SPORTSNET.CA
According to MLSnet.com, a group including Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk will hold a Tuesday press conference to announce a MLS expansion bid and plans to build a world-class soccer stadium in the Nation’s Capital.
Ottawa will be the third Canadian city to show interest in a MLS franchise, hoping to cash in on the success displayed by Toronto FC in only its second season.
The link between MLS and NHL ownership runs deep in U.S.-soccer as Colorado Rapids operator Stanley Kroenke owns the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets of the NBA among other teams, while AEG, investor-operator of the LA Galaxy and Houston Dynamo, own the Los Angeles Kings, and Dave Checketts and Sports Capital Partners, operator of Real Salt Lake, own the St. Louis Blues.
Earlier in the summer NBA star Steve Nash announced he would help try to bring a franchise to Vancouver. The Saputo family of Montreal is the other city hoping to attract professional soccer to town.