Saint Louis FC is currently having solid season on and off the field with the team contending the Western Conference standing. Since the Rams moved back to Los Angeles the team have received local exposure throughout the St.Louis area and remains a candidate in landing a Major League Soccer expansion team for sometime now since the League started in 1996. Throughout much of the season fans have come out to near full capacity at World Wide Technology Field which up to 6,000. However to better the cities chances in get a Major League Soccer team Saint Louis FC should play at Busch Stadium at a minimum of two games. Now, having a soccer match at a baseball stadium is not the ideal place to play but Busch stadium has staged International Friendly Matches, most recently in Nov. 2015 when the U.S. Men’s National Team played and beat St.Vincent and Grenadines 6-1 in which 37,000 fans attended the match. Another reason for hosting a match at Busch stadium is, FC Cincinnati who are in their first season in the United Soccer League, are currently having a historic league attendance record averaging 17,000 soccer fans in Cincinnati.
FC Cincinnati currently plays at Nippert Stadium on the campus of the University of Cincinnati that seats up to 40,000 and on July 16, FC Cincinnati will play Crystal Palace from the English Premier League, which the game is expected to have over 20,000. Saint Louis FC could benefit a great deal of exposure by playing an International Friendly Match at Busch stadium if they played a match against an English Premier League team like Sutherland, Leicester City or Swansea City because the League have enjoyed some of the best t.v. ratings since switching from Fox Sports Net to NBC Sports Network 3 years ago. The MLS is planning to expand to 28 teams and while St.Louis remains a safe bet to be one of the cities to land a team it won’t be a guarantee if Cincinnati continues to average 17,000 in which Commissioner Don Garber will take note.
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