Minnesota United FC owner Bill McGuire predicts a successful Major League Soccer debut next season for his club despite a recent history of expansion team struggles.
McGuire, brimming with optimism after Friday's 2017 start-date announcement, the largest launch event in MLS history, said the "first game next year" will prove the Loons belong.
"I think we are going to be competitive," McGuire said. "We aim to be competitive. That doesn't say we expect to have a championship, but I think we can play."
McGuire drew the biggest roar from a crowd of 1,500 fans when he confirmed the United FC name would follow the club to MLS. Next up: keeping fans in a clapping mood at TCF Bank Stadium next season if on-field results are difficult to attain. None of the league's five expansion teams since 2010 posted a winning record in their inaugural seasons.
"It's harder than what you envision," said Gavin Wilkinson, Portland's general manager/president of soccer. "In a one-off game you can be competitive but over time you become more prone to certain deficiencies. It's a major, major jump."
Minnesota will be placed in the Western Conference, with fellow expansion club Atlanta in the Eastern Conference, bringing MLS to 22 teams.
Atlanta, also known as United, already has signed seven players. Manny Lagos, Minnesota's sporting director, said he has worked the past year to prepare and expects "in the next four or five months, we're going to have major announcements to make" as the team overhauls its 25-man roster by the season's start in March.
Key dates include the expansion draft, which takes place after the MLS Cup championship in December, as well as January's SuperDraft for college players and the winter international transfer window for foreign players.