New USL announced

Cincy has a new team...no name yet, and hopefully no involvement by the old owner.

 

Am I to understand the Blitzz will not be playing at all in any league for 2005?

As well as Milwuakee Wave United?

 

That's what it looks like.

No Utah, no west coast teams - makes sense.

 

I like the set up. good to see OT gone too.

But this is a great sentence to see

Mikey

 

I love it. Single table, balanced schedule, Commissioners Cup for regular season champions, and no overtime. You could say that the American soccer fans who would like to see American leagues structured more like Europe have the USL to follow now. Kind of a shame to see "A-league" go, but oh well. Its also nice to see Cincy getting back a club.

 

Nothing in it about the pro/rel rumor but:

Could that be a wink from Holt?

 

Here is smoe more promising news from the HQ

http://www.uslsoccer.com/home/86527.html

two advisory commities dealing with ownership issues and future franchises and a partnership with Premire Partnership in setting up coorprate sponorships.

Mikey

 

Almost all of this is good, positive development. Single table, round-robin play for the most part (although I have concerns about the travel costs being a burden for most clubs to comfortably absorb), no more overtime! Guess the only thing left to bitch about is the 3 games in 5 days roadtrips??

Isn't it ironic though that the division naming scheme is starting to look a lot like England now with MLS, USL 1, USL2 -- how long before the USL1 becomes the USL Championship Yeah I realize it doesn't mean the same with no pro/rel between the levels (yet -- if USL stabilizes I wouldn't be surprised to see it between USL1 and USL2), but it's an interesting comparison to me anyway.

 

Hopefully so. But at least it appears that new teams will be funnelled through the lower levels first, so we should see less of the Calgary/Edmonton type situations in USL1.

 

It appears at least one team wasn't in favor of this move. see this article from Richmond.

A-league gets new name, troubles

Linquist is quite a naysayer for those of you not familiar with his style and he tends to write his piece more as an editorial than a news peice.

Within the article, Richmond's president, Tom Depcrynski, says the single table would increase travel cost by $40,000 per year. Also at the end of the paragraph hints that Rochester might not have MLS asperations anymore.


Mikey

 

That Richmond newpaper article said that there were 30 teams in the A-League in 1999?!?! Can someone name them all or give me a link to it? For some reason, I don't remember there being 30 teams that year.... but maybe I was wrong.

 

i kind of like this idea of balancing schedule and playing extra games against ur regional rivals in single table. someone mentioned this already for MLS next year but it'll interesting how it works out for the "first divison"

 

1999

UNITED SOCCER LEAGUES, INC.

The scoring system was changed for all leagues as follows: 4 points
for a win, 2 points for a shootout win, 1 point for a shootout loss,
0 points for a loss, and 1 bonus point for scoring 3 or more goals in a game.

THE A-LEAGUE (Division 2)

Before the season, Pittsburgh, Maryland, Lehigh Valley, and Tennessee
were added. Indiana was promoted from the D3-Pro League.
Albuquerque moved to Sacramento. Raleigh became the Express.
Worcester moved to Boston.

GP W L SW SL GF GA BP Pts
Northeast Division
Rochester Rhinos 28 22 6 2 1 47 20 7 92
Staten Island Vipers 28 19 9 2 1 53 31 9 82
Long Island Rough Riders 28 18 10 3 0 57 44 8 74
Pittsburgh Riverdogs 28 16 12 1 1 63 43 9 72
Lehigh Valley Steam 28 15 13 2 1 42 44 6 63
Boston Bulldogs 28 12 16 0 6 49 36 8 61
Toronto Lynx 28 12 16 0 5 49 36 8 51
Connecticut Wolves 28 7 21 0 1 32 68 5 34

Atlantic Division
Hershey Wildcats 28 17 11 2 1 54 33 10 75
Richmond Kickers 28 17 11 3 1 51 44 6 69
Charleston Battery 28 15 13 3 2 43 39 6 62
Jacksonville Cyclones 28 13 15 1 1 51 61 9 59
Atlanta Silverbacks 28 15 13 1 1 51 61 9 59
Hampton Roads Mariners 28 15 13 5 2 45 41 5 57
Raleigh Express 28 11 17 2 2 32 50 5 47
Maryland Mania 28 3 25 1 1 16 85 2 13

Central Division
Minnesota Thunder 28 22 6 4 4 57 17 6 88
US Project 40 Select 28 17 11 2 0 44 46 4 66
New Orleans Storm 28 14 14 0 0 56 61 11 66
Indiana Blast 28 13 15 2 2 43 51 5 55
Milwaukee Rampage 28 13 15 2 1 44 49 5 54
Tennessee Rhythym 28 11 17 2 3 44 52 6 49
Cincinnati Riverhawks 28 7 21 2 3 45 71 7 34

Pacific Division
San Diego Flash 28 20 8 2 3 65 30 11 90
Vancouver 86ers 28 19 9 2 2 77 31 10 84
Seattle Sounders 28 19 9 3 1 56 36 10 81
Orange County Zodiac 28 17 11 4 3 59 49 10 73
El Paso Patriots 28 12 16 0 2 49 59 6 55
San Francisco Bay Seals 28 9 19 2 4 37 54 4 40
Sacramento Geckos 28 0 28 0 1 16 91 0 1

Conference Quarterfinals: Rochester defeated Lehigh Valley, 2-1.
San Diego defeated El Paso, 3-1
US Pro 40 defeated Vancouver, 3-1
Staten Island defeated Richmond, 3-2 (OT)
Hershey defeated Charleston, 3-2
Pittsburgh defeated Long Island, 4-3
Minnesota defeated New Orleans, 4-0
Seattle defeated Orange County, 6-3
Conference Semifinals: Hershey defeated Staten Island, 2-0, 2-0.
Rochester vs. Pittsburgh, 6-2, 0-1, 2-0
Minnesota defeated US Pro 40, 1-0, 2-0.
San Diego vs. Seattle, 6-0, 1-0
Conference Finals: Rochester defeated Hershey, 3-1.
Minnesota defeated San Diego 2-1.
CHAMPIONSHIP: Minnesota defeated Rochester 2-1.

After the season, Lehigh Valley, Maryland, Sacramento and Staten Island
folded. New Orleans and Jacksonville withdrew for 1 year.

 

Did New Orleans come back after 1999? I thought they died after that.

 

Probably because they don't want to drive the "Kickermobile" out west of the Mississippi

 

Wow, I actually remember all these team names, but I didn't know they were ALL in the A-League in 1999.

You wouldnt' happen to have the info on all D3 Pro and PDL teams from '99 would you? Just asking...

Thanks,
Marchetti

 

"...Rochester apparently has assured the USL it won't leave for Major League Soccer once the Rhinos' new, soccer-specific stadium is built."

Wow, that'll be a kick in the pants to those Rhino's fans who's answer to every disagreement on this board was to say "who cares about your stupid bush league, we'll be in MLS soon".

 

Lehigh Valley.... ahhh, the good ol' days.

 

What do you know about the Lehigh Valley? You didn't go to Lehigh, did you?

Sad that the A-League name is gone. I liked that.

 

Here is where I got that information from:

http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/usisl3.html

 

I like the changes. I also think the longer season, calendar wise (two weeks longer with playoffs starting the third week of September) might be a sign that the games won't be quite so bunched up next season...

 

It was stated in the Richmond newspaper article that this new system will increase travel costs by $40,000 a year.

Is this something the USL First Division can handle? Can each team squeeze out another $40k to be able to meet these "requirements?"

I have a gut feeling that this might be a bad decision...