American soccer star Landon Donovan has joined the group trying to lure the Major League Soccer to San Diego, according to reports.
The player is the league’s all-time leading scorer. He spoke on Facebook last week, revealing that he has joined FS Investors – the group behind the league’s expansion franchise.
The group is advocating that San Diego take over the vacant 166-acre Qualcomm stadium as the NFL’s Chargers relocate to the LA area. The group is proposing a 30,000-seat stadium for the MLS team, with the state benefiting from a n active football programme.
The Chargers spent 56 seasons in San Diego but recently announced that this season would be their last ahead of their move. Many opine that with the rate at which the league is expanding, then there would be a premier league and a second-rate league, as common in Europe.
The group is expected to pick out designate cities for the expansion ahead of the 2018 inclusion. Former Qualcomm boss Steve Altman and Padres lead investor Peter Seidler are in this group – they have the exclusive rights to discuss with the MLS.
Donovan – who resides in San Diego with his family – played for San Jose Earthquakes and the Los Angeles Galaxy before he retired. He came out of his retirement but seems to be interested in other parts of the game now.
The group, likely in the spirit of inclusion, has created a page of Facebook so fans of the league can vote from a list of 50 names. How this would affect the selection process is unknown.
The expansion process would bring more talents to the league, open it up but there are many other concerns that have been raised up.