The immediate future of troubled Chivas USA appears to be all but sealed. According to a new ESPN report, an investment group is close to buying the club for around $100 million and will go on hiatus for at least two years as one of the terms. The team will eventually return with a new name and its own stadium, but not before those things are in place. Expecting both of those rather significant to-do items checked off in two years’ time would be optimistic, at best.
Chivas USA sale almost final, will go dark at least 2 years
Team would eventually return, but only after a new stadium is secured.
Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
The story seems to suggest MLS and the new owners are open to the possibility of an even longer hiatus.
As of today, the league is apparently focusing on land in Exposition Park where the LA Sports Arena currently sits. If that land can be secured, it would give the rebranded team a foothold in downtown Los Angeles with a stadium right off the 110 freeway and across the street from USC.
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But there are still many questions left unanswered. Chief among them are what would become of the players currently on Chivas USA's roster, as well as the players in their academy. It's possible MLS would hold some kind of dispersal draft. In 2002, there were actually two different drafts following the contraction of the Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion in which the 10 remaining teams were able to pick a total of as many as four players as well as SuperDraft picks. It's also unclear how any such draft would affect the upcoming Expansion Draft for Orlando City and New York City FC.
There's also some question as to how MLS would balance the conferences. Even with Chivas USA, the Eastern Conference was set to have three more teams than the West and some re-alignment was virtually guaranteed. The loss of Chivas USA would effectively force MLS to move at least two teams from the East to West, with the Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City the most obvious candidates.
Chivas USA is currently mired in a 12-match winless run in which they’ve claimed just a single point. That has only served to exacerbate their struggles in the stands, where they are on pace to set a new record low for MLS attendance and there are often games where only a few hundred people appear to be in the stadium.
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