This is huge for USL Pro if they can pull it off. It will be the start of a minor league for MLS and give USL some much needed cash.
so wait. some teams get to have a full 20+ man team in USLPro and others get to send 5 guys to an already existing USLPro team to be coached by strange coaches? that doesn't quite sound right to me .... shouldn't MLS teams be allowed to chose whether or not they want to operate these USLPro teams or not? if they do they set one up somewhere ... either locally or nearby but in a market they'd like to expand their footprint into ... otherwise they are left to send players out on loan however they wish? i need to see more details ... i like the idea but these first sketchy reports seem not all together promising.
Doesn't sound to me like this is a replacment for Reserve game but a way to get young guys minutes with 5 player limit.
Possible MLS-USL Pro pairings: San Jose Earthquakes - Sacramento Los Angeles Galaxy - LA Blues Chivas USA - Phoenix DC United - Richmond Columbus Crew - Dutch Lions NYRB - Rochester Rhinos Philadelphia - Harrisburg City Islanders
Granted we have scant details but it sounds like a total replacement and a good one. I, too, don't get the 5 man limit/non limit thing. Sounds like there are some crucial details missing.
i am not sure these 3 things make sense. there are only two USLPro teams "nearby" MLS teams ... Harrisburg City and LA Blues. the LA Blues are just a terrible non-attended team ... they could just be "bought" or subsumed by one or the other of LAG or CHV. Harrisburg is already affiliated with the Union so not sure why the just can't become Harrisburg Union Reserves full stop. as for the last two, i am not sure how they square. if every team in MLS aside from the two above set up their reserves as a full fledged USLPro side that is an additional 17 USLPro teams ... but there would be 12 existing USLPro teams (minus Harrisburg and LA Blues) who would be without a MLS team affiliate. not sure why you'd even want ever USLPro team to have an MLS affiliate as long as every MLS team had a USLPro affiliate ... not the same thing. i guess if you align the Crew with Dayton you could get the new USLPro at 30 teams. 14 existing (including future Sacramento) USLPro teams plus 16 new MLS USLPro teams (and 3 MLS teams buying out/subsuming 3 current USLPro teams). a 30 team regional 3rd division would be a good start.
Devil is always in the details, but this is a step in the right direction. More playing time will only mean better development and improved depth for teams in the long run. At this moment, it's very difficult to get young talent much playing time in MLS, even with a few reserve games.
MLS teams with a USL PRO team in their market: LA/Chivas - LA Blues If you stretch: Columbus - Dayton Dutch Lions, Belbrook, OH Philly - Harrisburg City Islanders, Harrisburg, PA DC - Richmond Kickers, Richmond, VA Everyone else would probably be starting their own USLPro side.
i'd think that if MLS teams do this they would want complete control over training/coaching and game tactics so why affiliate with an existing team. and i'd also think "nearby" would need to be nearer than most of those pairings. i'd much rather see MLS teams either buy out/takeover existing USLPro teams if one is close enough that it is feasible to do so and still keep the reserves as part and parcel of the MLS club training. if not the more teams the merrier in a regional 3rd division. more games nearer by.
I'm also curious to see the details on this. First they say that if there is a local team then the MLS teams sends them 5 players. But if no local team then the MLS Reserve team becomes a full USL Pro team. And every USL Pro team will have an MLS affiliate. Let's say that those 7 USL teams partner locally. And the other 12 MLS teams have their own USL Pro team. That leaves 7 USL teams who will partner with some MLS team. Those original 7 MLS teams who now have two partners? Or what, exactly? And some MLS team will have to send players to Antigua?
I'll wait to see exactly what happens before I jump to any conclusions. I mean, who gets Antigua as an affiliate for example? I think it is good that we see that MLS has identified that there is a weakness with the reserve league and they are trying to fix it. They may not get it right straight off but at least it shows they are willing to try and fix things.
MLS teams with a USL PRO team in their market: LA/Chivas - LA Blues 22 MILES If you stretch: Columbus - Dayton Dutch Lions, Belbrook, OH 70 MILES Philly - Harrisburg City Islanders, Harrisburg, PA 100 MILES DC - Richmond Kickers, Richmond, VA 114 MILES Everyone else would probably be starting their own USLPro side. again. i can see the MLS team wanting it's USLPro reserve team to be based in a market up to say 100 miles away to create a larger footprint but i am not sure why an MLS team wouldn't want to have complete control over said reserve side ... why give up that much control over the reserves where you are trying to develop young players per your own team's philosophy. i'd like to see every MLS team have a Reserve/MLS II side in the USLPro with them 100% in control of that ... if it is not exactly in market but in a nearby satellite market that is fine, but i don't want to see MLS teams giving away developmental control to a bunch of hacks from DIII.
There would be a problem of travel costs for USL teams. How often can they afford to travel to Colorado or Vancouver?
one of the issues is i think teams like Dayton Dutch Lions and LA Blues are really just semi-pro teams that are part and parcel of a larger Pay-to-Play youth club which are very lucrative and which are unlikely to want to be "taken over" by MLS teams. so you either defeat the purpose of having your full Reserve squad in USLPro ... by not having complete control over it .... or you face not being able to take over the nearby USLPro team because it is a successful money making youth scheme for somebody. again. personally i'd like to just see 19 new USLPro teams from MLS II teams ... add to the 14 existing teams and break up regionally.
Integration with USL Pro or NASL in a quasi-German model has always made the most sense for a successful reserve league, although it sounds like there are some big questions with what the model will look like here. There is a big difference between 5 players and an entire team....and given the fact that with injuries, MLS teams frequently only have ~25 active players, managing TWO leagues could be tricky. Would high school academy players be allowed to play in USL Pro?
They will most likely regionalize the league. If anything it will help cut down the travel costs for teams like LA and Phoenix.
Maybe if there's no local team, a few new teams will be created, with each team taking players from a few different MLS teams. As another post notes, MLS teams don't currently have the rosters to form a whole second team. And while it sure indeedy-do would be a "nice start" to have a 30-team division 3 league (!), even if to start this is just a way to loan out a few players to get them a regular playing schedule, crapshoot coaching and all, it still seems like a better thing than to let them rot in the current setup. There's nothing right now saying the loans would have to be for the entire season. So you can have them in house for some time for your coaching, then send them out for a month or two for regular games, etc.
I suspect we will see 5 players designated to freely move between the senior team and the USL-Pro team, while the rest of the USL-Pro team is tied to the third division for the entire season. Although this leaves MLS squads without teams nearby being forced to finance the rest of the USL-Pro rosters themselves knowing that the players can't be moved to the MLS squad... (although if a USL exclusive players rights are still retained by the MLS team perhaps they will see value in it?)