Well, that's not completely true. Our NPSL team has spoken with both leagues about moving up. No idea if/when the team would move, but there have been talks.
Personally I'd prefer NASL. And as an aside, if I were the Rochester Rhinos, they should fit that profile as well. Historically borderline market for MLS (not really anymore), solid SSS, medium sized market, team history, etc - if their owners put some work into that team, like some of the NASL teams, there could be a revival with that team/market, rather than being an afterthought USL Pro team. Sorry for the aside, but it's what I think about with Cleveland - be a little more ambitious.
I've seen less than that reported as "news" in NASL threads (*cough* LA *cough*). It's all subjective. Someone asked the question, any real answers are appropriate.
The real answer is...they must focus on sustainability right now before they think about MORE investment [that's not present].
Nor who really cares about NASL. Rochester was originally part of the TOA (the rebel syndicate that created NASL), but ultimately balked at joining NASL and stayed in USL Pro.
Actually, Rochester wasn't part of the original group. They jumped on board after the others had left, hence why they played in the USL half of the USSF D2 league that year. During that season, they jumped back to USL.
True-ish. Rochester was in with Puerto Rico, Portland and Austin (as well as Tampa Bay and Minnesota, who had defected) because somebody had to be. PR and Portland, of course, ended up in the NASL for 2011 (Portland was already halfway out the door). They had originally thrown in with the TOA folks in late November 2009, but then jumped back to USL between legs of the USSF2 finals that year. Puerto Rico had jumped a month and a half prior to that.
From no team to 10,000 seater soccer specific stadium out of the gate would be a pretty quick progression.
USL and HOK have that stadium development deal: http://www.contractdesign.com/news/...ch-Stadium-Development-Initiative-35672.shtml
I was answering the question about who is building stadiums by citing the USL has a stadium development partnership in place. The inference would be that if this is a USL team, and they are following the best practices of the league, HOK would be the likely candidate as the Cleveland stadium builder.
I have it from 100% trustworthy source that a group who is in the business of building stadiums has plans well underway to build a stadium in downtown Cleveland. This group is also building a stadium for Cincinnati FC so it may well be HOK I didnt know about them until the above post. A USL team is part of the plan for the stadium's use but that hasn't happened yet. However, I don't see that as a problem if you have a stadium since Cleveland has a very large soccer community. As you might expect there are other intended uses for the stadium.
Wonder if the rest of the rust belt derby will follow suit. I remember reading mention of them going up together, also in interviews regarding going pro with the buffalo organization there was no stated preference. If true it would be great for the USL to add potentially one (or maybe 3) independent teams. Perhaps LeBron is involved. Perhaps Columbus is looking for an affiliate/reserve team as well who knows at this point. All we really have to go on is the stadium rumour, which if memory serves me correctly, is usually not the best indicator, as those things always get complicated.