My order of preference from that list: Portland, Vancouver, Montreal, and well, beyond that, the other four suck. St. Louis is a monster money suburban development in an economy that's in the tank. Fail. Miami will last three years, nobody will show up, and they'll go bust. Fail. Ottawa is in the middle of nowhere and doesn't have any sort of rival. Fail. Atlanta already has pro teams in all the other sports and can't even get decent crowds for those other bigger sports. Fail. Too bad places like NYC2, or even something like San Diego, didn't make a bid... they would've been better options than those other four U.S. options.

Portland and Vancouver it is, then.

Does the MLS care about a prospective city's other franchises? Jack is right about Miami, that city has a horrible history of getting expansion teams (MLB, NBA) and then ignoring them (even when they win).

I honestly think St. Louis has the best, most realistic chance. Private financing is attractive to any sports league. Also, having lived there for a while, let me tell you...St. Louis sports fans will support ANYTHING. Hell, the hockey team sells out. In Missouri.

Portland and St. Louis are the two best options. I'm sure they'll let a Canadian team in though so it will probably be Montreal. Let's hope they go with the other option, which is to expand by 4 teams rather than 2.

I think that Portland and Vancouver coming into the league would also help recreate the Cascadia rivalry...

I think we need to be honest that as much as "Portland deserves a team," the MLS is gonna follow the money, and it's going to take a lot of effort on the part of Paulsen and others to prove that the investment in Portland will be well received, especially when compared to the heavyweights like St Louis and Miami that are going to throw a ton of money at the situation. Remember, the MLS expanded to friggin' Salt Lake City a couple of years ago, hardly an exciting place to go, with the financiers lined up.

No way, no how, no Miami.

Give the other markets a chance.

Florida is a failing proposition. It has been proven again and again.

Montreal (imagine DP Thierry Henry) and Portland (Major League Soccer NEEDS the Timbers Army) should be the 2011 expansion teams and then the league needs to stop its expansion for awhile.

The dilution of the player pool and the archaic salary rules need to be addressed before Miami is even considered.

People can hate on Miami all they want, but Miami is a shoe-in.

The other six can compete for the second spot, but Miami has this in the bag.

And the Miami Fusion DID NOT PLAY IN MIAMI, despite the name. They played in Fort Lauderdale.

Pro sports played outside during the summer in Florida don't fill stadiums.

There is absolutely no refuting that.

Miami would be a huge mistake (AGAIN!).

I will be very interesting how this all plays out. I have noticed that the local media has been very receptive to this MLS bid. The comments on Sports Sunday were positive.