Top Stories

USL’s first and second divisions to merge

USLlogo

By AVI CREDITOR

The United Soccer Leagues announced Wednesday that starting in 2011, USL-1 and USL-2 will merge to form a single league called USL PRO.

USL officials and team owners are meeting Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., to further discuss and outline the specifics for the new league, which will be made up of as many as four geographic regions and will be affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation.

USL media relations officer David Wagner confirmed to SBI that all of the current USL-2 teams will be in USL PRO. (UPDATE: Wagner has clarified the USL's position, saying that USL-2 teams have yet to officially confirm their participation in USL PRO)

At this point it is unclear as to which teams from the USSF Division 2 (USL-1, NASL) will be a part of the new league.

"At this time we're not sure. It's still an evaluation process with different clubs we're speaking to," Wagner said. "That part of it is still being decided."

USL PRO figures to focus on building up the regional dynamics of the league. According to a press release, "the league will focus on aggressive but deliberate growth by adding teams fully capable of meeting USL and USSF standards which are located in markets that further promote regional league play." 

"After much analysis of the current landscape, we’ve chosen to combine our synergies into a single professional league that will operate within financial and competitive models that make sense,” USL CEO Alec Papadakis said. "The USL PRO business plan is the first below the MLS level to give team owners a realistic roadmap to profitability. We need to focus on the future health of soccer in North America, and the USL PRO model addresses many of the issues that have led to the instability of men’s professional soccer below the MLS level."

————————

What do you think of this news? Excited for the prospects of the new league? Hope the NASL teams are included in the new model?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. While this does NOT pave the way for promotion/relegation it does open the door for MLS2 which cracks the door down the road.

    P/R will not happen until Second Div teams are putting up the same kind of $ as MLS1 investors. League format demands that.

    But…with MLS1, reserves and a Div2 that looks closer to MLS1 we are taking steps in the right direction.

    Look for 2nd division to be MLS2 and new league to be regional 3rd division. P/R within the decade.

    Reply
  2. FIFA wont do that. Not with less than 4 months before they announce the winners of the bid.

    As far as I remember the US bid for the WC was first done for the 1986 event, but the second attempt the US was a shoe-in and FIFA could negotiate such terms. No such terms are being negotiated with any federation today.

    Reply
  3. The condition of getting the world cup in 1994 was that the US starts a div 1 league. Maybe if we get the 2022 cup, the condition will be pro-rel. A FIFA mandate with all that cup money on a string is about the only thing that would cause Pro-Rel here.

    Reply
  4. I still think pro-rel could work in the lower divisions. This would be very difficult but could work. For example, this year Charleston would move to D-2 and Miami would move to D-3. This wouldn’t work with the current pyramid because Miami wouldn’t want to play in USL and Charleston is happy not having to pay a lot to travel. All of the teams would have to be on the same page.

    Reply
  5. Well, not much you can do to stand up if you only have one USL1 team left – Austin. The only three that remained with any verbal loyalty to the USL this season were Portland, Austin and Puerto Rico. PR is reportedly joining the NASL big. We know where Portland will be next year. That just leaves Austin. Kinda hard to stand up to the NASL with just one team.

    Reply
  6. Not gonna happen. How would an MLS team move down to the NASL with the single entity system of the MLS? All 3 of these division are all operated and owned by different people and different companies.

    Reply
  7. MLS -Division 1

    NASL -Division 2

    USL PRO -Division 3

    Hopefully the leagues remain stable and cooperate w/ each other to the point of allowing promo/relegation w/in the next 5 years or so…

    Reply
  8. Haha someone is still using the meaningless business jargon “synergies.” So tacky.

    So this is incredibly confusing to me. Ives writes

    “USL-1 and USL-2 will merge to form a single league called USL PRO.”

    Then says

    “it is unclear as to which teams from the USSF Division 2 (USL-1, NASL) will be a part of the new league.”

    If its unclear what is happening with USL-1 then why write the first sentence saying that they are merging with USL-2? Perhaps it was a typo?

