San Diego will be home to MLS expansion team, pushing league to 30 clubs, franchise will makes debut in 2025..

Major League Soccer has awarded San Diego its 30th franchise, which is set to join the league in 2025, MLS announced at a press conference at Snapdragon Stadium on Thursday.

The Sycuan Tribe, the first Native American tribe to own a professional football team, and billionaire Mohamed Mansour are the proprietors of the expansion team that was revealed on Thursday. Star third baseman Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres is also a member of the ownership group.

15 teams per conference in the MLS are balanced with the addition of the San Diego franchise. In the future, the team's name and crest will be made public.

The team will compete at the brand-new Snapdragon Stadium at San Diego State. The National Women's Soccer League's San Diego Wave and the university football team play their home games in the stadium.

A $500 million expansion fee will reportedly be paid by the ownership group led by Mansour. That price surpasses the $325 million paid by David Tepper, who is also the owner of the NFL's Carolina Panthers, for Charlotte FC in 2019 to become the most money ever spent on an MLS team.

With the addition of the 30th franchise, the MLS now has 30 teams instead of the previous 10 it had in 2004. St. Louis City SC, the league's 29th team, started competing this year and has been a pleasant surprise thus far. The team is currently in fourth position in the 14-team Western Conference.

Mansour said the Sycuan Tribe’s participation was vital to the bid.

“I’m a businessman and I tell you the partnership is the most important thing. And we were aligned right from the beginning, our values we have, and commitment we have,” he told The Associated Press.

“San Diego has been eager for another major league sports team, especially since the vacancy created by the NFL departure,” said Sycuan Tribal Chairman Cody Martinez. “Sycuan, my tribe, has thousands of years of history in the San Diego region, but also has decades of strong, solid support for sports in this town. And so it was really a natural evolution.”

California premier league

San Diego will give the state of California four MLS teams (joining Los Angeles FC, Los Angeles Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes), which tops Texas' three teams (Austin FC, FC Dallas and Houston Dynamo FC).

LAFC are the defending MLS champions and will face Club León of Liga MX in the Concacaf Champions League final starting on May 31.

Galaxy own a league-high five MLS Cup titles.

Earthquakes have won two MLS Cups.

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apnews, usatoday