MINNEAPOLIS — Scenario No. 1: On a humid June afternoon, downtown Minneapolis is buzzing.

Fans clad in Adidas replica jerseys with three stripes running down the shoulders and scarves draped around their necks parade past Target Field on Fifth Street, cut over on Sixth and make their way toward a glacial, modernistic soccer palace next to the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market. The sounds of singing, horns and drum cadences already emanate from the stadium as some of the world’s top players go through warmups. The pitch is perfect, a glistening green sheet of tall fescue trimmed to sport-specific standards. The Twins are out of town, the Timberwolves have missed the playoffs again, and the same aficionados that sat in the rain at the Nomad World Pub and watched Tim Howard and the United States nearly upset Belgium in the 2014 World Cup now pack the 18,000-seat home of the state’s Major League Soccer club. The more casual follower is here for a taste, too; he’ll walk away a changed man after the one-of-a-kind experience a professional soccer atmosphere has to offer.

Scenario No. 2: The mosquitoes confine themselves primarily to the banks of the Mississippi River, but some of them have ventured past the Mill City District and toward the upper-level patio of Brit’s Pub.

There, a group of young professionals — hipster beards and trendy clothes included — take their final sips of Summit before making the 1.2-mile bike ride northeast on Nicollet Mall, right on 10th Street, left on Park Avenue and left onto Fifth. The gargantuan Vikings stadium greets them, jutting out of the ground like a cliff on Lake Superior. The American football cathedral’s 95-foot-tall, pivoting glass doors are open, its NFL insignia replaced by that of the MLS, and its louvers allow for a soft, cool breeze to whip around the venue’s lower bowl. The structure’s house reduction mechanism is in use, giving the 65,400-seat place a more intimate feel. Players lace up their specialty cleats designed for artificial turf and test the pitch’s synthetic, grassy-like playing surface as a member’s stand official teaches the support section new chants, jeers and jingles. The scene conjures images of TCF Bank Stadium on Aug. 2, 2014, only with fuller section seats and higher decibel levels.

And No. 3: The same folks that would’ve meandered their way under Interstate 94 toward top-level American soccer next to Target Field or inside the Metrodome’s replacement, the same ones who almost half-filled TCF for a game between European powers Manchester City and Olympiacos this summer, tune into the MLS Cup championship game and wonder what might’ve been. How another market usurped not one but two seemingly robust bids for the world’s most popular sport to permeate the Twin Cities sports landscape.

Two visions, competing and contradictory to one another. And a nightmare if neither comes to fruition.

The Minnesota Vikings remain confident in their efforts to land, create and operate an MLS franchise in their new digs, set for completion by the 2016 football (not that kind) season. But the threat to owner Zygi Wilf and his family’s plans continues to balloon.

The dial went up several notches earlier this month when multiple outlets reported a potential proposal being discussed between Minnesota United FC owner Bill McGuire, Twins owner Jim Pohlad, Wolves owner Glen Taylor and MLS commissioner Don Garber. Such a consortium of Minnesota bigwigs would enhance United’s ability to privately finance a soccer-specific stadium and come up with the funds for expansion fees — possibly in the $100 million neighborhood — and other startup costs.

McGuire is worth $1.2 billion (as of 2006), the Pohlad family $3.6 billion (2008), and Taylor $2.2 billion (2014). Not only are they rich, but they’re very well-connected, meaning they could team up and procure the private funds necessary to build yet another stadium in the Twin Cities; after helping fund the new Vikings Stadium, Target Field and renovations to the Target Center, local taxpayers aren’t likely to support another venue with their own money.

According to Sports Illustrated, an investor in English Championship club Derby — which United faced in a friendly in March — also has joined McGuire’s bid.

United, currently the top club in the Division 2 North American Soccer League, has been clandestine about its possible move to the States’ only Division 1 league. President Nick Rogers has told FOXSportsNorth.com on multiple occasions the organization’s goal is to provide Minnesota’s top soccer offering, no matter the league. The MLS wasn’t on the radar of McGuire, the former CEO of UnitedHealth Group, when he snatched the Minnesota Stars from the threat of folding and rebranded them as Minnesota United FC.

But if meeting the organization’s objective means putting together a group of investors for an MLS team that plays next to the Farmer’s Market — or in Bloomington, another site United officials have brought forth in preliminary discussions — then so be it.

Perhaps United’s inquiry wouldn’t have been necessary if the Vikings and the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority hadn’t included stipulations in new stadium legislation that gives the NFL team the option to have an MLS tenant. The influx of bigger-time soccer in this market would almost certainly spell doom for the NASL club.

The Vikings have been quite public about their soccer intentions, which most recently included their own meeting with Garber when he was in town. The MLS commissioner, Vikings vice president of public affairs and stadium development Lester Bagley said, was visiting a number of cities as the league mulls expansion.

"The meeting was a continuation of our on-going dialogue with MLS," Bagley told FOXSportsNorth.com in a text message.

MLS is in search of one more market to round out expansion at 24 teams. Sacramento, San Antonio, St. Louis and San Diego are also in the running. A decision could come as early as December, when the MLS board is expected to meet with both Minnesota groups at the MLS Cup final. The Vikings are facing a time crunch; they’ll soon have to decide whether to include reduction technology that "shrinks" the stadium.

So the contrasting paths to Major League Soccer in Minnesota could both go untraveled. But the race between the two is still heating up.

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