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Riham Feshir

MLS chief: St. Paul site 'makes sense' for soccer stadium

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber
Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber, right, with St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, was in St. Paul Monday to tour a vacant site the league is eyeing for a Major League Soccer team.
Tim Nelson | MPR News

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Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber on Monday gave his blessing to building a soccer stadium for an MLS franchise on land in St. Paul's Midway neighborhood.

Garber said the site between downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis makes sense for an energetic population excited about the sport.

"We have been very focused on this market because we really believe in what's happening in the community," he said. "It's filled with millennials, it's got a great ethnic energy and those are the two things that have been driving the growth of MLS."

MLS, the nation's premier professional soccer league, announced plans earlier this year to award a Twin Cities franchise to an investment group led by Bill McGuire. The former UnitedHealth Group CEO owns the Minnesota United soccer club, which plays in a different league.

Winning the franchise was conditioned on the owners building a new stadium. After financing efforts for an open-air stadium in downtown Minneapolis fell through, MLS officials and McGuire turned to St. Paul and the Midway site, a largely empty parcel at Interstate 94 and Snelling Avenue that once had a Metro Transit bus barn.

Garber said he needed to see the site for himself to make sure it's suited for a soccer stadium. He said he didn't talk with Minneapolis officials during his visit on Monday.

St. Paul leaders have been wooing MLS for the past few months. Mayor Chris Coleman said a soccer stadium at the Midway site would help round out development along the Green Line.

"We know that a stadium at that location would be extremely catalytic for development of that entire area around Snelling and University and the freeway," he said.

Talks involving land ownership and tax issues are ongoing. Garber and Coleman met with Gov. Mark Dayton Monday afternoon. Coleman said Dayton expressed support for legislative action to retain tax-exempt status for the Midway property.

While no decisions have been made about exactly when an MLS franchise might play in Minnesota, Garber said it could be 2017 or 2018.

The commissioner said he expected to meet with McGuire and his group over the next weeks and months.