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A new team based in San Diego will join the North American football championship, the Egyptian-British billionaire Mohamed Mansour having paid MLS a record expansion fee of 500 million dollars. The franchise, which will be the 30th in the league, will start in the 2025 season and play at Snapdragon Stadium, a newly built 35,000 seat stadium in the California city.
The previous highest expansion fee was for the integration of Charlotte FC in 2019, for $325 million. In 1996, the pioneer clubs had to pay only 5 million dollars. The league’s plans also include adding two more franchises over the next few years, with Las Vegas, Sacramento, Detroit, Phoenix and Tampa being cited as possible candidates.