mlsneslogoMINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Major League Soccer has committed to Minnesota, awarding an expansion franchise to start playing in 2018 with the expectation an outdoor stadium will be built before then.
 
     Bill McGuire, the former health care executive and current owner of the Minnesota United club in the second-tier North American Soccer League, has assembled a group of investors including the owners of MLB’s Twins and the NBA’s Timberwolves.
 
     MLS officials joined McGuire and hundreds of other supporters of the sport at a celebratory news conference Wednesday at Target Field, where the Twins play. That’s just a few blocks away from the proposed site of a new stadium that would have a capacity of about 18,500 and cost between $100 million and $200 million.
 
     McGuire didn’t provide specifics about how the stadium would be financed.