Thanks for repping, but any clues ? Are these teams really believing that USL is more stable, better competitive from the leagues they are moving from? My only issue with USL2 (PDL) is the short season and tie in with NCAA from an eligibility stand point. For that reason, the NPSL was a bit more expansive with the rosters For that reason alone, I would be NPSL above USL2 in the "pyramid" NPSL = USL2 PDL = USL 3 IF USSF would grant them actual level/league status. Then does UPSL become USL4 ? Not sure if their roster makeup is more similar to NPSL or PDL ? (not saying these leagues are becoming USL, was just numbering them for level status) -With MLS cutting down even more on the Super Draft, I think something will have to been done in the future about USL2. I think a whole league dedicated to allow a place for NCAA players to play needs to think about relevance. I think creating rules for a league, the rules should be modified for the player. In other words, if you are in college and then have the time to play USL1, USL 2 , NPLS or UPSL, as long as you are not getting "paid", you should simply be able to sign a contract to play even if not the whole year. May make for a coaching headache thought. Bottom line, at some point, MLS & USL academies are going to really produce the players and NCAA will become more and more non- relevant. If you happen to play NCAA, finish your degree and still have the love of soccer, then you simply need to go on try- out with any of these leagues. I am just not sure we need a league designed because of the NCAA odd rules. For that matter, maybe if NCAA woke up and designed their program more of a feeder (much in the same way NCAA football & basketball players seem to be prepped pretty well to jump to NFL & NBA, yet baseball and hockey players go into those sports minor league programs. That seems to be more like soccer. Sorry for the rambling thoughts, but our lower leagues and NCAA seems to be an area that cries out for some reorganization especially in light of growth of the academy programs at the pro level.
Yes. No question. Just look at the stability that USL has had for how many years now? Sure, there's always turmoil, because that's how USSF has made it happen. But, the issues in other leagues are major. In no way is NPSL better than USL2. UPSL is a collection of Sunday leagues. Not sure they can truly be lumped into anything. A couple teams are competitive, but that won't last long. They used to claim over 300 teams, now it's shown on Twitter that it's 250+. Which is it? Why not give a concrete number? Numbers aren't showing any of these academies are truly "producing." The other side, there's nothing wrong with alternative pathways. NCAA isn't going anywhere. People have claimed for years that NAIA will go away. They've claimed that high school sports will decline in favor of club/AAU. That's not happened. With over 323m people in the US, there will be many avenues to get anywhere. This is all to blame on USSF for not creating Division 4 through the bottom of the "pyramid." Want to see more organization? Create divisions for amateurs to be recognized and play in. It's not the NCAA's fault that USSF has failed for over 100 years. If anything is true, NCAA has kept amateur soccer afloat for over 60 years. Without them, there wouldn't be a true place for 40,000 (ish) players to play each year. ***shouldn't give NCAA all credit, some goes to NAIA, NJCAA, etc. for having other options
========================== Then kind of building on some of your comments, maybe we need 2 clearly defined pathways- amateur and professional- that are clearly defined. That way both sides of the system give players the option of their path. Amateur could be something like= MLS /\ USL1- USLC /\ UPSL- USL2 -NPSL /\ JC-NAIA-NCAA /\ High School /\ Youth Pro Side= USL-C or MLS /\ USL1 (could kind of act as U23 age bracket- more games at USL1 rather than USL2-NPSL etc) /\ Academies (MLS & USL-C teams if the have such programs) U18 U16 U14 U12 U10 U8 (or whatever age they want to start with) My other issue would be on the PRO side can if be organized like MLB & minor league baseball levels)
I mean those pathways are somewhat defined already. Club/HS > college OR pro...if one goes the college route, there's still potential pro opportunities. Now, it'd make much more sense if there was a unified pyramid to make things easier and the pathway identifiable. Instead of having rival leagues in multiple divisions (i.e., NISA and USL1). Everything would flow through a promotion/relegation system of teams and players having upward mobility. What's not clear is everything BEFORE the amateur routes. No one can sift through which club is best. All these club leagues and systems make no sense. Everyone wants to claim they're the "best" but no one plays each other. It's all a bunch of random letters thrown together as a league or affiliation. It's not about playing.
