The downtown Raleigh setting for Tuesday’s soiree thrown by Steve Malik, owner of the newly rebranded North Carolina FC, couldn’t have been more conspicuous.

The lower division soccer team has played the past 10 seasons at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, and will remain there every spring-to-fall for the foreseeable future. But if Malik has his druthers, his club will someday occupy a new home and be part of a new league.

Malik made a flurry of revelations today at the 214 Martin Street event venue in Raleigh before an invited assembly of business, civic and media representatives. Malik expressed the club’s intention to pursue an expansion spot in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the next 12-18 months. This announcement culminates a year of work already undertaken by an informal MLS work group, spearheaded by Malik and Jimmy Goodmon, Vice-President of Capitol Broadcasting Company.

Goodmon, who spoke at today’s event, said he and his father, CBC President and CEO Jim Goodmon, “have been talking about an MLS club for a long time.”

“It wasn’t until Steve bought the RailHawks did we realize that this is something real, and we need to start getting together.”

Goodmon will now chair the new Triangle MLS Committee. However, the unofficial work group has already met with MLS executives over the past six months, and a market analysis the group commissioned demonstrated a desire for MLS in the Triangle.

“MLS said, ‘Hey, you’re definitely not in or out. But you really need to get these [market] studies done so you can start ranking yourself, and in return we can start ranking you,’" Jimmy Goodmon said. "In the results we saw, we think we have a pretty good chance. We wouldn’t be doing this otherwise.”

As a key component of Malik’s MLS push, he also unveiled plans to finalize the location and construction of a new 20,000-plus soccer-specific stadium. Malik said there are eight sites in the Triangle under consideration. Although he would not share those locations, he did say that not all of them are located in Raleigh proper, nor has MLS expressed a desire that any future soccer-specific stadium necessarily be built in Raleigh.

“We feel we are well-positioned for this,” Malik said. “The market is ready for an MLS team based on our geographical location, population growth, dynamic economic environment and significant soccer participation. MLS requires a minimum of 20,000 seats with amenities in order to maximize revenue, and a new stadium is vital to our plans as it would increase the economic impact in the area and allow us to better showcase the sport.”

Finally, Malik restated his desire to secure a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team for the Triangle, an aspiration he and other club officials have expressed for months. Malik said he hopes to finalize that process within the next six months.

However, he told WRALSportsFan.com that the passing possibility remains of having a team in place for 2017.

“It’s quite challenging, but I haven’t counted it out yet,” Malik said. “If it’s going to happen, it needs to happen real fast.”

Anson Dorrance, the longtime Hall of Fame coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels women's’ soccer team, and Heather O’Reilly, the former U.S. Women’s international and Tar Heels standout, were on hand for Tuesday’s event. Dorrance recently confirmed that he has been assisting Malik in discussions with NWSL. O’Reilly, currently a player for FC Kansas City, relocated to live in Chapel Hill several years ago.

The obstacles facing each proposed undertaking vary in degree. An NWSL team makes sense for the Triangle, home to some of the top college women’s programs and players in the country. Nearly 10,000 fans filled a sold-out WakeMed Soccer Park in August 2014 to watch the U.S. Women’s National Team in a friendly against Switzerland. The Carolina Courage of the defunct Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) called Cary home from 2001-2003. With the NCFC front office already in place and a first-class match and practice facility at the ready, there are few practical impediments keeping the NWSL from giving the Triangle a try.

The MLS and stadium hopes are inextricably tied and more daunting.

First, the positives. The groundwork laid by Malik and the MLS work group, including their dialogue with MLS officials, signaled MLS’ interest in the region. Both Raleigh-Durham (No. 25) and Charlotte (No. 22) are top-25 local television markets, the most reliable predictor for MLS expansion since 2005. Major League Soccer views the Carolinas as another potential landing spot as they expand their Southeast footprint, as well as a geographic bridge between possible rivals in Atlanta and Washington, DC.

However, NCFC is battling both logistics and the calendar. Malik and the Triangle MLS Committee need to attract other investors in order to afford the heightened MLS expansion and operational costs—the current MLS expansion fee alone is rumored to be approaching $200 million.

