Minnesota United FC hasn’t yet joined Major League Soccer, but the Loons already are feeling the effects of the league’s intention to adopt the team as soon as 2017.

Since the announcement on March 25, United has doubled season-ticket sales to more than 3,200.

That kind of run on tickets was familiar to United director of ticket sales Sean Sittnick.

“It was something that I last experienced with the LeBron James rumors in Miami,” said Sittnick, a salesmen for the Miami Heat during the run-up to James’ 2010 announcement that he was taking his talents to South Beach.

In the wake of the MLS announcement, Sittnick said, United was getting an order every couple of minutes.

“It was a breakneck pace,” he said. “It was awesome.”

Now comes the hard part.

With the spotlight on the team brighter than at any time in Minnesota soccer since the Kicks’ heyday in the 1970s, expectations for United to win the second-division North American Soccer League are high. The quest begins Saturday against the Tampa Bay Rowdies in Florida.

“I think the MLS announcement puts us under a bigger microscope,” president Nick Rogers said. “There will be external pressure to win.”

The Loons added three high-profile players this offseason — Brazilian midfielder Ibson, Northern Ireland midfielder Jonny Steele and Cameroonian goalie Sammy Ndjock — and all figure to play prominent roles this season. Last season, the Loons were eliminated in the postseason semifinals.

Their home opener is April 25 against NASL champion San Antonio at National Sports Center in Blaine.

“Part of the journey for us in these transition years is to continue to get better,” coach Manny Lagos said, “and that starts with this weekend.”

United has faced internal pressure to win since Bill McGuire purchased the club in 2012 and set out in earnest to join MLS. United had the best regular-season record in the NASL a year ago but lost to Fort Lauderdale on penalty kicks in the semifinals.

Fellow NASL teams know about United’s plans for larger, greener pitches in MLS and want to disrupt the transition.

“It puts a target on our back within the rest of the (NASL),” Lagos said. “That’s not a bad thing if we are excited to embrace the fact that teams are up to play us.”

When United traveled to Brazil for a preseason trip in early March, Ibson was treated like a rock star. Ibson, 31, has played for some of the top clubs in Brazil, as well as Russian side Spartak Moscow, where he shined in the 2010 UEFA Champions League.

“It’s a special signing for us as a club, for a lot of reasons,” Rogers said. “The guy brings a wealth of experience at a very high level. He’s the kind of player that would be able to step into any MLS team and play right away.”

Ibson will play alongside Miguel Ibarra, who has had four callups to train with the U.S. national team. Ibarra said he and Ibson developed some chemistry during their final preseason tuneup Tuesday against MLS expansion team Orlando City FC.

“Since the first day he came on the field, we understood each other,” Ibarra said.

United’s strength appears to be in the midfield, with Ibson, Ibarra, Steele, Juliano Vicentini and Greg Jordan leading the way.

“That’s a midfield that is going to give other teams in our league problems,” Rogers said. “Our ability to possess the ball, to recover when we turn the ball over and to play a pressing kind of defense … will ultimately lead to goals.”

Ndjock, 24, has played in France and Turkey and was on Cameroon’s final roster for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Lagos declined to say Ndjock would start over Mitch Hildebrandt and Andrew Fontein but praised Ndjock’s potential.

“It’s exciting to get a young goalie and someone that we think is very talented and has room to grow,” Lagos said.

Although the prospects of MLS are on the horizon, Ibarra said how last season finished is enough motivation.

“We are still holding that in,” Ibarra said.

Follow Andy Greder at twitter.com/andygreder.