Sharon Coolidge and Hannah K. Sparling | Cincinnati Enquirer

Mark Wert/The Enquirer

Update: 6:54 PM: With news breaking of FC Cincinnati taking an option on land in the West End, team general manager and president Jeff Berding talked about the club's stadium plans for the first time since winning city approval to build a Major League Soccer stadium in Oakley.

"From our perspective, all activity is focused on keeping as many options on the table as possible," Berding said.

All along Berding has said three potential sites were Oakley, the West End and Newport. In Oakley, he said, the club is waiting on a traffic study to gauge viability.

"It is our broad vision that our $200 million, privately-funded stadium, would generate considerable economic impact that would be a positive for any neighborhood in which we choose to build the stadium."

Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority

And that includes the West End, he said.

At FC Cincinnati, "we’re about making our community better," Berding said. "Our vision is to have institutions and people working together to improve facilities, programs, neighborhoods and ultimately lives."

"In that regard," he added. "There will be no FC Cincinnati plans that won’t result in making sure a new stadium leads to win-win outcomes for all parties. So if we were to look at the West End, we would certainly we will make sure the youth that use Stargel Stadium will have better facilities and improved programs."

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He pointed out the club is already partnering with Cincinnati Public Schools on soccer programs.

"The fact we’re already doing soccer programming with CPS shows we’re in this to be a partner with CPS regardless of where stadium ends up," Berding said.

Update 6 PM: Another clue that FC Cincinnati is pursuing the West End as a possible stadium site dropped Tuesday with news that the club has an option to buy land from Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority.

CMHA spokeswoman Lesley Wardlow said the team signed the option Jan. 16, but it is pending CMHA board approval, which could come as soon as next week.

The vacant plot of land was once part of Laurel Homes, and sits at the southwest corner of Ezzard Charles Drive and John Street.

The Enquirer/Sam Greene

aFC Cincinnati is still pursuing the possibility of building a stadium in the West End should the team be awarded a Major League Soccer franchise, The Enquirer has learned.

In the first public activity on the stadium location since the team made its pitch to MLS in December, FCC General Manager and President Jeff Berding sent a letter to the Cincinnati Public Schools board Monday night.

"One of the neighborhoods we have considered is the West End," Berding wrote in the two-page letter, which The Enquirer obtained from someone involved in the stadium planning.

"There are multiple locations in that neighborhood where the private investment of the stadium could generate considerable economic impact that would be positive in the West End and overall for our city," the letter says. "While we have not formally moved ahead as we await MLS feedback, we do want to keep as many options on the table as possible ..."

The letter is addressed to Cincinnati School Board President Carolyn Jones.

"We would welcome, at the appropriate time, a meeting to discuss a potential FCC-CPS partnership in the event we choose to pursue a West End stadium location," the letter says. "In a similar manner FCC developed a win-win partnership with the University of Cincinnati that made Nippert Stadium our home."

Mark Wert/The Enquirer

Berding did not specifically mention Taft High School's Stargel Stadium, which has been rumored to be a part of the land needed should the stadium be built in the West End. However, FCC would need the school board's approval for that land.

Berding said in the letter that the Oakley site – for which City Council and the Hamilton County commissioners have approved a combined $51 million in infrastructure support – remains in play. The key in Oakley is what a traffic study finds, as well as the outcome of further neighborhood discussion.

In addition, MLS has said it wants an urban location, and it's not clear if Oakley meets that requirement.

Berding has mentioned the West End in public statements, but this is the strongest indication yet that the team is looking seriously at the historic neighborhood that's adjacent to Downtown.

A third option south of the Ohio River, Newport, also remains on the table, but the emphasis has been on the Cincinnati sites.

Berding declined to comment on the letter Monday evening.

Schools spokeswoman Lauren Worley said she could not confirm that CPS received the letter but reiterated the district's stance that it would welcome conversations with FC Cincinnati.

"Strong community partnerships and strategic alignments are essential to the success of the district," Worley said in a statement, "and we are grateful for our continued partnership with FCC on school athletics programs in CPS, particularly our recently announced Futsal Partnership with FCC and Kings Hammer."

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FC Cincinnati is one of three teams that remain under consideration for an MLS expansion franchise. MLS says additional franchise announcements will come sometime before the beginning of the new season.

The bid package required information about a soccer-specific stadium, prompting a contentious public discussion about where it should go.

Team owners have said they will pay $150 million for a franchise and privately pay for a $200 million, 21,000-seat stadium.

Oakley, on the site of the former Cast-Fab Factory, is the site FC Cincinnati presented to MLS. However, the financial support approved by the city and county left open the possibility of a different location.