“We’ve hired investment bankers, and frankly, I meet the D1 [net worth] standards,” Malik responded. “At the same time, for us to have a bid that’s a winning bid, we do need a stronger group put together. The response that we’ve had has been fabulous.

"People love this market, they can see the value of our demographics, location and upward growth. They like having a local owner who’s heavily invested and making sure the money is spent well. That combination has created quite a bit of flexibility in our choices.”

“The corporate support has to be there,” Goodmon added. “If we knock that pin down, it really clears the way for us to move forward with an MLS team.”

Moreover, there are ultimately more MLS suitors than available spots. The league is near the end of its expansion to 24 clubs and will soon begin fashioning their timeline for expanding to 28. Already announced expansion clubs in Atlanta, Minnesota and LAFC will give MLS 23 teams.

There are robust bids in Sacramento and Cincinnati, where MLS Commissioner Don Garber visited last week. MLS will go to Miami if the city ever builds a soccer-specific stadium, and the league continues to express a strong desire to expand into St. Louis. Garber has already mentioned Detroit, San Antonio, San Diego, Nashville and Austin, Texas as fertile markets. Expect the Tampa Bay Rowdies to enter the fray as soon as this week.

Dan Courtemanche, Executive Vice-President for Communications in MLS, told WRALSportsFan.com the league may announce the process and timeline for expanding to 28 teams on December 15, the date of their Board of Governors meeting in New York City.

“Major League Soccer appreciates North Carolina FC and Steve Malik’s interest in bringing an MLS expansion club to the Triangle,” Courtemanche said. “We recently met with Steve and he discussed his exciting vision for growing soccer in the area, including his ambition for an MLS expansion team. We look forward to learning more about his plans as they develop.”

Malik contends the background work and planning already accomplished gives NCFC an advantage going forward.

“That’s one of the reasons why some of these other rumored markets don’t have an MLS franchise,” Malik said. “Rather than come forward without a plan, we have a plan. I wouldn’t want to be out there talking about this without intending to get a franchise.

“I think what [MLS] would say is that this is a good market, and it’s well-positioned for them, as they get more TV contracts, for us to be a top 25 media market with another top 25 market right beside us in our state.”

But big accomplishments start with big aspirations. Tuesday’s noon event — part party, part press conference — was more than 20 days in the making since the erstwhile Carolina RailHawks scaled down their website to only a homepage teasing what they labeled “A New State of Soccer in North Carolina.” The outsized personality of FOX soccer analyst Fernando Fiore served as master of ceremonies-cum-carnival barker. Lunch was served and drinks flowed. There was even valet parking. The only hiccup came late last week, when a tech snafu resulted in press releases about today’s announcements streaming early onto the news feed of the RailHawks mobile app.

The midday gathering was followed by a 5 p.m. function for season ticket holders and club supporters, including members of the Triangle Soccer Fanatics and Oak City Supporters.

"When TSF launched our campaign to advocate for local ownership of the Carolina RailHawks in 2015, we had hoped to find a visionary ownership group, engaged in the local community, with an aspiration to expand professional soccer in the Raleigh-Durham area,” said Jarrett Campbell, president of TSF. “When Steve Malik purchased the team in October of last year, all indications were that we had indeed found that owner.

"We continue to be enthused by the vision expressed by Malik this week to explore Major League Soccer, return high-level professional women's soccer to the Triangle and invest in a larger capacity stadium to enable this vision.”

The announcement is another extension of the era of good feelings surrounding pro soccer in the Triangle that began when Malik purchased the RailHawks last year. While uncertainties lie ahead, what’s certain is that any failure to accomplish today’s announced endeavors will not be for a lack of trying.

“It’s a competitive battle,” Goodmon said. “There are other cities clamoring for the [MLS] franchises. There are a finite number of openings. There’s this short window of opportunity that we have. All that work, [this] is the culmination: us publicly launching our campaign to go to MLS, and we’re really proud to be a part of it.”

Capitol Broadcasting Company, parent company of WRALSportsFan.com, has rights to broadcast North Carolina FC games on radio and TV and stream them online.