(WFI) Montreal Impact are poised to become Major League Soccer’s 19th team. MLS commissioner Don Garber held meetings with the club’s president Joey Saputo, Quebec Minister of Finance Raymond Bachand and Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay to discuss the Impact joining the league. “We are very happy with the visit of the MLS executives in Montreal,” Saputo said in a statement. He said the meetings on Wednesday with Minister Bachand and Mayor Tremblay were “very positive”. “It’s clear for us, and now more than ever, that the arrival of MLS in Montreal is only a question of time. We are hoping to have news in the first quarter of 2010.” In the upcoming 2010 season, the Philadelphia Union will debut as the newest MLS expansion club. The league will grow to 18 teams when Portland and Vancouver enter the League in 2011. If Montreal joins MLS, it would be the third Canadian franchise in the league including Toronto FC and Vancouver. The success of the Toronto franchise, launched in 2007, gives hope to MLS chiefs that football can draw an audience in Canada. Toronto often draws more than 20,000 fans to soccer-specific BMO Field, and has more than 16,000 season ticket-holders. The Impact play in the 13,034-seat Saputo Stadium, which opened last year. The stadium was designed to be able to increase capacity to meet MLS standards. The club attracted average crowds of 12,000 this past season. “We continued our discussions with the Saputo family about a future MLS expansion team in Montreal and had very productive meetings with Minister Bachand about securing funding for the expansion of Saputo Stadium,” Garber said in a statement. “We’ve stated many times that Montreal would be a great market for MLS and we look forward to continuing our discussions.” Last season, the Impact played in the Division II USL-1 League where it won its third league championship. The club plans to play in the newly formed North American Soccer League (NASL) in 2010. Saputo is the president of the NASL. North American leagues square off The NASL and the United Soccer League (USL) are currently in discussions with U.S. Soccer about 2010 plans, with USL-1 facing an uncertain future. Representatives from both the USL-1 and the new NASL met with U.S. Soccer officials this week. (via MLS Moves Closer to Naming Montreal Franchise; NA Soccer Leagues Square Off)
