YNT-eligible lower-division pro players: 2018 In-season thread

The premise of USL D1 is basically that pro soccer is possible even at what I'll call "single-A" markets — the sort of towns that host single-A baseball, as well as some MLS2 teams. USL Championship is now oriented more towards AAA markets. There will probably be some exceptions on both sides. Tucson is a D2-sized market, for example.

If Statesboro is possible, lots of places are. USLD3 has been flirting with some places in Florida which are considerably larger than Statesboro (74k), like Lakeland and Fort Myers. Here are some places within ~4 hours of Orlando that seem to be at least D3-sized:

• Lakeland (686k)
• Fort Myers (739k)
• Daytona Beach (649k)
• Port St Lucie (473k)
• Jacksonville (1.5m) [likely a better fit for D2]
• Tallahassee (382k)
• Savannah (387k) [maybe too close to Statesboro?]
• Gainesville (285k)
• Ocala (354k)
• Palm Bay/Melbourne (589k)
• Naples (372k)

Not all these places will ever get clubs, but it's reasonable to think 4-5 might at some point.

Travel will be tougher in the Southwest, Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and Pac NW, I think, just because there isn't the density of metro areas. But California, the Southeast, Midwest, and Northeast all have a lot of potential for dense clusters of teams.

 

Did you ever publish this and if so, can we get a link?