The United Soccer League is planning to launch a new Division One men’s professional league.
This new league would rival MLS and is expected to begin in 2027, the USL announced on Thursday. The USL would operate separately from MLS, despite working under the same sanctioning by U.S. Soccer as a professional soccer league.
The new Division One league stands as the highest of three levels for the USL, that includes the USL Championship (Division Two) and USL League One (Division Three). The new tiered system would foster a promotion and relegation style, something that MLS does not have as part of its league.
“Today is a defining moment for the USL and the future of soccer in the United States,” said USL CEO Alec Papadakis. “Creating a Division One league is a bold step forward, expanding access to top-tier competition, deepening the connection between our communities and taking another step in aligning with the structure of the global game.
“By uniting people through soccer and bringing Division One to more cities, we’re not just growing the sport-we’re creating lasting opportunities while building a more sustainable and vibrant soccer ecosystem in the U.S,” he added.
The USL launched in 1986 and later announced a women’s pathway that includes the top-tier USL Super League (Division I), which debuted in 2024.
“The continued investment into the game reflects the strength of the United States as a soccer country, which will only accelerate as we build towards hosting the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2026 FIFA World Cup,” a U.S. Soccer statement read. “We welcome innovation and growth to the landscape of American soccer and we look forward to learning more.”
…But who are the teams? Are there enough owners and interest to start this league in two years? Or will they use the existing USL teams, only a couple of whom have a sizable following, stadium, etc. Half of them are MLS2 teams… I’m having trouble seeing how this gets off the ground.
They really only need 8 or a half-dozen to get started, and then they go hunting MLS teams in the US Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League…similarly, they could travel and do things like the Carling Cup in Europe. That was the model the resurrected New York Cosmos were planning to take, though their inability to close on that stadium in Elmont ultimately hamstrung them. Especially with an open structure where prospective owners with deep pockets and big egos can spend whatever they want – ESPECIALLY when it’s less than that appalling $500 million gate fee the Don is trying to charge prospective newcomers – I can absolutely see it turning into an NFL/AFL situation that eventually results in a merged league. With pro/rel.
MLS’s current model worked…as a startup. It’s not going to work for much longer. There is zero chance over the long term the league is able to maintain its present level of control over its teams, especially charging that absurd entry fee. There’s too many prospective markets in the US and Canada, and the potential for growth is far too large.
MLS will try to kill this, of course, but it’s really hard to see how MLS can circumvent anti-trust laws that prevent exactly that sort of monopolistic guild behavior. College football couldn’t, and it was a sport with easily ten times the money of even today’s MLS.
I am also launching a new Division One men’s professional league.
That, Sir, will need to compete with the two division one leagues that I am launching.
Game on.
Funny…but MLS sort of painted itself into a corner here by charging San Diego FC an absolutely ridiculous $500 million just for the right to join the league. That can buy you a shiny new 25K+ stadium and a roster that rivals Real Madrid’s. I remember thinking at the time it was Garber’s biggest mistake and probably a fatal one. He’s also openly talked about capping the league at 32 teams…I was like: Don, are you feeling all right? I mean, if you go and just start listing major media markets in the US and Canada that MLS still isn’t in, you’re up to 20+, easily, and that’s before you start figuring that FC “Dallas” is actually out in Frisco – easily 35 or 40 minutes from downtown Dallas – and the “Philadelphia” Union are actually down in Chester, 25 minutes from Actual Philadelphia, which means those cities are not exactly on lockdown. And places like New York and LA can absolutely support far more MLS franchises than they currently possess. I mean, there’s literally 10 teams in the greater London area that have spent at least one season in the Premier league.
Where Don pulled a stupid, IMHO, was in comparing the market for soccer to that of football or basketball…which both have huge college programs to fill the niches currently occupied by the lower tiers of the soccer pyramid in European leagues. Soccer does not. Yes, yes, there’s college soccer…but it’s still not a revenue sport for colleges and likely never will be, because its standard is so far below what soccer enthusiasts will pay real money for. IMHO, Don drastically underestimated the potential market for the sport in North America…even as he built a league that provided inarguable proof of concept that soccer was indeed economically viable on the continent. Which meant it was pretty much inevitable a bunch of prospective owners with deep pockets and little appetite for paying MLS’s increasingly exorbitant extortion fee for joining were going to get together and chat.