There was also mention there will be 11 teams in League One to start 2019. There are 8 now. I would guess Penn FC and Dallas FC "2" to be 2 of the teams based on the buzz heard about them. So that means there is one more possible unknown entrant to the league. I would guess we will hear more once the USL and MLS seasons end.
The PLS deal with "professional league standards." So, that has nothing to do with any amateur divisions that USSF may create. Do I think they will create an amateur division, no. I just simply stated they could. Let's go with a hypothetical situation in them looking at a creation of an amateur division. There's nothing that says there couldn't be multiple leagues in the "4th division." They can create a better standard than what already exists for some leagues (NPSL, UPSL, etc.). We all know the complaints that have existed within amateur leagues already, a 4th division could give more legitimacy to the amateur soccer in the country. A true "4th division" would also have direct impact on the USOC. USSF could structure it in a way that everyone knows what it takes to get into USOC, instead of this yearly changing of the qualifications/bids. Aside from USSF's decisions, USASA has been trying to push the amateur game forward with their own tiered structure, and possibly into a further identified "divisional" structure in USSF.
Right now, if you have so many teams, you just make it much more regional at the "League One" level and keep "League Two" the college/short season level.
Rumors of Lancing Ignite ... who I believe purchased Lancing United's "mens" team and Lancing United will still run/operate a women's team.
Losing a lot of money adding games to minor league teams with a league cup is enough without out adding even more games to even more minor league clubs with even bigger losses? Playoff games (and cup games) are usually worse attended than regular season games at minor and niche sports all over because games that are not on the magnet schedule are missed by the masses. People generally don't schedule time for niche/minor league games on short notice. Portland Thorns fans were stunned that their semifinal game was relatively light compared to regular games. It's not rocket science. The local media isn't pumping the public up with free publicity so fewer people know about games on short notice. Additionally, group sales are the big hook at minor league sports and you don't sell out the "party pavilion" on two week's notice. Most organizations that rent those for events do it months in advance. And another financial negative is that last minute travel is generally more expensive. And if you don't own/control your stadium, you have to pay another round of rent and salaries for people to man the stadium. And that's if it's available at all. So let's sum up: Cup games: Less attendance revenue Greater travel costs May have issues with stadium availability
The PDL or "USL League 2" should be seen for what it is, which is a summer league for college kids whose clubs are small-time outfits with extremely minimal infrastructure or money behind them. Because most PDL clubs couldn't possibly survive the expense of actually paying players, they will always be dependent on college guys. That means they are beholden to college schedules and will be a short summer league. The same is true for the NPSL as well. Yes, there are a couple of exceptions among the universe of PDL/NPSL clubs, but they are in the extreme minority. To use a baseball analogy, if USL D2 is AAA and USL D3 is AA, people always want to call the PDL advanced-A ball, when it's actually the Cape Cod League. These leagues are not professional and not close to being professional. There's no need to create a professional D4 category for a league that has no hope of being professional.
Any D4 leagues in the USA will be the analogous to baseball's Independent Leagues. Ex. MLB has the Minnesota Twins, Independent baseball has the St. Paul Saints. So MLS will have Minnesota United, Independent soccer would have Minneapolis City. Just a thought.
Independent baseball leagues are professional. PDL teams do not have the capacity to be professional.
This is inaccurate. There have been numerous PDL teams that have been classified as "professional" through the years. Any team can choose to operate as a professional club, but they are still in an amateur division. The division league designation matters. Amateur players can play AGAINST pros (opposite teams), amateurs cannot play WITH pros (same team). As long as the league designation is amateur, players can keep their amateur status, unless on a professional club. If the league designation is professional, players cannot keep amateur status.
I know about the PDL Pro experiment, which AFAIK was fairly quickly abandoned. Is there anybody in the PDL or NPSL right now who pays their players?
I'm not sure about PDL, but there are several NPSL clubs that "pay" their players. Not a lot, mind you, but mostly pocket change.
Our local UPSL team pays half of the room for their players but no salary. This may be a paradigm that some amateur teams follow in other leagues.
NPSL has a season max salary cap of $2500/player: basically $1K/month. At least that's what it was in 2016. Obviously, almost all are zero salary, room and board contracts. Many provide summer jobs coaching youth and academy camps.
I would have called you in the 90s when PDL started. It seems every year there's PDL/NPSL team(s) that pay. I do not know the PDL sides that are right now, that will probably be less than it's ever been. NPSL, on the other hand, definitely has more that will be paying. That's part of the reason there's such a bigger push for NPSL Pro. All of this doesn't matter. I was simply stating the facts in importance in designation of player, team, and league.
BREAKING: #10Investigates confirms @RaysBaseball purchasing @TampaBayRowdies. This gives #Rays control of not just the soccer team, but also Al Lang Stadium on #StPete's waterfront, which owner Stu Sternberg has always been a fan of: https://t.co/yT8wnBx5XR#SportsBiz #StPete pic.twitter.com/jjntzzDurh— Noah Pransky (@noahpransky) October 1, 2018
This is almost all true. Amateurs CAN play WITH players with "professional" designation (once a pro, you're a pro - I do not know if the "buy your amateur status back" thing still exists, but it probably does), just not if that/those professional player/s get paid. Example: guy who played in USL for a few years was obviously a pro, decides to turn out for the local PDL team to stay in shape and compete. He's got "professional" status from USSF. But he can play on an amateur team and NCAA players can play on that team. It's not the league so much as the team. (For all intents and purposes, you're not going to have an amateur team in a pro league, so it works that way, too.) But a professional team, according to NCAA 12.02.4, is "any organized team" that: (a) Provides any of its players more than actual and necessary expenses for participation on the team, except as otherwise permitted by NCAA legislation. Actual and necessary expenses are limited to the following, provided the value of these items is commensurate with the fair market value in the locality of the player(s) and is not excessive in nature: (Revised: 4/25/02 effective 8/1/02) (1) Meals directly tied to competition and practice held in preparation for such competition; (2) Lodging directly tied to competition and practice held in preparation for such competition; (3) Apparel, equipment and supplies; (4) Coaching and instruction; (5) Health/medical insurance; (6) Transportation (expenses to and from practice competition, cost of transportation from home to training/practice site at the beginning of the season and from training/practice site to home at the end of season); (7) Medical treatment and physical therapy; (8) Facility usage; (Revised: 4/24/03) (9) Entry fees; and (Revised: 4/24/03) (10) Other reasonable expenses; or (Adopted: 4/24/03, Revised: 10/28/04) (b) Declares itself to be professional (see Bylaw 12.2.3.2.4). (Revised: 8/8/02) (Emphasis mine on that last one.) And 12.1.2 says you lose your amateur status (and, thus, NCAA eligibility) if you play on a professional team, even if you don't get paid. Because a professional team pays (at least some of) its players or declares itself to be professional. As a side note, it's surprising how many NPSL teams' Twitter bios refer to themselves as "professional soccer" teams. If tweets are official White House statements, are they also official declarations?
I've always heard that. I have never been completely clear who they have been. I believe Kitsap was for at least a year. But I do not know exactly which PDL clubs in recent years have had that ethereal "PDL Pro" designation. As an aside (again), remember PDL Plus? Good times.