Major League Soccer announced Tuesday the 12 ownership groups and cities up for the league's next four expansion clubs that will join Minnesota United FC in the top division in the coming years.

Teams 25-26 will be announced by the end of this year to begin play in 2020. There is no timetable yet for teams 27-28. The league currently has 22 clubs, with Los Angeles and Miami being the next two likely possibilities in line for expansion. After that, though, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis, Nashville, Phoenix, Raleigh/Durham, Sacramento, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Diego, and Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg are all in contention.

On a conference call Wednesday, MLS president and deputy commissioner Mark Abbott resisted ranking which bids had the better chance at this point but did say the sheer number of interested markets was good news for the league.

"We had 10 teams when we launched the league in 1996 and to be able to see, on a single day, 12 markets submit applications with the strength of ownership groups and quality of stadium plans that we saw is really something that's quite amazing," Abbott said. "And I think it's a tremendously strong statement about the growth of the sport and the league in the United States and Canada and the continuing growth of the interest in us."

The biggest drama to come out of the bids, however, stems from Sacramento. The lead investor, Kevin Nagle, submitted a bid under the name Sac Soccer & Entertainment Holdings instead of current United Soccer League team Sacramento Republic FC. Abbott said this confusion was a product of Tuesday's deadline to submit bids, as he knows Nagle and Republic wanted to have a united bid but couldn't resolve all their issues in time. But the league is aware that Nagle would like to continue talks with Republic now that the bid is in and hopefully form a joint endeavor.

"I'd like to minimize some of the brouhaha and hysteria around this," Abbott said, declining to comment on whether this would hurt Sacramento's bid. "I actually think it's fairly straightforward when you take a look at it."

The league also officially announced Tuesday that Soldier Field in Chicago will play host to the 2017 MLS All-Star Game, presented by new league and Minnesota United FC sponsor Target. The game is Aug. 2, and the opponent is to be announced. Chicago Fire coach Veljko Paunovic will manage the All-Star Team.