Ah, @newtex, thanks for thelink. I was busy and it would have taken me a while to find that. In any case, USSF changed the stadium size rules. It's down to 5,000 seats. Wankers. So when it benefits USL, we'll change the rules, but for NASL we have to jack everything up. Pretty lousy of them. This change does help both leagues, which is nice. And, I did think the stadium size requirements were a bit much. But I'd think 8K or 10K would be reasonable. This is on page 7 of that doc. Also, still 75% of the teams must play in cities of 750K or more. So the MLS-2 teams will all meet that requirement. Whatever, both leagues will operate in 2017. If we're to believe NASL, they'll have more expansion teams in 2018. We'll see, but I wish them well.
The USSF did not lower the stadium size for Division 2. These are the standards before the change in 2014. You can tell because it has the old time zone requirements. It was always 5,000 for D2. When did the USSF change the rules to benefit the USL? There were D2 standards established in 2011 that the USL could not meet so they dropped down to D3. Then in 2014 the USSF made the D2 standards a little tougher in terms of geographic spread. The USL now thinks they are very close to meeting them so they applied to get that designation. I'm confused by your statement "And, I did think the stadium size requirements were a bit much. But I'd think 8K or 10K would be reasonable. ". So you think the size requirements are too much but you want them to be higher? I don't get that.
I was curious about the 750k pop requirement so I looked it up. Only 4 of USLs 30 teams don't meet the requirement if you count the CSA or the MSA that the city pulls from. Charleston is 6k shy, Lehigh Valley is 10k shy, Colorado Springs is 56k shy and only Reno is the standout at 325 shy. The ones who I expected to be close or just under; Rochester, Rio Grand Valley and Harrisburg are all over 1m.
Conceptual advantage for D2 • higher level of play • more prestige • more access to advertisers • open cup play Actual advantage for D3 • lower player and coach salary Actual advantage for USL • lower travel cost because there are more teams, which is usually associated with lower divisions related to the original question but more league based than division based and that is: Is there a difference between USL ownership vs NASL ownership business model wise?