Great map showing the location of the MLS and USL teams in the United States.

MLS/USL USA Map

What jumps out at me right away is:

1. No team in St. Louis
2. No team in Philadelphia
3. Only one team in the state of Florida (Tampa?, Orlando?)

Philadelphia has a MLS team on the way however in 2010.

Philly Pro Soccer Foundation

MLS Philly 2010 Official Website

Sons of Ben

As for St. Louis, they are organized and want a team desperately.

St. Louis Soccer United

Florida will have another USL First Division team in addition to Miami FC, as the Tampa Bay Rowdies will make a comeback in 2010.

Rowdies bringing pro soccer back to Tampa

I like the fact that Tampa Bay is coming back into the mix. That gives the USL First Division a very good Southern group with the Atlanta Silverbacks (GA), Carolina Railhawks (NC), Charleston Battery (SC), Miami FC (FL), and the Tampa Bay Rowdies (FL). Geographically, you can throw in the Puerto Rico Islanders as well!

its crazy that they overlook the possibility of maybe establishing a MLS team in the Palmetto State. that would be great.

This is actually a good chance of founding a MLS team in Atlanta...check out the link.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/mlsatlantaspt.html?cxntlid=inform_artr

i know this is more on the men's pro side of soccer but i think charleston or columbia should get a w-league team. with all the women's collegiate teams in south carolina it would benefit these women; they go to other cities to play; they could tie it with charleston battery as many other minor league teams have done; and the southeast region has a good core of women's team-this is the pro's of women's soccer right now until the new league starts

Add to this the womens league starting in 2009 and we will start to get some soccer saturation that may lead to more growth.
http://www.womensprosoccer.com/

I think Blank will bite off too much if he tries for an Atlanta team. Atlanta fans are notoriously fairweather. Only a couple years ago we had the Beat (W-League) who played games one year at GT, and then later at Morehouse. At the same time, the Silverbacks were playing at Georgia Perimeter.
Now the Silverbacks have a new stadium--right at Spaghetti Junction, but you can't quite see the pitch from the road. It may be too soon to try to add another stadium and team.

Atlanta has the best shoot I think for an MLS team in the south.

TORONTO -- Major League Soccer Board of Governors approved expanding by two teams by 2011, MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced following Thursday's Board of Governors meeting in Toronto.

At the meeting, Commissioner Garber provided updates on prospective expansion markets throughout the U.S. and Canada. Markets reviewed during today's meeting included (in alphabetical order) Atlanta, Las Vegas, Montreal, a second team in the New York area, Ottawa, Portland, St. Louis and Vancouver.

In conjunction with prospective Canadian expansion, MLS officials will work with Toronto FC owners Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, as well as potential expansion candidates, to develop national commercial revenue streams to support expansion into Canada.

MLS officials will issue specific details on the expansion application process within the next seven days.

After attending the NSCAA Convention this past week in St. Louis and witnessing the passion of the Eads Brigade for the potential MLS expansion team, I delved back into this topic:

http://eadsbrigade.blogspot.com/2009/01/newspaper-two-montreal-and-atlanta-more.html

Soccer By Ives (blog)

Atlanta dropped out of the MLS expansion race last week, citing trouble getting commitments from its potential partners for a 2011 target date. The news, which got a bit lost during MLS Draft week, means that St. Louis, Miami, Portland, Vancouver and Ottawa are the lone remaining candidates for the two expansion slots for 2011. Montreal had its bid removed from consideration.

Was Atlanta, led by Atlanta Falcons owner and Home Depot founder Arthur Blank (pictured), really an option for 2011? It appears we will never know, although Atlanta still seems to be holding out hope for 2013.

So who are the favorites? I would still say Miami and St. Louis are the picks, although Don Garber continued his tradition of telling the St. Louis ownership group that it needs to get stronger financially. That would give some hope to the bids in Portland and Vancouver. I'm still not sold on Ottawa being a viable option.