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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.