St. Louis is taking another swing at an Major League Soccer franchise

The family is envisioning a stadium that will pay itself off through in-house purchases

As MLS continues to expand, with three teams coming through the pipe by 2020, St. Louis is reportedly trying to net itself a soccer team. MLS has been looking for which city it will expand to come 2022, with cities like San Diego, Sacramento and Detroit leading the charge. However, St. Louis has emerged as a dark-horse candidate, as some parties try to bring the other football to St. Louis.

The Taylor family, a family deeply rooted in the St. Louis region, is leading the financial charge. Jack Taylor is the founder of Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Jim Kavanaugh, the CEO of World Wide Technology who played the Major Indoor Soccer League in the 80s, is another key player in the bid, and Carolyn Kindle Betz, the senior vice president and executive director of Enterprise Holdings Foundation, said that for the first time in MLS women would own the majority of the team.

"We've had such a great tradition of soccer here with our youth clubs," Betz said, via The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We also fill a void in the Midwest if you look at how the MLS has awarded its teams in the past."

The group is offering an interesting package, saying that the team would operate independently of St. Louis County. What this means is that the team won't have an effect on tax dollars. The team's proposed stadium would pay itself off through in-house purchases, and would net $1.5 million in revenue annually.

"It's certainly a more attractive arrangement that we're intending and hope to come out with than the previous (MLS proposal), which was certainly more expensive for the city," Andy Taylor, the executive chairman of Enterprise Holdings, said. "This is an addition to the city."

This isn't the first attempt at bringing professional soccer to St. Louis. Back in 2008 local lawyer Jeff Cooper tried to add a franchise. He was turned down for Seattle and Philadelphia in back-to-back years. Eventually, in 2014, a bid was in place for a stadium that would host both the Rams and a new team -- but the Rams of course absconded for Los Angeles in 2016. Attempts to build a stadium have been redoubled since St. Louis voters voted no on a proposition to build a stadium in St. Louis last year.

It's late in the game for St. Louis, but MLS commissioner Don Garber seems to have the city on his shortlist. He has mentioned St. Louis as a potential home in the past, but the team would need public support.

MLS will be at 26 clubs once Cincinnati, Nashville and Miami are formally introduced to the fold. St. Louis could have a lot of staying power, but it will need to make a compelling pitch for its stadium if the Cardinals are to be joined by another professional team any time soon.