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Chivas USA to suspend operations after this season

Chivas USA forward Erick Torres speaks to reporters during the unveiling of Major League Soccer's new logo in New York on Sept. 18.
(Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images)
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The troubled soccer team Chivas USA plans to suspend operations after this season while the club is reorganized under new ownership, ESPNFC.com reported Monday.

Citing unidentified sources, the website said Chivas USA was expected to not play for a minimum of two years while a new ownership group builds a new stadium and makes arrangements to rebrand the club with a new name.

Chivas USA, currrently last in the MLS Western Conference, was purchased in February by the league, which has sought new owners for the team that will commit to keeping the club in the Los Angeles area.

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Chivas USA’s home venue is StubHub Center in Carson, which it shares with the more popular Galaxy, a four-time MLS champion that’s again in first place in the conference.

ESPNFC.com reported one source as saying the league had agreed to sell Chivas USA to an unidentified investment group for about $100 million and that the team’s suspension of play was a condition of the sale.

MLS Commissioner Dan Garber told reporters two weeks ago that a decision on whether Chivas USA played next year would be made after a deal was struck with the new owners.

In a statement to ESPNFC.com, Garber reiterated that the league expected to finalize a sale by the end of the season.

“Once we have confirmed a new ownership group, we will discuss the future of the club with the MLS Board of Governors, including whether or not we are going to operate the team in 2015 and beyond,” Garber said in the statement.

The MLS acquired Chivas USA from Jorge Vergara and Angelica Fuentes, the husband-and-wife owners of Mexican league team Chivas de Guadalajara.

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