of guys that have had surgery that are out. We haven’t been able to put the same lineup on the field two games in a row, I think, the entire year. So it’s hard to build the chemistry. It also makes it hard to evaluate what is going on: Are we thinking about the right kind of player and all that?

I can say that I think we have some good talent, good people. … We have good people on our staff that are all committed. We made some changes anticipating the MLS thing and we’ve divided coaching and created a technical director (Manny Lagos) to work on youth soccer, work on a developmental academy, work on a reserve team, work on being able to scout and understand drafts and all these other things. And give a new coach (Carl Craig) a chance to see what he can do. We throw in the mix: Are you in this league? Or are you in the next league? …

PP: I’m sure people are excited to see when those MLS-related gears can start to crank — the signing of designated players, the start of the youth academy. How soon can we expect to see things start to ramp up after Friday?

BM: Once we know when we will play, that then begets a different set of relationships with players and what you do. You are looking at drafts, expansion draft, etc., and trying to build a roster and trying to bring in the kind of sponsor support that goes into these sorts of things, which are ultimately your drivers of what you can do and can’t do. It will come pretty quick. MLS requires that you have development academies, but as I said earlier, we want to do our development academies in a way that works with the community assets we have, so it’s not a not a new black box that is totally abstract from what is going on. Manny Lagos has been working on that. Tim Carter, who we’ve hired (to run the academy), has been working on that. So we are working to find the right people to help us through these things. We’ve been doing work on all of them as we go.

PP: The renderings for the stadium have caused a lot of jaws to drop. What takeaway do you want people to have when it opens in St. Paul?

BM: It’s one of those things that we hope people will be excited about, something that embodies both appreciation and pride in the fact that it is aesthetically beautiful, frankly. That it fits into the neighborhood and the community well, rather than overwhelming it or in any way driving it. That it’s something that people feel is theirs. That they can relate to as an exciting place that they want to go to and they want to keep going back to, they want to take their friends to. And that it’s a facility that works for the sport and is designed to optimize the fans’ experience as well as the players’. And something that we hope will drive and spur future and additional investment in the community around us. I frankly think it will be up there as one of the premier soccer-specific stadiums in America and North America based on everything I know. Will it be the top of the top? We’ll see. I certainly think it has a lot of attributes that make it really a special place.