USL on Reddit @USLonReddit 1h1 hour ago https://ift.tt/2Nnd3ts #USL Orlando City SC is “in the final phases” of relaunching OCB as a USL Division III club in 2019.
This is actually kind of my point. I don't think a "small market" school can grow its fanbase in any meaningful way (outside alumni and the local area) except by competing for national championships. The University of Miami had no national following to speak of prior to the 80's and a modestly sized private university isn't exactly going to cultivate a huge fan base naturally unless they go on a run like the Hurricanes did. But that costs a lot of money that I'm having a hard time picturing these former FCS schools shelling out. Miami at least had a large local population to draw from (albeit unreliable), which Boone and Statesboro can't exactly fall back on. I don't disagree with this at all, but it also doesn't exactly contradict my statement. I am glad that leagues are vetting ownership groups more now than in the past, which means that we will hopefully see much more stability, but the map isn't exactly flush with professional soccer teams, yet. I do hope that endeavors like USL D3 can provide a more sustainable model that would make investors see a better ROI than, say, a boat or a ponzi scheme or a burning dumpster to place their money. That would make a huge difference.
The team is beyond dookie this season, so I don't know how they'll fare against even weaker opposition. Plus, I don't know how expenses will be in USL 3, so maybe this is just so Toronto FC has a reserve team that doesn't embarrass itself nightly (though they did draw with FC Cincinnati, although that's an indictment of Cincy having an awful night). Dunno why they can't just shut down the reserve squad like Vancouver and Montreal did and, say, prop up Rochester as an affiliate squad.
If a whole lot of reserve squads move down to D3 would it be that different from D2, currently? Although it begs the question of how this is any better than the old, lamented reserve league.
The whole D2/D3 designations are worthless. There's not THAT much of a gap in any of the "divisions" anyway. Look at what USL did after NASL shutdown, they yanked up the players and then that shoved many USL players out of the system altogether. But, of course having the 2/B teams are valuable AND different than a regular "reserve league." More teams is always a good thing for US soccer. Limiting travel is a HUGE benefit to budgets, local rivalries, and again roster numbers.
Not sure I agree with this: the divisions do provide a baseline as to what level of investment is required and the USOC seems to highlight the gaps between the divisions. For sure, the distinction between NASL as D2 and USL as D3 was blurry, but that was an unusual situation where both leagues were intended to fill the same spot in the pyramid, even though neither of them apparently actually belonged there. I doubt this line will be nearly so indistinct with both divisions under the same roof and therefore not competing with one another.
Nipun Chopra, PhD @NipunChopra7 41m41 minutes ago Retweeted USLD3 OCSC-2 next, bringing # of teams to 6. At one point, I was hearing rumors that Brazilian legend Kaka would be head coach of OCSC-2, but, I was never able to confirm them. I'm glad we will have a D3 league in 2019!
Going to need to start announcing a whole lot of new teams very soon to make starting in 2019 viable. Whole idea is to have several teams in small geographic areas to limit travel and cost. At this point Madison and TFC2 will have to play each other 17 times for the conference crown.
USLD3 said there will several announcements this month. They are looking at 12 to 18 teams and 2 conferences for 2019.
I don't understand why there's such a resistance to pro/rel in the US. Can someone help me understand?
Do not plunge this thread into yet another pro-rel discussion on BigSoccer. There are thousands and thousands of posts on this topic elsewhere on this forum. Go read them.
What's the baseline? Spend money and get nothing in return from USSF or even your league. Franchise fees are arbitrary. Anyone can charge anything, that has nothing to do with the division. Any D2 can pay what they want and spend what they want. Any D3 can do the same. There's not much difference in what FC Cincinnati or Tampa is spending now compared to what they were in D3 (a year ago). Choose any small budget team, and it's the same situation.
Ottawa Fury = USL (check) Ottawa Fury moving to CPL (check) Others actually like knowing about the details, you don't like it, just ignore me