FBF Glossary: Expansion Fever

A real utility player, Expansion Fever can refer to...

• MLS HQ's Rapid Expansion Plan ®, a seeming Ponzi scheme in which the "franchise fee" from new franchises sold is used to balance the books of the existing clubs.
• The excitement surrounding a new club, generally involving season ticket sellouts, grandiose claims from the ownership, and pompous fan behavior ("We'll show you how it's supposed to be done!"), followed closely by...
• The inevitable teething troubles of a brand-new club trying to make its way in the parity-infested waters, inevitably resulting in various crash and burn scenarios, the wailing and gnashing of teeth, and wistful, longing glances directed at the playoffs.

...Except when it doesn't (see: the 1998 Chicago Fire and, thus far, the 2009 Seattle Sounders). In such cases, the versatile Expansion Fever can be turned around, stripped of its irony, and displayed proudly as a badge of honor, as in: "Seattle Expansion Fever, now with marching bands, rotund celebrity ownership, rotund coaching, and more Freddies than you can shake your Thunder Stix at: Catch it! Now!"