I'm not sure if they have to re-apply every year or what. I'm sure USSF will discuss adherence to standards annually, given the escalators in them. But I'm not sure we'll have drama every year.
Agree. Especially if we get through another year without off the field drama and with all teams intact. There should be no question about sanctioning from now on. Thankfully. Now let's get down to business!
Maybe not the place, but when do Div 3 standards get handed down? How come it's only D2 that has to get approval from Soccer House? (Just muckraking a bit.)
I'm sure there are some kind of guidelines to be a pro league now, but it's nothing as public and as comprehensive as the D2 standards we all know about. Who knows, but with the NASL now fully sanctioned and (hopefully) on the way to long term stability, it's more likely that at some point in the next few years they turn their eyes to D3.
This will only be the second year under these standards, and while it's nice that they're sanctioned this year, my inclination is to give it another couple years. It's far from certain that the NASL is stable. I wouldn't expect the USSF to worry about D3 until after D2 is stable. Yeah, it would be nice if the Fed could do more than five things at once, but I don't think they're capable of that yet.
Jesus, again with this. There are certain standards that are applicable to all professional leagues. USL Pro meets them. USL Pro also meets or is very near meeting most of the D2 standards. Not all, but most. The ones pertaining to market size and (very likely, though we don't have the actual numbers) owner capitalization are where they're behind. Not that you should realistically expect a D3 league to fully meet all of a D2 league's standards. But the "When are the D3 standards coming out? When are they going to hold USL's feet to the fire?" meme has nothing whatsoever to do with people actually wanting the third division to be shaped up; it has to do with people who wouldn't have given the third division two seconds of thought until 12 months ago being vindictive about the war. The war is over. We move forward.
Kenn, I agree with you. The war is over. I also agree that I would not have really followed D3 soccer a few years ago if it weren't for the nasty split. I've been a fan of the Rhinos for 15 years and now follow D3 because that's the leaue they are in. While I hope they do move back to D2 at some point in the future, I won't stop rooting for the team if they don't. I'm going to move forward, I just hope the NASL & USL folks move forward too. The animosity between these groups needs to end and I'm not sure that it has. Also, as far as USL Pro needing to go through sanctioning - they had sanctioning as a D3 league granted years ago. Previously it was called USL-2 and they just changed the name. The league has to submit an annual report which the USSF reviews and approves/denies each year. This is the same process the NASL will go through now they are sanctioned.
Yup. I think there ought to be D3 standards like there are D2 standards. I think there will be, within a few years. And I think they will be standards which USL Pro in its current form meets already. Yup. There is nothing good for the game in maintaining any animosity between the two leagues, or their fans.
so when will the USLpro be compelled to stop describing themselves as "the highest level of play in the U.S. below MLS"? As it is false advertising, they should cut it out. just muckraking a bit
It took over 15 years for USSF to move on to D2 minimums after setting the bar for D1. I think it will be in USSFs best interest to hold off and let things at the D2/D3 level shake out for a number of years before moving on.
Except they don't say that. Trust me, I had enough issues with the boilerplate as written, but "the highest level of play in the U.S. below MLS" is not what they say.
Yeah, but with the lower divisions established enough that the bar for D3 is probably one that will already be met, I'd expect that to be able to happen quicker. Not next year levels of quicker, but within the decade seems like a reasonable guess. (And the fact that such a thing is even a possibility is a very good indicator for how far soccer has come.)
It's semantics: different words but the intent is the same. "USL PRO is the strongest, most experienced and best operated pro league below MLS in the United States." Link
Most experienced is true - they've been running a league for longer than anybody else in minor-league soccer. Best operated, I would rather vehemently take issue with, but it's a debatable point. But strongest? That's the part where they claim to be a de facto second division. And, of course, given when they started saying it, we know it's meant as a snipe at NASL, which is not good for the sport.
That's one version of it (and said in an interview), but that's not the boilerplate language, exactly. This is: "USL Pro is the strongest, most sophisticated and most experienced North American men’s professional soccer league below MLS, both on and off the field." "Strongest" and "most sophisticated" are terms that you can't even really define, much less pin down to determine if they're true or not. What makes a "strong" league? What makes a "sophisticated" league? What makes one league stronger or more sophisticated than another? "Experienced," I don't think there's a question on. But "highest level of play" has a specific meaning, one that's not open to interpretation and one that's not just semantics. If we can find someone saying USL Pro has the "highest level of play" below MLS, fine. But I haven't seen it. Also, everyone knows my horse in the race on this because they know who I am and what I do. If only that were the case for everybody.
So, expound on that. You might have to deal with both leagues regularly to see how one operates better than another, but ask yourself which one has more infrastructure, which one has more staff, which one is on TV, which one has a better PR apparatus, etc. Then you could very well look at which one has had more teams that have been disasters and that would be a fair point. Wow, that's a leap. I guess whatever side of the aisle one's allegiances lie, that's how you interpret everything. You can't have a de facto second division when you have an actual second division already. Oh, there's no question it's meant as a differentiator in a sales pitch scenario.
Ok so how can we determine "highest level of play" when some of you think USOC doesn't prove anything.
You take a poll? How about the number of threads comparing your league to the EPL and/or other top leagues in the world? I will start NASL is top 11 league in the world!
