When I look at Sacramento Republic FC, I see a lot of Orlando City.

Playing in a big city with just one pro sports team (an NBA franchise) with a proven fan base, a winning history — the USL championship in 2014, their first season — and a bevy of big owners looking to strike while the iron’s hot in MLS.

As we’ve heard many times before, MLS is looking to have 24 teams by the 2020 season. Orlando City and New York City FC will join the league this season, bringing the total to 20. Atlanta and Los Angeles FC will enter in 2017, making 22, put puts the spot light on the final two spots.

David Beckham will have a team in Miami if he can get a downtown stadium deal put together. He announced his intentions to build a club in South Beach over a year ago, and yet we’re still nowhere close to hearing about a potential site. Beckham has the city’s approval to play at FIU’s football stadium if they want to, but MLS isn’t coming to Miami without a stadium deal in-pocket first.

That puts MLS in a tough spot in terms of reaching their goal of 24 teams.

A decision on expansion is expected to come within the first six months of this year, and could possible come even sooner. Don Garber said recently that there is a timetable on Miami, and the sooner things come to fruition the better it is for MLS and the prospective owners looking to join the league.

Las Vegas is out, as we know, after Garber sent a letter to the city last week. That leaves Miami, Sacramento, and Minnesota in the running for the final two spots.

It’s undeniable at this point that Sacramento has earned it’s MLS bid. They’ve built a fan base — almost 8,000 season tickets have been sold this for 2015 — they have a good relationship with the community, they have a good team, a downtown stadium ready to build, and an ownership group that includes both the Kings and San Francisco 49’ers.

In other words, they check all of the right boxes.

The problem: Minnesota also has a lot to offer. It’s a place the league really wants to be — they don’t have a midwest presence to show for. However, the before MLS can settle on Minnesota over Sacramento and Miami, they have to settle on which ownership group will even represent the state.

On one hand, you have the Minnesota Vikings, who are willing to let the club use their new billion dollar stadium as the home of a new team — their bid looks very much like that of Atlanta’s, with a rich NFL owner and a new stadium on the way. The Vikings don’t have a soccer-history like their opponents, who I’ll mention in a second, but a stadium, and that’s really what matters to the league.

On the other hand, there’s Minnesota United, of NASL. Like Sacramento, they’ve got a big ownership group that includes the likes of the Twins and Timberwolves. The only thing holding them back is the stadium, which they’re still looking into. Right now they have their hopes on a spot next to Target Field, the home of the Twins, in downtown Minneapolis. Securing a stadium there could be a big step in securing their MLS bid.

This is not an easy spot for MLS to be in. However, by all indications it looks like the league won’t stop at 24 teams. That means there will still be room for these cities down the road.

But how should it shake it now? Well, lets with honest with Miami. They need a stadium deal in the next couple of months or we’ll come back to you later. Sacramento has all of the pieces, but who knows if they’ll still have them in a few years? Can you hold onto that stadium site until 2020? You’re playing with fire there. Minnesota: I’m all for United — probably because I’ve never cared much for NFL stadiums and owners in MLS; also, Orlando City can be the only purple team in the league.

Give a spot to Sacramento, and just make a decision on Miami so we can figure out Minnesota.