In the sunshine aboard the USS Midway Museum on Monday, San Diego’s prospects for securing a Major League Soccer franchise looked very bright.

The league’s commissioner, Don Garber, was on hand to accept an expansion application from the ownership group — that single fact notable because Garber didn’t attend a ceremony for any of the other prospective cities.

But the reality is that there are 11 other markets — some of them much larger — that want top-level pro soccer as much San Diego does, and some have spent far more time and energy trying to ensure their inclusion in a league on the rise.


What we know is that MLS is looking to choose two cities by the end of this year to join the league in 2020 as the 25th and 26th teams. Two more cities are expected to be added within a couple of years after that.

A look at those prospective cities and where they stand in the race for the 2020 spots:

The Frontrunners

Sacramento


Until this week, California’s capitol city appeared to be the closest market to a lock for MLS expansion. Consider: Sacramento is the 20th-largest TV market in the country and it has strongly supported its United Soccer League team, averaging 11,500 this past season. All hurdles had been cleared to build a 20,000-seat stadium downtown.

But then one of Sacramento’s owners went rogue just before bids were due, and MLS will have to decide how ugly the effort will be going forward.

The Sacramento Bee reported on Wednesday that the bid was “plunged into chaos” when representatives of Sacramento Republic FC, the USL club with a rabid fan base, contended that managing partner and lead investor Kevin Nagle submitted the city’s bid without authorization from the minor-league team.

Are lawsuits on the horizon?


Nagle, who sold his health care company to Rite Aid for $2 billion, has apparently shunned SRFC’s founding owner, Warren Smith, for more high-profile partners, including Meg Whitman, the CEO of Hewlett-Packard.

This soap opera could run for some time.

A rendering of the proposed MLS stadium in St. Petersburg, Fla., that would serve the team in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. (Populous)

St. Louis


City abandoned by its NFL team jumps on the MLS bandwagon. Sound familiar?

There are many more similarities between San Diego and St. Louis than that. Both are longtime soccer hotbeds that fervently supported indoor soccer in its heyday while not getting much momentum going when it comes to pro outdoor soccer.

That has changed in St. Louis in recent years with a push led by Boston-based investor Paul Edgerley, who has ownership stakes in the NBA’s Celtics and Italian soccer club AS Roma.

However, just like San Diego with the Chargers, St. Louis and Missouri feel burned by their dealings with the Rams and don’t want public money used for sports franchises. That’s a problem because the St. Louis team is asking for $60 million in city money, through a half-cent sales tax increase, to go toward a 20,000-seat downtown stadium. It hopes to get a public vote on the funding in April.


There’s some heavy hitting opposition to that. Missouri’s Republican governor, Eric Greitens, blistered the project in December. “Right now,” he said, “because of reckless spending by career politicians, we can’t even afford core functions of government, let alone spend millions on soccer stadiums.”

If the stadium vote passes, St. Louis can expect a positive call from MLS. If it doesn’t, the long wait for big-time soccer may drag on.

Tampa/St. Petersburg

The region has several big positives when it comes to MLS: It is the largest media market not currently occupied by the league (combined population of Tampa/St. Pete is more than 5 million); that population skews on the younger side; and it has a long tradition of professional soccer.


It also may have the coolest stadium. Al Lang Stadium is a former minor-league baseball park on the water in downtown St. Pete. An $80 million expansion plan by owner Bill Edwards, using his own money, would take the stadium to 18,000, with boomerang-shaped pavilions that leave open views of the water and city skyline.

This would be Tampa’s second shot at MLS. The Mutiny was among the first franchises in 1996, but that club never had solid investing and folded in 2001.

Contenders

Detroit


At a meeting with newspaper sports editors in April, Garber listed Detroit as one of the top three prospects for expansion before several others joined the fray.

Detroit has a well-established sports business duo in place in NBA owners Dan Gilbert (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Tom Gores (Detroit Pistons). They have one stadium site in mind — a revitalization of the Wayne County Jail district. But like San Diego’s bidders, many details need to be hammered out before there is a complete picture.

Cincinnati

A great sports town, Cincinnati showed its love for soccer by supporting its first-year USL team in 2016 by averaging 20,000 fans per game at the University of Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium. That’s close to the MLS’s average, so why wouldn’t the league readily dive in here?


Maybe because Cincinnati is the smallest media market of the 12 being considered for a franchise.

San Antonio

Underrated in many respects, the south Texas city always seems the franchise underdog, claiming only the NBA’s Spurs as a pro team.

But the Spurs’ success is impressive, and it’s the NBA team’s ownership group that has put in a bid for MLS. The city’s big sell is quality over quantity and the chance to draw fans from hip Austin, which once considered an MLS bid for its own.


The stadium situation is iffy. As yet, the Spurs group has not produced a solid plan to renovate the USL team’s suburban, 8,000-seat Toyota Field.

Long shots

Nashville

Strong attendance for the NFL’s Titans and NHL’s Predators has proven that Music City can support pro sports. The prospective owner, wealthy local businessman John Ingram, is extremely well regarded, but he’s got a sizable obstacle to overcome: He has no stadium deal, though he envisions a 25,000-30,000-seat venue.


Raleigh/Durham, N.C.

The Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) is a college sports Mecca, and was really the birthplace of women’s soccer in America at the University of North Carolina.

Prospective owner Steve Malik, a healthcare IT entrepreneur, can also point to the continued population growth in the area. But UNC’s stadium is far too small for MLS, and Malik’s application included several prospective venue sites without being able to specify one.

Charlotte, N.C.


There’s only going to be one expansion team in North Carolina, and Charlotte has fallen behind. The stadium situation is a mess. The county approved spending $43 million on a 20,000-seat venue, but Charlotte’s City Council recently rejected raising taxes to subsidize $43 million more to help the prospective owner, Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith.

Indianapolis

There is some appeal here from a vibrant and rich sports city, but Indy doesn’t seem nearly close enough on securing the stadium piece. Two stadium funding proposals have been struck down by the state legislature, and the ownership group contends it needs public money to get a venue done.

Phoenix


The Valley of the Sun is the second-largest media market to not have an MLS team. That, combined with its sizable Hispanic population, make it appealing and somewhat of a rival to San Diego.

The prospective owners are Berke Bakay, CEO of Kona Grill, along with Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy (formerly of the Diamondbacks).

The team recently announced a long-term lease for land in Scottsdale on which it would build a climate-controlled stadium. But it’s not yet clear what size it would be, considering the ownership originally proposed a far-too-small 5,000-seat venue.

RELATED

Mayor Kevin Faulconer lends his support as a local investment group officially applies for an expansion team from Major League Soccer to come to San Diego. Don Garber, the MLS commisioner was present to receive the application during a press confere


tod.leonard@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutleonard