To put it as kindly as I possibly can, professional soccer in the United States is in chaos turmoil flux at the moment. Let me see if I can walk you through what has happened since the end of the summer- the factual aspects of it, anyway. There’s more rumor, innuendo, and supposition involved in the goings on in question than I could possible tackle in a single post. These are just the major events, there are numerous other “sub-events” which could be placed between each of them.
- On August 27th 2009 Nike- yes that Nike- sold its ownership stake in the United Soccer Leagues (USL-1, USL-2, the PDL, and the W-League) to NuRock Soccer Holdings of Atlanta, GA, and not to the Team Owners Association representing a number of USL-1 clubs.
- The “Team Owners Association,” apparently concerned about how much say they would have (or not have) in the operation of the league voted with their feet and broke away from USL-1 following the sale to NuRock with the idea of forming a rival “second division” (MLS being the “First Division”) league to serve the (non-Mexican and Caribbean) North American market. The TOA has since rebranded itself as the newest incarnation of the North American Soccer League (NASL).
- The remaining USL-1 teams declared their intention to continue on with their league by adding new teams and drawing in other existing teams from lower and regional leagues.
- Both leagues applied to the USSF to be sanctioned as the “official” second tier professional league in the United States/Canada/Puerto Rico. Both teams applications were denied by the USSF.
What the USSF said in denying the applications of the two leagues was this:
The decision was made on the recommendation of the Professional League Task Force, which determined that neither organization on its own was able to provide a viable and sustainable operation during the upcoming season. Both organizations were unable to meet U.S. Soccer’s requirement of a minimum of eight viable teams for 2010.
I don’t often have good things to say about the USSF- I believe a lot of our USMNT’s problems are self-inflicted, for example- but they got things absolutely right in this instance. Neither of these leagues seems to have a plan which will not fall apart within a year (see below for why that is the case), neither league seems to have any concern about what the impact of their actions will be on the field, and neither league seems interested in working out their differences. Here, essentially, is why USSF denied the applications-
These were the clubs that competed in USL-1 during the 2009 season:
Portland Timbers
Carolina RailHawks
Puerto Rico Islanders
Charleston Battery
Montreal Impact
Rochester Rhinos
Vancouver Whitecaps
Minnesota Thunder
Miami FC Blues
Austin Aztex
Cleveland City Stars
Here’s where we stand now looking toward the 2010 season:
USL-1
Portland Timbers: Having been accepted as an MLS club beginning in 2011 it is unlikely that the team will remain in the league after this year. It is more likely that they will follow the precedent set by their rivals, the Seattle Sounders, who upon arriving in MLS, shut down their USL side. Seattle currently has a U18 team and Portland could follow this model or retain their current PDL team.
Austin Aztex: The team will play in USL-1 this summer if the league exists.
Puerto Rico Islanders: The team will play in USL-1 this summer if the league exists.
F.C. New York: New York was accepted as an expansion team for the 2010 season before all the hub-bub began in the fall, arranged to play their home matches at Hofstra University, and appear to have lined-up a sponsor and a kit supplier. That being said, their website- which has not been updated since April 1 (too easy…)- contains no roster. In fact, it contains nothing other than the initial press release and some contact information.
NASL
A.C. St. Louis: An expansion team currently without a roster, uniform design, sponsor, etc., but, a club that is at least part of a reputable organization- St. Louis Soccer United- which already runs St. Louis Athletica of WPS and an extensive and long-standing youth soccer organization.
Atlanta Silverbacks: Formerly a USL-1 club, but they were on hiatus during the 2009 season. Their PDL team does not appear to have survived their hiatus.
Carolina RailHawks: One of the teams that broke away from USL-1 in 2009.
Crystal Palace Baltimore: Left USL-2 to, theoretically, “move up” to the NASL.
Montreal Impact: One of the teams that broke away from USL-1 in 2009, however, Montreal could find itself in MLS as soon as the 2012 season.
Rochester Rhinos: One of the teams that broke away from USL-1 in 2009.
