MLS Expansion Paperwork to Be Filed by 12 Cities: Latest Details and Reaction

Add Indianapolis to the list of cities looking to join Major League Soccer.

Brian Straus of Sports Illustrated reported Monday the North American Soccer League's Indy Eleven "are pursuing one of the four MLS expansion openings." The team's president, Jeff Belskus, confirmed the news.

The expansion deadline is Tuesday, and Straus wrote Eleven owner Ersal Ozdemir will deliver the team's application by hand to the league office.

Straus noted Indianapolis is the 12th city to announce its intention to take part in the expansion, which will bring the league's membership to 28 teams if Los Angeles FC and David Beckham's Miami project are included:

Charlotte	Raleigh
Cincinnati	Sacramento
Detroit	St. Louis
Indianapolis	San Antonio
Nashville	San Diego
Phoenix	Tampa Bay

The league announced plans to add four additional teams in December after the MLS board of governors met in New York City.

At the time, Straus noted the short period between that announcement and Tuesday's application deadline appeared to favor St. Louis and Sacramento, California, because they were "further ahead than the competition, with investor groups finalized and stadium plans in motion."

"I don't think there's any market that's done more than any other, other than Sacramento, which clearly is MLS ready," Commissioner Don Garber said in September, per Strauss.

Strauss also called Cincinnati a "wild card" because of the large crowds the United Soccer League's FC Cincinnati drew playing at the University of Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium.

As for Indianapolis, the Eleven lost to the New York Cosmos in the NASL's title game in 2016 after leading the league in attendance in 2014 and 2015. Strauss wrote Indianapolis' plans "stalled" in 2015, when the state government couldn't agree whether to use taxes to build a new stadium or upgrade the current one.

However, Belskus reported Ozdemir and his partners would significantly fund a new public-private stadium, which expedited the application process.

The Associated Press (h/t ESPN FC) also reported Monday that Garber accepted a San Diego investor group's application for a team. The group wants to turn the 166-acre Qualcomm Stadium site "into a sports-entertainment district that would include a 30,000-seat stadium for an MLS team and San Diego State's football program" following the Chargers' move to Los Angeles.

The AP noted Garber expects the four new teams to be announced at the end of the 2017 calendar year, with play starting in 2020 for the franchises.