Designed to help ensure the long-term stability of professional soccer in North America, United Soccer Leagues announced the merger of its First and Second Divisions into a single league property for 2011 - USL PRO.
Team owners and league officials are meeting in Tampa, Florida today to lay the groundwork for the 2011 debut of USL PRO, which will be governed by team owners and present the highest level of competition in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean outside of Major League Soccer (MLS).
USL PRO is a national league featuring a regional competition model to build natural rivalries and reduce travel-related costs. The U.S. Soccer Federation-affiliated league benefits from the leadership of the dedicated and experienced professional staff at USL’s Tampa headquarters as well as the developmental support of USL’s proven and integrated system of leagues.
USL PRO will consist of as many as four geographic regions in 2011. Teams scheduled to compete in USL PRO in 2011 will be announced in the coming weeks.
“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.”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi,
ReplyDeletean English football (soccer) fan here (found your blog looking for Americans' opinions on promotion/relegation - as most seem to believe having the opportunity to break into a higher league will be detrimental financially). I'd like to start by saying you're the only US soccer pundit I've found that talks any sense.
Back to the subject of this article however - I believe this is a massive step in the wrong direction for keeping lower level professional soccer in the US. Personally I believe the USL 1&2 should be the first American leagues to start an pro/rel system - just between these two leagues to start. This would then bring a more competetive element - and if noone's going to watch a mediocre team that's playing to win, they'll not come and watch a bunch of mediocre teams that've been lumped together play their minimum for the salary. (If you understood that, my concentration wandered).
I understand that the gulf of quality (or lack of) between top of USL 1 and bottom of USL 2 is next to nothing in comparison to single pro leagues in England (and the "it's a new league" argument can't work, because Australia's top league is more competetive, newer, and with less quality.) SO there should be no problem with a newly promoted team playing a team with a more established name/fanbase.
Thanks, Adam
Adam:
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments. I certainly agree with your thoughts on promotion/relegation, and is a massive difference between our top professional leagues here in the US and in other parts of the world - having a promotion/relegation setting would certainly create a level of urgency for teams to build their clubs the right way, and to spend effectively.
Unfortunately, due to the amount of money that it costs for franchises to enter the league at the moment, coupled with the league's single-entity set-up, I do think that we are a long way away from developing a promotion/relegation setting.
Thanks for the comments - please keep them coming.
Yours in soccer,
Mike