anything that removes red ink improves the balance sheet. the USL discontinued their W League a couple of years ago I think...my guess is that they realized that the WPSL had beat them at their own game.
I was told once that the PDL is a high-margin thing for them: Many franchises paying decent money without a commensurate drain on resources. They have a good thing going with the PDL. Selling it might not be a great business decision. Have they to this point? You know USL had a D2 league from 1997-2009, right? The W-League died in part because the NWSL did not. Shutting down the W-League made good business sense. It had shrunk to the point where it was no longer truly viable. The shutdown very likely had zero to do with a consolidation looking toward D2 and a lot to do with the fact it was just not worth having around.
Which players are they going to use in the spring/fall season, exactly, when the bulk of these guys in these leagues are NCAA players? Also, cooperation is not exactly something that has come easily to disparate parts of the soccer community here.
I'd say the environment now and decisions the USSF looks to be making (evaluating all NASL and USL clubs per rumors) shouldn't be compared to decisions made in 2009 or earlier. Different times could lead to different decisions.
Completely agree with the last part and most of my comments come from a "pie in the sky/optimistic view" ... and the understanding that it's not likely to happen. I actually don't know the ratio of NCAA players vs graduating/post graduate players. I thought it might be in the neighborhood of 70/30 ... which may fit with the ratio of teams that would want to run a longer season (30% of the total of NPSL/PDL/ASL/PLA). Maybe that 30% doesn't work geographically, maybe it does. I don't know.
Thanks ... I honestly didn't know. Trying to make sense of USL/NPSL discussions and NPSL "big expansion" nonsense. If USL makes money on PDL then it wouldn't make sense, but if it's a drain, I thought there might be something there. I could also see USL trying to piece together a D3 league with the best of the PDL/NPSL, and the few recent USL drop outs in an effort to show USSF that them getting D2 status wouldn't fill a "D3 void" or some bullcrap like that. Wouldn't expect it to be that successful, but who knows. NPSL likely wouldn't like giving up their highest financed/successful groups to help that effort unless something was in it for them (and I don't think the random PDL teams that wouldn't make the cut would be that attractive). Also ... I wonder how much weight PDL clubs have in any decisions USL as a "whole" makes. The league is owned by someone would somewhat could decide their fate. Is the NPSL similar in that way?
If rumors are to be somewhat believed. MLS USL NPSL meetings to discuss full season NPSL could essentially be USL (and by extension MLS) making sure they have a plan for any questions or issues USSF has with USL's D2 application. USSF doesn't like reserve teams in D2? MLS2 teams go to NPSL full season (which may be gunning for D3). USL independents not meeting standards (financial, stadium or otherwise)? Harrisburg, Wilmington, Austin ... start D3 NPSL in 2018. Rumors of FC Montreal leaving USL after 2017 to join CPL in 2018 (Toronto II and VWC2 could make similar moves). NPSL and PDL teams that may want full season but couldn't afford recent spike in USL expansion fees may have the option they want in a full season NPSL (which wouldn't have the recent spike in USL stadium requirements either). NPSL is given help by USL and MLS to operate a D3 while the NPSL teams that don't make that move slide over into the USL PDL. I don't know ... a lot of possibilities.
Honestly, the NPSL is more organized than the ASL at this point, but there cannot be more than eight D3-capable organizations in the whole enchilada. Seriously, folks, D3 is a big step up from where these amateur clubs are at the moment. Just bandying about the notion that the NPSL could go D3 or that a bunch of their clubs could is just silly. They're not capitalized sufficiently, they're not staffed sufficiently and they are too spread out to make it work. There simply are not enough clubs. Look, when USL retrenched with USL-2 in 2010, there were only six clubs and they were all in the Eastern Time Zone, from Pittsburgh down to Charleston. They had not had anybody west of the Mississippi since 2004. Without critical masses of teams in regions, these amateur teams going D3 is silly. Now, again, if USL leaves some clubs behind and creates a new D3, okay. But there can't be many of them and so I do not think it's terribly realistic. Who would it be, Harrisburg,Pittsburgh and....?