--------------- If your referring to the youth piece I agree. You've got a whole pile of stuff. AYSO, USYSA, Police Athletic leagues, church leagues, city leagues, ethnic leagues, free to play, pay to play. It no wonder its confusing to players, parents and even those in the soccer world. Now if MLS & USL-C teams were out scouting all of these leagues, they could then move the player over to their respective academy team (maybe too simplistic) Not sure how big the scouting systems are or is there reliance on tryouts and tournaments to scout? Or at this point , do we need to worry about the lower youth situation until we get some of the issues on the upper end of the pyramid sorted out?
Keeping tabs on USL League Two teams who are not playing in 2020 due to COVID-19. Asheville City SC Lane United FC TSS Rovers Calgary Foothills FC Portland Timbers U23 Eastside FC TFA Williamette West Virginia Alliance FC The whole Northwest Division made the announcement together (Lane down to TFA).
Keeping tabs on USL League Two teams who are not playing in 2020 due to COVID-19. Asheville City SC Lane United FC TSS Rovers Calgary Foothills FC Portland Timbers U23 Eastside FC TFA Williamette West Virginia Alliance FC St. Louis Lions Peoria City (new club, push start to 2021) Thunder Bay Chill FC Manitoba (formerly WSA Winnipeg) Thunder Bay and FC Manitoba's decision is coming from the expected travel restrictions from Canada to US.
I have a feeling that the 2020 USL2 season is not going to happen. Normally the college players are doing guided offseason workouts right now, but obviously that isn't happening. It really looks like closures will be pushing into June and the league is scheduled to wrap up in mid-July to accommodate returning to college practices.
Well, normally, college players are deep into their spring seasons in between their play dates. We’ll be lucky to have any real action by mid-June in any sport. MLS may come back in mid-May with no fans present.
MLB is talking about 7 inning doubleheaders without fans in the available stadiums in the Phoenix area. There would be morning and evening games.
https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/202...season-cactus-grapefruit-leagues-universal-dh MLB has revised their proposal to include both spring training states, which would effectively create two "leagues" based on spring training locations rather than traditional alignments. The USL as a whole lacks this type of infrastructure. Does MLS even have anything on this level? While it is somewhat conceivable that a similar hobbled "league" of Championship and USL 1 teams could be hobbled together like this, I do not see a workable way to incorporate the amateur USL 2 teams. The lack of communication coming from teams and the league itself are also quite telling. I do not know about other teams, but the Des Moines Menace are usually great at providing updates, but not mention has been made of proposed start dates or how an adjusted schedule would work. Even our state athletic associations have been throwing out proposals for abbreviated spring and summer high school seasons (though, as a teacher, I don't think they will happen).
Well, no. Because they are amateur and cannot compete on the same schedule as the pro sides. The League put out a statement. What else are they supposed to do? The way that USL2 operates gives decent freedom in operations to each individual club. With the current situation, and it’s completely unknown, no one truly has any idea of what to do. MLS doesn’t know what to do, so why would an amateur league and clubs? Additionally, what’s the sense in planning multiple options (and going public) when everything could change in a day, week, or month? There is tons going on. It’s not always for the public to know.
I know and agree with all of that. I believe that the clubs that have announced that they will not be participating see this season as not happening, at least for USL2. The regular changes we are seeing to how COVID-19 is unfolding in the US is usually pushing back dates in which life could resume. MLB and MLS could probably run empty stadium games because of TV revenue, but even paid minor leagues will probably have no season this year. An abbreviated USL2 season barely makes sense as it is, but an abbreviated season in empty stadiums makes absolutely no sense. It's not like the league is a huge money maker in the best of times...
Depends on how you look at this. There's a variety of positives an abbreviated season can do: Gets college players back training, playing, and active ahead of their own college season Gets high school players back training, playing, and active ahead of their own fall HS season Allows for the fans to get back outside and socializing (as long as it's safe) Community pride, it's always a positive thing to rebound with the community rallying back together There's not been a coach I've talked to that doesn't want their players back at it this summer. Sure, there are some that have always been against it. But, with the super-abbreviated college spring season, the summer session had become more important than previous seasons. Absolutely no coaches are truly looking forward to a preseason in August (if it happens) with zero soccer being played since early March or late February.
