Don Garber: MLS will expand to 28 teams, hopes Sacramento joins in 2020

Don Garber confirmed plans to further expand Major League Soccer by eight teams, and hopes the Sacramento Republic will be the first team to usher in the new wave of clubs that will see the league grow to 28 franchises.

The league's commissioner announced Sacramento could join the league by 2020, following a meeting with the city's mayor, Kevin Johnson, along with local businesses, politicians, and the team's owners.

Garber added that MLS is in the process of assembling an expansion committee to examine other possible candidates.

"We need to get the committee to meet with these owners and the prospects as we have done in the past," Garber told reporters. "We need to continue to move forward in St. Louis and Detroit and see where they are. All that's going to happen in the next 12 months."

The league is already set to expand by two teams next season with the arrival of Atlanta United and Minnesota United. By the start of the 2018 season, there will be 24 teams when Los Angeles Football Club and Miami join.