    Reply
  9. I am not sure how people can say that a promotion/relegation system is not in the works. There is no other Soccer federation in the world that does not operation on some sort of promotion/relegation system.

    It promotes competitiveness. It promotes competition among the “bottom tier” teams who will not make the playoffs, and gives them something to play for at the end of the season (i.e. their jobs, their place in the higher league/a shot at moving to the higher league).

    Financially it would help the smaller leagues and teams even the “playing field” (no pun intended) when, for instance, the higher MLS team gets relegated to the lower league, they will bring that fan base and that money to that league. I’m not a financial genius, and I know it’s a little more complicated than that.

    Reply
  10. if all of the teams in USL-Pro, which i have to assume will be applying for D3 sanctioning from USSF, eventually become as strong as Charleston Battery (3K+ a game) and focused regionally. and then NASL becomes a national D2 with teams all as strong as Rochester (7K a game) then the US soccer pyramid will be on solid ground.

    unfortunately neither the USL-Pro or the NASL for 2010 will be anywhere near that strength. i guess it is a start to finally separate the fighting children and clearly make one D2 and one D3 but there is still a long way to go.

    Reply
  11. Not sure how anyone could look at the history of ALeague/USL/NASL etc versus MLS and conclude anything but single entity has won out in the US. Big time.

    Look at the Sounders. MLS wanted them, Sounder’s owner doesn’t like single entity structure. Flash forward 15 + years later. Sounders are in MLS drawing 4 times the amount of fans….and they are joined by many other teams that are “jumping” to MLS.

    Meanwhile the league of many names is struggling to find a place ( or existance ) in US Soccer.

    Reply
  12. Didn’t USSF come out with regulations and rules for Division 2? Like something about that all 2nd division teams had to be in a city with a population of at least a certain number? Won’t some of these teams not fit these regulations and rules?

    Reply
  13. With NASL announcing its own bid for the Second Division in 2011 with the defection of all USL-1 Div-2 teams except the Austin Aztecs, it looks like USL PRO will effectively be the third tier in soccer in the US.

    Reply
  14. I don’t see how this is any more than a name change. USL PRO will be the new USL-2 and probably have about 8 teams or closer to 20 is split into regions and probably draw about 1,000K on average per game throughout the league. With no competition for NASL, that should clear the way for waivers to be approved and for the league to be sanctioned as D-2 for 2011. I hope Austin joins the NASL since the level of play in USL PRO will be on par with USL-2.

    Reply
  15. I know there have been (and still are?) disputes between USL & NASL — does this put the disputes to bed or are they still unresolved? It would be nice to have stable secondary leagues — Is this announcement progress toward that?

    Reply
  16. Phew!

    So glad we’re on our way up and out of D2 professional soccer. RCTID!

    A lot the acrimony of the Portland Beavers leaving town and the Timbers/City of Portland creating a facility for MLS standards forgets the fact that if the status quo held the Timbers’ closest rival would be Minnesota. Soon enough the team getting all the praise and money would be in dire straights and the Beavers would possibly not have another team to help pay their bills [4k in attendance for a 19k facility must not be easy to maintain].

    Got out of this mess at exactly the right time, if not at the last possible moment.

    Reply
  17. Makes sense. The USSF Div2 requirements are too strict for this point in time, so USL is going for regionalizing Div3. The remaining “Div2” teams will have little choice but to join them until MLS gets off their duff and creates MLS2 (which at this point, is the only viable solution for Div2 soccer in the USA).

    Reply
  18. Any chance MLS could link their reserve league with this? Players would be playing in competitve matches and the regional aspect would cut costs.

    Reply
  19. As a Charleston Battery fan, this makes me happy. Although we won the USL-2 this year, the level of play was not nearly as fun to watch.

    I also like the idea of emphasizing the regional aspect. These teams are often operating in the red, so regional focus means less travel costs. Smart move.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Chicago MIke Cancel reply