The World Cup will be expanded to include 48 teams by the year 2026 under a plan approved unanimously on Tuesday by FIFA’s governing council.

FIFA To Expand World Cup To 48 Teams In 2026

The decision to expand was both political and financial. The move was praised by supporters as an inclusive one, but was derided by critics as simply a money grab by an organization that recently was mired in financial scandals.

FIFA’s new president, Gianni Infantino, had first pushed for the change when he ran for his current post last year, as a way to strengthen the tournament and include more countries. Expansion is expected to be popular in the vote-rich confederations of Africa and Asia that serve as any FIFA president’s power base.

Obviously, this expansion would entail more spending. According to FIFA’s estimates, the World Cup would cost an additional $1 billion in television, sponsorship and ticketing revenue in the first cycle alone.

Infantino added that although the total number of games played in the tournament would increase from 64 to 80, the tournament’s total length (32 days), the number of games played by the eventual winner (seven) and the number of stadiums (12) would not change.

Critics of the plan argue that including less-pedigreed soccer nations would lead to a diminished tournament, with only about a quarter of FIFA’s 211 member associations earning a spot every four years and more games jammed into an already crowded international calendar. Nevertheless, Infantino continued to push for his plan.

“We are in the 21st century, and we have to shape the football World Cup of the 21st century,” Infantino said after the council’s meeting. “Football is more than just Europe and South America. Football is global.”

The World Cup has included 32 teams since the 1998 tournament in France, and will maintain that structure for the upcoming competitions in Russia in 2018 and in Qatar in 2022. Starting in 2026, however– in a tournament for which the bidding to host has not begun — 48 teams will be placed into 16 three-team groups for the first stage, with the top two teams from each group advancing to a 32-team knockout round. The question of how to allocate the 48 spots among the sport’s six continental confederations has yet to be determined.

Infantino added that specific competition rules– such as a potential introduction of penalty shootouts to break ties in the group stage– would be determined in the years prior to the tournament.

Any plan seemed specifically tailored to appeal to smaller soccer countries, especially those in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean who often feel underrepresented at the World Cup. An expanded field of 48 teams in 2014, for example, might have included Egypt, Jamaica, Jordan, New Zealand and Tunisia. Another country that could benefit from this expansion is China, which has undertaken a large-scale growth of its own national soccer programs. Chinese schools at nearly all levels are now adding or improving the quality of soccer programs in order to potentially turn the country into a powerhouse for the sport.

The topic of expansion had divided the global soccer community since Infantino proposed it as part of his campaign to replace Sepp Blatter, who stepped down as FIFA president in the summer of 2015 amid a corruption scandal that led to the arrests of several members of the organization’s leadership.

The idea faced particular opposition in Europe, which has always had a disproportionate share of the automatic places in the tournament.

Reinhard Grindel, the president of the soccer federation of Germany, the reigning World Cup champion, presented other arguments against the plan last week when he publicly warned that the overall quality of play would be diminished and that the greater burdens on players could cause rifts between clubs and national teams.

“I think that even if you organized a World Cup with two teams, one of the two teams would be Germany,” Infantino said. “I hope that with time we can discuss it, and they can see the benefit for the world.”

Besides the current 32-team format and the new format approved on Tuesday, there were three other options proposed for the council to consider: 40 teams with eight groups of five (88 games); 40 teams with 10 groups of four (76 games); and 48 teams, but with 16 seeds and a 32-team, single-elimination round before a 32-team group stage (80 games).

The World Cup tournament began in 1930, in Uruguay, with 13 teams, but as recently as 1978 it was still capped at 16, with only one entrant each from Asia and Africa.

The Associated Press estimated that a 48-team tournament in 2026 would bring in $6.5 billion in revenue, an increase of $1 billion from the total it has projected for next summer’s tournament in Russia. Potential profit, FIFA added, could increase by around $640 million.

 ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – OCTOBER 14: FIFA President Gianni Infantino poses for a photo after part II of the FIFA Council Meeting 2016 at the FIFA headquarters on October 14, 2016 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Philipp Schmidli/Getty Images)

A Missouri ownership group announced formal plans on Thursday to bring a Major League Soccer expansion team to St. Louis and construct a new, $200 million stadium downtown.

St. Louis Group Unveils Plans For MLS Expansion Team And New $200M Stadium

The group, SC STL, includes former Anheuser-Busch President Dave Peacock and other members of a group known as MLS2STL that began efforts in January to bring professional soccer to St. Louis. The group, led by chairman Paul Edgerley, also plans to acquire St. Louis FC, which plays in USL.

St. Louis became one of the top contenders to join MLS in January when the NFL’s Rams moved back to Los Angeles.

Commissioner Don Garber, who has outlined a plan to expand the league to 28 teams, visited the city last year and stated in April that the league believes St. Louis is “MLS-ready” and could play as early as 2020.

In Thursday’s announcement, Garber said: “With its rich soccer heritage, St. Louis has always been a market of great interest to Major League Soccer and SC STL is the ideal ownership group that will provide St. Louis the best opportunity for a future expansion team.”

As for the stadium, private investors would reportedly cover at least 60 percent of the costs, and the facility would be owned by the city of St. Louis, said Jim Kavanaugh, vice chairman of the ownership group and founder of the minor league soccer club St. Louis FC.

The public would then be asked to pay for the remainder ($80 million) for the 20,000-seat stadium, not including a potential land purchase west of Union Station. The group said it will cover the league’s expansion fee, which is expected to be somewhere between $125-$135 million.

The stadium would sit on 30 acres of land owned by the Missouri Department of Transportation, north of Highway 40 (Interstate 64) near 22nd Street and just west of Union Station. In September, the city of St. Louis entered a deal with the state for a two-year option to potentially buy the site, although an appraisal is still in the works.