I definitely agree with that, but from the USL2 owners' perspective, there is a cost-benefit trade off.
This is coming from USL2 owners too. They are just as much into all of those, as anyone else in soccer. No one truly gets into USL2 [insert - amateur soccer] for financial gain. If they do, they are wildly mislead.
Definitely agree. Krause, the Menace's owner (and soon-to-be USLC owner), has a genuine love for soccer.
Keeping tabs on USL League Two teams who are not playing in 2020 due to COVID-19. Asheville City SC Lane United FC TSS Rovers Calgary Foothills FC Portland Timbers U23 Eastside FC TFA Williamette West Virginia Alliance FC St. Louis Lions Peoria City (new club, push start to 2021) Thunder Bay Chill FC Manitoba (formerly WSA Winnipeg) Western Mass Pioneers Boston Bolts AC Connecticut Black Rock FC GPS Portland Phoenix Seacoast United Phantoms Thunder Bay and FC Manitoba's decision is coming from the expected travel restrictions from Canada to US.
Keeping tabs on USL League Two teams who are not playing in 2020 due to COVID-19. Asheville City SC Lane United FC TSS Rovers Calgary Foothills FC Portland Timbers U23 Eastside FC TFA Williamette West Virginia Alliance FC St. Louis Lions Peoria City (new club, push start to 2021) Thunder Bay Chill FC Manitoba (formerly WSA Winnipeg) Western Mass Pioneers Boston Bolts AC Connecticut Black Rock FC GPS Portland Phoenix Seacoast United Phantoms San Francisco City FC San Francisco Glens SC SoCal Seahorses FC Golden State Force Ventura County Fusion Santa Cruz Breakers FC
Related note 1: MLS has pushed its tentative start date to June 8. Related note 2: Even if MLB pushes forward with some variation of the Grapefruit/Cactus League plan, MiLB will not play this season. Minor league teams are dependent on gate revenue. Instead, some sort of practice/taxi squad will expand rosters for injuries and whatnot. All three USL divisions are in a similar situation. The most recent news on the Des Moines Menace website is from April 10, which was a week before our governor closed schools for the year (June 4 was scheduled to be the last day) and extended closures of "non-essential" businesses. Now that is down to four teams with St. Louis suspending. I don't see Chicago playing given the extremity of the COVID-19 spread there. That said, I've seen plenty of plates from each of those states passing through central Iowa as recently as yesterday...
I don't see most USL2 teams playing this summer. It may only be a matter of time before more come out with their official statements. While I could say "all" won't be playing, I don't want to jump that far yet. I guarantee there are numerous clubs that have yet to truly evaluate/discuss their situation with all the bodies they need to talk with. After speaking with some people, it's clear that some groups (not specifically USL2 only) have yet to even discuss with their venues, sponsors, players, etc. There's a lot going on for everyone, but thinking you'll play without even considering what your venue's timeline is...is shocking.
Most definitely. Last I knew, Drake is keeping its facilities closed through the summer. Des Moines schools' facilities are closed until at least August. Most of the suburbs are doing the same. I'd guess Krause is communicating, but with him working on a SSS, it has to be a delicate balance.
Keeping tabs on USL League Two teams who are not playing in 2020 due to COVID-19. Asheville City SC Lane United FC TSS Rovers Calgary Foothills FC Portland Timbers U23 Eastside FC TFA Williamette West Virginia Alliance FC St. Louis Lions Peoria City (new club, push start to 2021) Thunder Bay Chill FC Manitoba (formerly WSA Winnipeg) Western Mass Pioneers Boston Bolts AC Connecticut Black Rock FC GPS Portland Phoenix Seacoast United Phantoms San Francisco City FC San Francisco Glens SC SoCal Seahorses FC Golden State Force Ventura County Fusion Santa Cruz Breakers FC Cincinnati Dutch Lions FC