First the good news: Major League Soccer’s sale of Chivas USA to an ownership group that will keep the team in Los Angeles is close to being finalized, according to a Sports Illustrated report. After the league bought out former owner Jorge Vergara last winter for a reported price of $70 million, the league is poised to turn a healthy profit and fetch a price similar to the $100 million Manchester City spent for the right to a put an expansion in New York City.
Chivas USA could sit out 2015 as part of $100 million sale
Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY
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As part of the sale, Chivas USA would be rebranded. But with time running short until the start of the 2015 season, the rebranded team may sit out 2015. The details of the sale could be finalized as soon as Oct. 6 when the league’s board of governors is scheduled to meet. If Chivas USA sits out, the league would play with 20 teams in 2015 as New York City FC and Orlando City are both scheduled to join.
That would apparently be up to the new owners, but would make quite a bit of sense. Chivas USA's average attendance of 7,173 is on pace to break the league's record low that was set in 2000 by the Miami Fusion, who drew 7,460 in their penultimate season. As bad as those numbers may look on paper, the Chivas USA crowds look even worse in person where there often times only dozens of fans in the stadium. The Chivas USA brand is so poisoned that the new owners could take a year off in order to effectively start from scratch, building a roster, front office and new identity. It was unclear what would happen to the current Chivas USA players, though, as they could either be released into some kind of dispersal draft or possibly loaned out to other teams.
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