Mayor Francis Slay said in a statement that “this is a moment St. Louis has to seize.”

“I cannot imagine a better stadium setting anywhere in MLS than the one we envision west of Union Station, and I am very appreciative that Commissioner Garber and his staff are willing to work with me and our ownership group to make it happen,” Slay said.

 ST. LOUIS – OCTOBER 10: An interior view of Busch Stadium and the St. Louis Gateway Arch during Game Three of the NLDS during the 2009 MLB Playoffs between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers on October 10, 2009 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

The National Hockey League will expand to Las Vegas for the 2017-2018 season after awarding its 31st franchise to billionaire businessman Bill Foley on Wednesday.

NHL Awards Expansion Franchise To Las Vegas

Commissioner Gary Bettman announced the decision after the NHL’s board of governors met and voted to establish an ice hockey team in Sin City.

Foley is expected to pay $500 million to the league’s other owners as an expansion fee. The new team will play in T-Mobile Arena, the $375 million stadium that opened just off the Las Vegas Strip in April.  Foley mounted a strong bid for ownership along with minority partners Joe and Gavin Maloof, the former owners of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.

The expansion marks the NHL’s first since 2000, when Minnesota and Columbus each paid $80 million to join the league.

Las Vegas has had an appetite for hockey ever since the Kings and New York Rangers played a memorable outdoor exhibition game here in 1991. The IHL’s Las Vegas Thunder sometimes drew more fans than UNLV’s beloved basketball team at the Thomas and Mack Arena in the 1990s, and the Minnesota Wild’s Jason Zucker leads a handful of locals who went on to hockey careers.

With a population of nearly 2.2 million people according to the last census, Las Vegas is the largest US city without any professional sports franchises. The city witnessed an economic boom in the last decade, and was chosen over Quebec City after the league decided it could attract large numbers of sports fans. Concerns about the small market, the Canadian dollar’s fluctuation and the NHL’s resulting geographical imbalance led the governors to scrap Quebec in favor of Vegas for the expansion.

T-mobile Arena was built with private funding. Foley has already accepted more than 14,000 season ticket deposits and sold out all 44 suites in the 17,500-seat rink built by MGM Resorts International and Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the Los Angeles Kings.

Major sports leagues previously rejected the city outright because of concerns regarding corruption from Las Vegas’ giant sports betting economy, although the NHL and the NFL no longer seem to share those worries. In fact, Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis is interested in partnering with city interests to build a massive domed football stadium for his team.

Foley has not revealed a name or logo for the new team, but an announcement is expected to be made in the next few weeks. One potential choice could be the Black Knights, a name that has special meaning to Foley, who is a West Point graduate.

PHOTO: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – APRIL 06: (L-R) Clark County Commissioner Mary Beth Scow, Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak, Clark County Commissioner Mary Beth Scow, MGM Resorts International Chairman and CEO Jim Murren, T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Sherrard, AEG President and CEO Dan Beckerman and President and CEO of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Scott Maccabe attend the T-Mobile Arena grand opening news conference on the Las Vegas Strip on April 6, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for MGM Resorts International)

The National Hockey League has settled on Las Vegas as its choice for expansion, opting to place a new franchise in Sin City rather than Quebec City, according to a source close to the situation.

NHL Chooses Las Vegas Over Quebec City For Expansion

The man behind the Vegas bid is businessman Bill Foley, whose Black Knight Sports Entertainment company includes the Maloof family — the former owners of the Sacramento Kings — as partners. Foley’s group must pay the NHL a $500 million fee if the other team owners approve the bid. At a Las Vegas viewing party for a playoff game in late May, Foley said the project already had 13,200 season-ticket deposits.

The league’s board of governors is scheduled to hold a formal vote during its meeting on June 22. Two-thirds of the board must approve the recommendation. The earliest the new team could begin play would be the 2017-2018 season.

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the United States without a major professional sports franchise. The expansion would give the city its first team, and also place the NHL at an uneven 31 teams– 15 in the Western Conference and 16 in the Eastern Conference. The league hasn’t expanded since 2000, when Columbus and Minnesota joined after paying $80 million each to join.

A venue for the new team is already established, as the new T-Mobile Arena opened in early April of this year on the south end of the Vegas strip near the MGM Grand.  The Los Angeles Kings have already scheduled to play two preseason games in October at the arena.

Public support for Foley’s bid has been strong in recent months.

“This could be a watershed moment for our community and sports in Southern Nevada,” said Jonas Peterson, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance. “Having a professional hockey team will not only boost our economy, but also our sense of community pride.”

Mayor Carolyn Goodman said she couldn’t confirm the expansion to the city but added she senses a “great probability” for the decision because of a shift in the conversation in the past two weeks.

The Oakland Raiders have also made several attempts at a move to Nevada in recent months after holding a series of discussions with Vegas leaders. Owner Mark Davis suggested he and his partners, which include casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, could build a $1.4 billion domed stadium near the Strip with substantial public money.

English soccer superstar David Beckham also suggested the city could be a candidate for an MLS team with that new field. In February, MLS had ruled out Las Vegas as a potential expansion location as the soccer league looks to grow to 28 teams in the future.

The NHL has debated expansion for a few years, with Seattle and the Toronto suburbs also generating interest for another team. Commissioner Gary Bettman has said he doesn’t worry about the league’s product suffering from dilution.

Caption: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – APRIL 06: (L-R) Clark County Commissioner Mary Beth Scow, Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak, Clark County Commissioner Mary Beth Scow, MGM Resorts International Chairman and CEO Jim Murren, T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Sherrard, AEG President and CEO Dan Beckerman and President and CEO of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Scott Maccabe attend the T-Mobile Arena grand opening news conference on the Las Vegas Strip on April 6, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for MGM Resorts International)