San Diego could be weeks from getting a Major League Soccer expansion team

After a quarter-century of dashed hopes, after the league's first commissioner called the city a "prime candidate" for expansion, after the All-Star Game came to Qualcomm Stadium in 1999, after the owner of a top Mexican club considered locating a team here, after former Padres owner John Moores showed interest, after the Soccer City ballot initiative failed in 2018, San Diego is finally poised to get a Major League Soccer franchise.

An official announcement could come as soon as mid-May.

An investment group led by an Egyptian billionaire and the Sycuan tribe is close to presenting a formal bid for a San Diego expansion team to the MLS board, according to multiple sources close to the deal. It would play at Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley beginning in 2025.

A name for the team has not been determined, nor has any involvement of the San Diego Loyal, which plays in American soccer's de facto second division and regularly sells out USD's Torero Stadium.

But San Diego State Athletic Director John David Wicker said the two sides are "closer than we have been" to a lease agreement for 35,000-capacity Snapdragon Stadium, and sources said there are tentative terms with MLS for an expansion fee in the $500 million range, well past the record $325 million that Charlotte FC reportedly paid.

"We’ve been having very good discussions," Wicker said, noting that Snapdragon Stadium will host multiple international games over the coming months. "Based on the soccer we’re having this summer, it shows that this venue is truly built for great soccer, and getting MLS is the last real piece of the puzzle.

"We’re excited to get to the finish line."

That could come as early this week, when representatives of MLS, SDSU and the prospective ownership group are expected to meet in San Diego to finalize a stadium lease. The next step is putting the entire proposal in front of MLS owners via a virtual meeting, which many sources view as a formality for approval.

"We continue to push forward with confidence, and we are working together to make the deal a reality," said a joint statement from the prospective majority investors, Mohamed Mansour of the Mansour Group and Sycuan Tribal Chairman Cody Martinez. "While we are still in the due diligence process, we remain excited about the prospect of bringing Major League Soccer to San Diego, a city and community with such a rich cultural and sporting heritage."

An MLS spokesperson declined comment.

MLS typically sets a private target announcement date for expansion, which is believed to be May 18 at Snapdragon Stadium or the U.S. Grant Hotel downtown that the Sycuan tribe owns. Sometimes it hits that target; sometimes complications arise and it is delayed. In the case of FC Cincinnati in 2018, for instance, it took an additional five months before the formal announcement.

The 29-team league has said it plans to expand to 30, then take stock and decide if it wants to grow further. Sacramento was granted a team in 2019 to launch in 2022, but the deal unraveled, and prospective owner Ron Burkle brought a women's pro team to San Diego instead.

Las Vegas was next on the list with Wes Edens and Nassif Sawiris, who jointly own Aston Villa of England's Premier League. They even registered "Las Vegas Villains" with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and reportedly identified a 110-acre plot of land a few miles south of The Strip for a soccer-specific stadium.

"It's not fair to say they’re all but done," MLS Commissioner Don Garber said in February 2022.. "But we are making a lot of progress. We do hope to finalize something in the first third of the year."

It never happened. Plans for a domed stadium haven't progressed beyond the conceptual stage.

Enter San Diego.

The Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Nation has actively pursued an MLS franchise for more than a year. A suitable investment partner was identified late last summer with the London-based Mansour Group headed by Mohamed Mansour, an Egyptian billionaire who has degrees from North Carolina State and Auburn.

His son, Loutfy, oversees their investment arm, which includes Right to Dream, a high-performance youth soccer academy with facilities in Ghana, Denmark and Egypt that put players on a professional or educational track. Right to Dream is expected to build an academy in the San Diego area as part of the MLS project.

Most MLS teams build their own stadiums so they can maximize revenues and mitigate losses from the soccer operation. Snapdragon Stadium offers a different model, with a college football stadium constructed to international soccer specs.

Between mid-June and mid-August, the stadium is scheduled to host eight soccer games — Mexico's national team on June 10, the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament for the region's national teams on July 12, famed English club Manchester United on July 25 and five by the San Diego Wave of the National Women's Soccer League.

Wicker had offered either an equity partnership or a straight lease, and talks with the MLS group appear to have settled on the latter. But agreeing to a fee structure and who controls which dates can get complicated with multiple tenants, concerts and other events, and the unexpected run by SDSU's basketball team to the Final Four slowed negotiations for a month.

There had been talk of an MLS partner erecting canopies over Snapdragon Stadium to cast shade and contain noise, which was scrapped from the original construction plans and could cost as much as $100 million. But with most MLS games kicking off on Saturday nights under a new media rights deal with Apple TV, that appears off the table.

One notable upgrade would have to be completed, however: a visitor's locker room under the south stands estimated at $5 million to $10 million.

Last month, news broke of an investment group proposing a $2.5 billion development project on the Chula Vista Bayfront that would include a 50,000-seat stadium to house an MLS team. However, multiple sources said the league has never spoken with the group and is engaging solely with Mansour and Sycuan.

What happens to the San Diego Loyal remains unclear. Sometimes teams from the United Soccer League are absorbed by an MLS expansion franchise, sometimes they continue to operate independently in the market, sometimes they fold.

The Loyal is in its fourth season and has developed a dedicated contingent of fans. It also has ties to MLS through Landon Donovan, its executive vice president who won six MLS titles as a player and had the league's most valuable player trophy named after him.

The Loyal and prospective MLS investment group are known to have held talks over the past few months.

"San Diego has always been my family's home," Loyal Chairman Andrew Vassiliadis said in a statement. "Landon and I will always remain committed to doing things the right way for San Diego and San Diegans. We haven't cut corners for four years. As locals, it's important that the community knows that the people who built our club are from here. In turn, loyalty is felt across our community, with our fans and in our supporter groups."