It would be a lot easier to follow, and the A-League would be alot more fun to watch. What do you all think?
My big question is this: How would it be easier to follow.. You would have way too many teams in one massive league.. Or are you just talking D3 and A-League?
Plus how about the money? The letter of credit and the franchise fee are part of the things that keep lower teams from moving up anyway.
I think in the future USL has the potential of building itself into something huge..It will be a slow process that takes at least 10 years. But by then you will see an enormous amount of teams that play pretty much a regional based schedule. The big killer for budgets is the travel.. Most A-League teams could be really profitable if it weren't for the travel expenses. This is another thing that keeps D3 teams from making the move up. Same goes for PDL. But as these lower two leagues grow, so will A-League.
My concern is both the A-League and D3 will will have attrition and be forced to merge in order to have competition. It would be better to move that way now, save the teams money, and build up. Better to be pro-active, than re-active.
Division 1 - MLS Division 2 - A-League, D3 and PDL merged (8 divisions x 6 teams) Division 3 - Those teams from D3 and PDL that do not merge Having a larger Division II league would cut down on travel costs because each division would have more teams.
Right now, the A-League has 21 teams D3 has has 17 teams PDL has 45 teams A super A-League could be formed with 8 division x 8 teams (or 64 teams or at a minimum 6 divisionsx8 teams), with the remaining 19 (83-64) or 35 (86-48)teams forming a true Division III league. This would unify the grassroots soccer fans behind 1 league and would create the footprint soccer needs in the US to grow into a major sport. Any thoughts?
Sounds logical - won't happen. I think the original A-League teams will not agree as they still think that expensive travel is the way to go.
All metro areas should have an MLS team. All large cities should have an A-League team. Only then will have soccer arrived in the US.
There is a lot to be gained from a larger, well established league. Teams would have more leverage in negotiating stadium constructions, same for TV coverage, etc.
A-League has 18 teams D3 has 18 teams PDL has 47 teams The trick is our geography. Teams west of Mississippi: Calgary Storm EL Paso Seattle Sounders Vancouver Whitecaps Arizona Sahuaros California Gold Northern Nevada Aces San Diego Gauchos Utah Blitzz Portland Timbers Teams South of DC Atlanta Silverbacks Charleston Battery Charlotte Eagles Hampton Roads Carolina Dynamo Greenville Lions Northern VA Royals Wilmington Hammerheads Richmond Kickers Midwest Teams: Cincinnatti Indiana Milwaukee Minnesota Pittsburgh Toronto ? Reading (needs St Louis, something near Detroit, Cleveland) Eastern Montreal Rochester Connecticut Long Island New Hampshire New Jersey New York South Jersey Westchester Western Mass The Wasteland: New Orleans Houston San Antonio Birmingham Mobile Jackson, MS Memphis Nashville Jacksonville Orlando Tampa All used to have teams, but fled with merger and more expensive travel.
Preaching to the choir. The old A-League teams will have fears that the merger will de-value thei name. Of course the fact that only in 7 markets does "A-League" mean didly.
Sorry, my mistake. Even the 36-team A-League would be great. Some teams could be moved a little bit to have better geographical coverage.
Like all the other division winners, the Memphis PDL lost last weekend. Memphis has its good and bad points, the weather really stinks. I've just lived too many other places that have great weather compared to here. And yep I should not complain, since I live here by choice.
Good point, but it would require more teams. The best idea for each division to have 12 teams, playing a 22 game schedule (home and away) in 24 weeks. No back to back games allowed. Return to 3-1-0 for points. As for divisions: Far West - Southern- Atlantic (ACC area), Central, Northeast, and Pacific. We need teams in: San Francisco Sacremento Bring back Albequerque another in Los Angeles area. St Louis Louisville Bring up Des Moines okay I have to work now.
The PDL is an "officially-designated" ODP league, which means the NCAA looks the other way and college players are eligible to play with and against pros. Without the ability to field college players, most of those PDL teams would fold and the level of play would go in the crapper. I can see merging D3 and A-League, but there still needs to be a separate developmental league.