Well said Sue. I was about to bring that up. The PDL is not a professional league. It is against their rules to refer to themselves as professional. It is this way because of the NCAA eligibility rules, along with the fact that the PDL is a unique development league. The PDL can not go pro. Your typical PDL team pays around 2,500 dollars in player salaries. That's it. These franchises are around because most are financially viable. Throw in more travel, or more salaries, you are toast. What I see ultimately happening is that more clubs join USL in the lower leagues. The teams would grow a fan base and then make the move to the higher leagues. I think the main reason why there is a D3 is due to the fact that these teams can not afford to keep up with the A-League teams budgets. So there is a lower level league like D3. I am happy with the way the leagues currently are. Obviously it would be great if there were more teams in the A-League. We could say the same about MLS. It will be when people with the money can afford it and when the fans start filling stadiums, that we will see these leagues grow in size.
Current: MLS: 10 teams AL: 18 teams: 14 American, 4 Canadian D3: 18 teams, all American PDL: 47 teams: 45 (?) American, 2 (?) Canadian My vision: MLS: 16 AL: 16 American CUSL: 8 (CUSL or something resembling that in the Great White North); would play their interlocking-schedule idea with the AL D3: 8 to 10 if the league exists at all. It would be more of a "PDL+" than an "AL-" league. PDL: Any number will do, but 24-30 would help development in that players would have better competition every week. Each MLS team would have their primary affiliate in the AL, with their second affiliate in the D3 or PDL (their choice), with any youth teams they want in the SuperY-League. The D3 would have to have a lot of scheduling flexibility, playing against PDL, CUSL, or maybe even CUSL-second-division teams. But frankly, I do see their better teams merging into the AL and the weaker teams going to the PDL, eliminating the D3. The only reason I would see them survive is if there is a need for a pro league independent of the MLS feeder system.
My vision: MLS 24 teams (36 in 20 years) in 2 divisions (4 divisions for 36 teams) AL merged with D3 - 6 divisions, 8 teams each division (48 teams) PDL - 8 divisionsx8 teams (64 teams)
not having a rochester team and a toronto team in the same division is crazy, only 2 hours away. Rochester is closer to the midwest teams the the New England/NYC area team. Only 4-5 hours from Cleveland, Pittsburgh. Compared to NYC 7, Connecticut 7 and Boston 8.
The CUSL proposal is DOA. The A-League teams wouldn't go along with the idea. The only option acceptable would an independent league. That means no more Canadian teams in the A-League.
The CUSL proposal being dead has nothing to do with the A-League not going along with the idea, it never got that far along for them to say yes or no to the idea.
I wasn't talking in terms of 20 years, closer to 5 or 8 or 10, after MLS expands once or twice, the Canadians decide if they want their own league, and the D3 is decided upon. I see "my vision" (SJJ's) as do-able in six years. I don't know if "my vision" (soccer4ever's) will really come true in even 20 years: 84 pro teams?
You don't need 40K stadiums in all A-Leagues cities. A 7-10K stadium will do. But that's the footprint soccer needs in this country. Remember, this year more than 7 million attended a minor league baseball game and the season is not over yet! Every metro area should have an MLS team and every large city should have an A-League team.