Vancouver Whitecaps: Having been accepted as an MLS club beginning in 2011 and may opt to keep a USL-1/NASL side or PDL side as part of the club.
Minnesota Thunder: One of the teams that broke away from USL-1 in 2009. The club has a PDL side to fall back on.
Miami FC: One of the teams that broke away from USL-1 in 2009.
Tampa Bay Rowdies: An expansion team hoping to revive the Rowdies brand name. Tampa seems to be a lot more organized and “further along” than St. Louis, never mind New York.
Other
Charleston Battery: Voluntarily relegated themselves from USL-1 to USL-2 at the end of the 2009 season.
Cleveland City Stars: The club was dissolved in December 2009. There was some talk of fielding a team in 2010, but that seems to have stalled.
To recap: USL-1 has commitments from only four clubs (half of those needed to be sanctioned by the USSF), though whether or not F.C. New York exists on anything but paper is hard to determine. The new NASL has commitments from ten teams, two of which are expansion teams, two of which may be out of the league after two seasons, and one which is coming back from a season-long hiatus. It should also be pointed out that an extensive search on my part could not turn up a website for either the “Team Owners Association” or “NASL 2010”- in this day and age that is a bad sign- a very bad sign- for a league hoping to kick off its inaugural season in April. Nothing about either league inspires any confidence in me and I can see why the USSF wanted to, at least for the time being, wash its hands of the whole sorted situation. All of this, of course, is taking place in the context of a First Division league- MLS- which may have its season put in jeopardy by a “lock out” in less than a month. While this is all very intriguing- and perhaps a bit disheartening- I was reminded today that while everyone has been busy looking “up,” the impact of all of these shenanigans machinations maybe felt most severely by those teams below the top two divisions, and that is the reason why I chose the title I did for this piece. Forgive me, I grew up during the Reagan Era…
It came to my attention today that my local side, the Western Mass Pioneers (along with the Bermuda Hogges) have chosen to voluntarily relegate themselves from USL-2 to the Premier Development League (PDL), the “fourth division” of North American soccer, but the top amateur division. The PDL limits the number of players over the age of 23 a team can have on its roster to eight and that roster must also include three players under the age of 18. According to general manager Greg Kolodziey:
Many of today’s MLS players come out of the PDL. This will give our fans the opportunity to see tomorrow’s stars today.
Well, that’s great- I’m sure that the numerous players who lost their jobs as a result of this “realignment” will be excited to hear this. The club promises more exciting details in the future, but nothing will change the fact that the quality of play is going to drop and that working towards a return back to USL-2 will be pointless until the “second division” situation is straightened out. As disappointed as I am by this development, it is understandable given the current state of USL-1 and the NASL- why would the club spend the time and money necessary to compete in USL-2 in the hope of moving up to a league (leagues?) that may/may not exist in the future?
Another potential victim of this mess appears to be the Western Mass Lady Pioneers. There is no longer any mention of them on the Western Mass Pioneers website and they are not listed on the USL website as a team that will be taking part in the W-League during the 2010 season. If this is the case, the involvement of women at the Pioneers will end at the U18 level and that would be a shame. This will especially disappointing to those young women hoping to stay sharp for their collegiate seasons, to those hoping to work towards a career in WPS, to those hoping to make an age-group USWNT, or to those just hoping to continue to play at a high level after college. It will also be disappointing to me as I have enjoyed watching the development of players that I have coached against in the past.
If there is any silver lining where the Pioneers are concerned it is that the cost of a season ticket has been cut in half (though, curiously, individual match tickets remain the at the same price) since their move from USL-2 to the PDL, so I’ll probably buy one and may even be able to afford to by a New England Revolution ticket package/season ticket as well.
I am confident that some of this mess- MLS lock out, two competing non-sanctioned division two leagues, etc.- will be sorted out by spring, but there is no denying that the whole affair has been a setback for professional soccer in the United States (parts of Canada and all of Puerto Rico) and that damage has been done to a sport that really can’t afford it. This off-season should have been one in which professional soccer- from top to bottom- capitalized on the momentum generated by the success of the Seattle Sounders and the impending beginning of the fifteenth MLS season. Sadly, this did not happen.
