'Major' benefits for Aston Villa as NSWE close in on Las Vegas Villains formation

Aston Villa owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens (NSWE) are reportedly closing in on forming the 30th MLS franchise.

After positive talks with MLS commissioner Don Garber, who has suggested that it would cost around £239million to licence a new MLS team, Edens has revealed his excitement to form a football club in Vegas.

"I think Las Vegas is, in my opinion, maybe the best market in the entire United States," Edens told the Review-Journal.

"The more time I spend there, the more I believe in the future of it as a city and as a city for sports and entertainment."

MLS will be at 28 members with Charlotte FC’s entry next season, and it then will climb to 29 when St. Louis City comes aboard in 2023. Las Vegas Villains would become the 30th member and, according to reports, the team could join the league in 2024.

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire explains the merits of the multi-club model and how it could give Villa a leg-up in their marketing department.

"The Villa owners Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris have pumped a lot of money into Villa," Maguire said on The Price of Football podcast.

"They’ve also got experience of American sports franchises themselves and they know how the system works.

"In respect to having an MLS franchise, the major benefits are focused on revenue and costs, you look at how you’d boost the former and cut the latter.

"So, what Villa would be able to do is go to sponsors and shirt manufacturers. Las Vegas Villains, they’ll play in broadly the same kit as Villa and that will expand the brand and they could offer shirt sponsors the opportunity to sponsor two kits.

"You start to have a global footprint and that would be a benefit from a revenue point of view.

"You’ve also got a development, as far