Don't get me wrong ... I completely agree with your post ... but I'm just speculating as to USL's potential thought process in "contingency plans" for things like the USSF saying "No reserve teams in D2" ... and the USL top independents saying, we want this and are willing to go at it alone (while having Carolina and possibly Jax as add ons when they get D2 sanctioning). So ... Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Wilmington, Austin (can start up again similar to the last round without USL's D2 stadium requirements?), 13 MLS2 teams (included Reno/RGVFC/others), 6 NPSL teams (you can pick), 6 PDL teams (you pick). That's saying no other USL clubs decide to stay in D3 (looking at you OC Blues), that's 29 teams for some regional play. Teams that have been looking to jump to USL now may be more apt to do that due to lower expansion fees and stadium requirements. That leaves 16 current USL clubs, with Nashville coming in and potential NASL defectors Carolina & Jacksonville). Throw in 1 club we don't know about or potentially Baltimore (from Wilmington's USL owners) and you're at 20 in D2. MLS2 teams stay in D3, affiliates come out of D3 and not D2 ... and USSF grants USL teams D2 status that they wanted. I'm not saying it's going to happen this way, but if you're USL (the league AND the independent top dogs) and are after D2 ... wouldn't you at least explore this potential contingency plan for if USSF doesn't like MLS2 teams in D2?
Kitsap Pumas leaving PDL, joining NPSL http://www.sounderatheart.com/2016/11/1/13492216/kitsap-pumas-leaving-pdl-joining-npsl Kitsap Soccer Club announced on Tuesday that they are leaving the Premier Development League (PDL) to join the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) ahead of the 2017 season. For their first year in the NPSL, they will revert to their full name, Kitsap Soccer Club (Kitsap SC). “We were a franchise of the PDL for eight years, and we had some good success there,” Waite added. “We would like to thank the PDL for providing us the platform to develop our club and brand, but we feel that at this point, membership in the NPSL is the best possible direction for the future success of our team.”
PDL winter meetings underway (the list of players in the penultimate paragraph seems to have been cut off): http://www.uslpdl.com/news_article/show/730567 (side joke: who will win the coveted "PDL Golden Scarf Award?") and a few articles on PDL players in the NCAA QF's (now SF's) http://www.uslpdl.com/news_article/show/730289 NCAA DI: Tournament Recap - Quarterfinals http://www.uslpdl.com/news_article/show/729484 Bucks Standout Dunwell Aiming for Second National Title in 2016 http://www.uslpdl.com/news_article/show/728799 PDL a 'Critical Component' to UNC's Success small college championships: http://www.uslpdl.com/news_article/show/730269
http://www.uslpdl.com/news_article/show/731577 NCAA DI: College Cup Preview 33 PDL players set to take part at College Cup in Houston, Texas
https://liroughriders.com/rough-riders-soccer-team-proposes-brentwood-stadium-for-sccc/ Long Island Rough Riders on Thursday offered to build Suffolk County Community College a 5,000-seat artificial turf soccer stadium at the school’s Brentwood campus for a new minor league franchise it wants to establish. Peter Zaratin, Rough Riders president, in a nearly half-hour presentation before college trustees proposed to build an $8 million to $10 million soccer complex at no cost to the college, in return for a 40-year lease in a public-private partnership. He added the team is willing to participate in an unspecified revenue-sharing arrangement for tickets, food and retail sales.
Saw that article on Twitter, but they took it down right away for some reason. Very impressive move for them, and love the tie in with the college
I think that some of Cosmos supporters think that the curious timing of this was basically a shot in their direction...maybe they didn't want any hard feelings?
Could be. Don't want to alienate potential supporters, though I am hearing some rumors now about supporters buying the Cosmos name
Sockers FC (Midland, TX) leave PDL for NPSL. Interesting move. Surely some financial savings in travel?
Maybe. They only had to make four road trips last year: at Albuquerque (2 games) at St. Louis (2 games) at Mississippi (2 games) at Oklahoma City Potential road games next year: In Texas San Antonio Dallas Houston McKinney Tyler Fort Worth Outside Texas Joplin Wichita Little Rock Shreveport Tulsa Teams in what will likely be their division played six road games last year. Depending on how it breaks, they might not have to leave the state of Texas. (Which, admittedly, is still a very large area.)
I believe the only regular season travel plans outside the state of Texas next season will be a two game Tyler/Shreveport road trip.