This is going to work out great!
Sincerely, Open-Wheel Auto Racing.
The CSA hasn’t “declined to sanction either league.” It’s declined to do anything until the USSF does. Slightly different.
It’s worth noting that on numerous occasions Whitecaps President Bob Lenarduzzi has mentioned keeping a team in the NASL/USL-1 after the whitecaps move up to MLS, possibly locating that team in Edmonton.
Minor point. I believe Austin have dropped their U23s, PDL side.
Lots of fact errors here.
The PDL is the Premier Development League, not the Professional Development League.
No, Austin does NOT have a PDL side to fall back on any longer. The Aztex U23 are not included in the lineup of PDL teams for 2010.
There IS a Rochester, Minnesota PDL team called the Thunder, but I am not sure the Minnesota Thunder has the resources to fund it. The Minnesota Thunder appears to exist only on paper, as they’ve lost their coach, their GM and their president (not to mention a boatload of money) since the season ended and all of their players are free agents. It would be a pretty big upset if the Minnesota Thunder played in 2010, and that may not bode well for the Rochester Thunder.
How did “several dozen” players lose jobs by Western Mass self-relegating? Western Mass didn’t HAVE several dozen players, and surely some of them are U-23. And there isn’t a restriction on players who were (or are) professionals in status playing in the PDL. It’s an open league.
There is no “official” Division II league – USSF could sanction more than one and they’d BOTH be “official.” They opted (prudently, as you say) not to sanction either. Yet.
If you’ve ever seen USL-2, it’s kinda hard to say the quality of play is going to “obviously” drop. The quality of play in USL-2 is not all that great. You actually get a slightly better crop of players with college kids than with the semi-pros who aren’t good enough for the DII or MLS levels.
Finally, what damage has been done, really? It’s tangled up right now. There are some bruised egos. Some hurt feelings. Some uncertainty. But people who think this has damaged the game in this country also probably thought us not qualifying for the Athens Olympics in soccer set the sport back 20 years. They were wrong. The game is too strong to be irreparably harmed in this country.
This is a bump in the road and a pain in the neck right now. But ’tis but a scratch. “The game” in this country is not going to be built on temporary drama in the second division.
KT,
Thanks for the corrections. I was going by what I could find on specific team sites and the USL site as well, bolstered by news articles where I could find them. I will make some changes in the article based on your comments.
As to your comment, “If you’ve ever seen USL-2…,” actually, I have I’ve seen about 75% of the Pioneers home games over the last four years and pretty much every USL-2 team that the New England Revolution have faced at home (or near “home”) in US Open Cup play over the same period. Because the Pioneers were an anomaly in USL-2 (lots of long term, older players, a club with a LONG history and still surrounded by a very supportive Portguese-American population) I do believe that their on-field product will suffer markedly.
I was perhaps a bit too hyperbolic in saying that two dozen players at the WMP will lose their jobs (it’s probably more like 15), but I know from talking with Greg Kolodziey last summer (for an article that ultimately did not come to fruition) that the entire squad were employed as full-time professionals. I pressed Greg on this point and while he would not talk numbers with me, he made it clear that, while some had other sources of income (running clinics and camps for the club as well as outside employment), they could live on what the Pioneers paid them. Now, that may be the crux of the Pioneers problems- overpaying for players in a third tier league- but that is my understanding of the situation at the club.
I hate to nitpick a great article, but Jarrett is right. As reported at aztexan.net, there will be no U23 PDL squad for the Austin Aztex. Also, there is no promotion and relegation between USL-1 and USL-2. Teams dropping from USL-2 to PDL aren’t doing so because they have nowhere to move up, because there is nothing they can do on the field to get to USL-1. It’s my understanding that they are doing so because of expenses.
Thanks for providing an excellent summary. It’s nearly impossible to keep up with “developments” within the domestic U.S. game.