Pass the proposition and get an MLS team, commissioner tells St. Louis voters

Major League Soccer’s commissioner Don Garber told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he is confident the city will get a soccer team if financing for a stadium is approved by voters during Tuesday’s election.

That financing, Proposition 2, would allocate $60 million to build a 22,000-seat stadium downtown.

“If you want MLS, that proposition needs to be successful,” Garber said.

Garber announced in December 2016 the league would add four teams, with two teams to be announced in 2017 and two more at a later date.

St. Louis is one of the cities in the running for an MLS expansion team, along with San Antonio; Sacramento, Calif.; Charlotte, N.C.; Cincinnati; Detroit; Nashville, Tenn.; Raleigh/Durham, N.C.; San Diego; and Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fla.

Proposition 1 — a half-cent sales tax increase for MetroLink expansion — needs to pass along with Proposition 2 on the April 4 ballot.

This story was originally published March 27, 2017 at 9:47 PM with the headline "Pass the proposition and get an MLS team, commissioner tells St. Louis voters."