Detroit gears up for MLS team

LOS ANGELES — The owners of the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers NBA franchises are joining forces in a bid to launch a Major League Soccer team in Detroit, a statement said Tuesday. Pistons owner Tom Gores and Cavaliers counterpart Dan Gilbert said they hoped to build a new stadium in downtown Detroit to house the team as the MLS looks to gradually expand the league to 28 clubs. “Detroit is rising and we know firsthand the power of sports to lift a community and drive a civic renaissance. We are very excited about the prospect of bringing Major League Soccer to Detroit and building an ownership group that represents a cross-section of investors,” Gores and Gilbert said. The statement said the ownership group’s plans had won support from the MLS and its commissioner Don Garber, who is due to visit Detroit this week to discuss the plans. The new team aims to capitalize on the growing popularity of football in the region, where more than 92,000 youth players are registered in Michigan. The demand for football in Michigan was highlighted in 2014, when a record crowd of 109,318 fans flocked to the Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, west of Detroit, to watch a friendly between Real Madrid and Manchester United. It was the biggest crowd at a football game on American soil in history, eclipsing the previous biggest attendance of 101,799 set at the Pasadena Rose Bowl for the final of the 1984 Olympic football tournament. “Soccer is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world with a passionate fan base and global reach,” said Gilbert. “Bringing a team downtown will also further energize Detroit’s urban core, which is critical to the entire city’s overall health and vibrancy.” The MLS aims to increase the 20-team league to 24 teams by 2020, ultimately expanding to 28 sides. Football has gained an increasingly secure foothold in the US sporting landscape, with average attendances rising steadily to 21,619 per game in 2015. — AFP