Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber has set an end-of-the month deadline for Toronto officials to agree on a stadium site and other financial issues or miss its chance to be granted an expansion team in the U.S. league for 2007.
Garber's declaration on Tuesday was seen by many as a way to spur Toronto's city council, which has an Oct. 26 vote scheduled to approve $8.07 million in funding for a $52.7 million, 20,000-capacity stadium at city-owned Exhibition Place.
MLS has been negotiating for about a year with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), owner of the city's NHL Maple Leafs and NBA Raptors, but has seen two stadium proposals fall apart.
If the latest proposal isn't approved by the end of the month, "it's dead," Garber said.
MLS' board of governors, representatives of the league's 12 teams, will vote on Nov. 12 to admit as many as two new teams to start the 2007 season. The vote, which will be taken a day before the league's MLS Cup championship game, will also consider Houston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Milwaukee and St. Louis for expansion teams, Garber said.
MLSE, which Garber said would pay an entry fee "slightly higher" than the $10 million in the last round of expansion, has agreed to help fund the Toronto stadium, along with the federal and provincial governments.
