If you are like me you are likely the “soccer guy” or “soccer girl” around your office and you probably get the same questions I get: “How’s the bid looking?”, “What are our chances?”, “Can they really take Detroit?”, “I saw on Twitter it’s going to be Nashville and Sacramento”, yeah, you get the point. And depending on the time of day, day of the week, and temperature outside, my answer is always different. So using the song “Anxious and Worrying”, I want to explore where we are and what is about to happen to all of us over the next handful of days.

“Anxious and worrying,

So you spend your whole life hurrying

for something better

than what you knew before”



Right now all off FC Cincinnati fandom is over-analyzing every shred of information that comes out of MLS head offices right now, looking and searching for that tiny nugget that might show which way the league is leaning. As of right now we know that Nashville, Sacramento, Detroit, and Cincinnati made presentations to the league in New York on Wednesday. We know Detroit was grilled on their stadium situation, wanting to use Ford Field (though they have added the Ford Family to their bid). We know Sacramento seemed amazingly unconfident talking about homework they have yet to do. And we know next to nothing about Nashville’s response because their officials didn’t talk to national media.

We also know that MLS is openly considering adding a team to the league in 2019 to make up for the lack of a Miami team that was supposed to be there. We know MLS has approved of Nippert Stadium as a temporary venue, and we have not heard them approve any other expansion city’s current stadiums for MLS use.

So that is where we stand with MLS. USL on the other hand continues to be the unstable messy home that we have grown to love and resent at the same time.

Harrisburg City Islanders are now Penn FC it turns out. Rochester is taking a break but we might still be playing regular season games there? Las Vegas, Fresno, and Nashville are joining the fracas. And every single “2” team has been rumored to be closing up shop at one point or another. Oh and North Carolina FC joined the league from NASL, and don’t expect them to be the last making that sheepish walk of shame back to USL.