MLS launches new professional league

Why are they doing this??????

 

So this new league will be division 3 or 4? It will have zero fan interest.

 

Not sure if they will charge for admission. The point of the league is player development, not making money.

 

From the article on MLS's website: "...while also bringing ... soccer to cities that currently do not have a professional soccer team."

That sentence makes me think that they will be setting this up like a stand-alone league and selling tickets. If it was just going to be a development league, they'd play in the same city as the parent clubs. The ESPN article makes it sound like the MLS-based teams will stay home.

But if you have an independent team, why wouldn't you just join USL League One instead of the MLS development league? I'm sure the local fans would much rather watch games that count instead of glorified scrimmages.

 

- Easier travel in a 20+ team league that can regionalize its schedule unlike the current 12-team USL-L1 (which could become smaller if some or all of the MLS2 clubs in that league leave).
- Some potential independent clubs might be excluded from USL due to territorial rights.

 

That's irrelevant. It's about player development and access. Period.

You asked why they'd do this. It's because the USL/MLS agreement is terribly limiting when it comes to player development. Seven MLS teams own and operate USL sides, but can access very few of the players on those teams. That is, only a few players (3) on those USL teams can play in MLS. The rest are all under USL contracts. MLS teams can have only 30 players in their rosters. It doesn't do them much good if they own a USL team full of players not eligible to play in MLS.

Eventually MLS will announce what really matters here: the roster and budget rules associated with this new league. Many of the players who'll populate these "new" teams will already be on MLS rosters (i.e., current supplementary roster players). Additional slots will need to be created for there to be enough players to flesh out two rosters.

We'll know eventually, but I think it's a mistake to think of this as a new league. What it'll amount to is a larger roster of MLS players who will be eligible to play on the senior team, but about half of whom will play almost exclusively on the reserve team.

Again, MLS doesn't care about whether or not fans will buy tickets, nor should they. They want to provide a place for promising young talent being produced by MLS academies to continue to play together, all the while training at the same facility and coached under the same system as the senior team, and eventually see those players matriculate to the senior team. Ideally, some of these guys will get sold for big transfer fees. At least that's the idea.

For MLS, USL provides almost none of these benefits.

 

The only way MLS will make any type of profit from this league is if they end up increasing the amount of player sales to Europe. Outside of that the league will perennially operate at a financial loss

From a competition standpoint it isn’t beneficial for MLS to be in USL and either get worked every game in the Championship or dominate every game in USL1. They need their own league where the play and overall focus can solely be on player development and pathway management. USL teams don’t get much value out of MLS 2 teams either. It is better for USL to have independent clubs all solely focused on growing their brands and their league to be able to sustain a pro/rel model without moving teams into the MLS to become more Cinci’s

What I hope to not see happen is the elimination of u19 academy teams which would hurt the development of late bloomers like Brenden Aaronson and Richie Ledezma

 

I would imagine that is the long term goal. In addition to improving the quality of players that come into the league.

 

doesn't keep them from charging 20.00 bucks to see the matches

 

They most likely will be like academy matches which are free to attend. Only exception would be if there’s an independent team that charges for games

 

Or free for MLS senior side season ticket holders, which is common practice now among MLS teams that own USL sides.

 

I can't see Independent teams entering this league and pay a franchise fee.

 

Maybe not, though I don't know what kind of a fee we'd be talking about. USL charges expansion fees, too: $12m for USL-C, $2M for USL-1.

I just don't know what advantage being an independent team in what's basically an MLS reserve league would have over playing in USL.

 

There likely wouldn’t be a franchise fee or if there would it would be very small. This will be very different compared to MLS. The goal for this league is not performance/revenue it is development. The requirement and barriers for entry differ greatly because of this

Joining this league would resemble more of MLS Next than actual MLS

 

It's not just selling players. It's developing them for MLS.

 

There is still plenty of places in the US where there’s an interest in professional soccer but the needs aren’t being met for various reasons. Take my town for example—Fresno, CA. Sizable latino population, University discontinued men’s soccer program, well attended USL team left because couldn’t get stadium deal. Our options for soccer are a 2.5 plus hour drive for SJ Earthquakes, local junior college or high school games.

 

"In addition to providing more opportunities for MLS-caliber players, the new league will develop a diverse talent pool of coaches, referees and front office executives while also attracting fans who previously were unable to support a local club in their hometown."

That's what MLS is saying.
Its not just for player development even though that is a main factor.

They are going to use it for developing front office executives as well which indicates they will try to build up these teams beyond just a reserve league.

 

Central Valley Fuego start in USL1 next year.

 

How so? A reserve team needs a dedicated coaching staff. Obviously, their matches require refs. Front office execs, well, I suppose there needs to staff who manage that team’s operations. I’m sure MLS wants to field a professional product. In part because they want this to be seen as a desirable league for these young players to choose to play. I just don’t see how far MLS can ‘build up these teams’ in their home markets to be much more than reserve/developmental sides.

And that’s not a small thing. I can’t speak for other clubs, but I know the Crew intend on developing close ties with independent youth clubs from around the state. They want to offer coaching workshops to their staff. And they want the players on those teams to see the Crew academy and developmental team as their best opportunity to play pro soccer someday. So, sure, MLS clubs will pour some resources into these teams, but it’s overwhelmingly because they want to attract and develop young players.

 

I'm not sure the clubs are going to be in the same markets as the parent clubs, or, at least, not in the same city. While the announcement does mention the possibility of independent clubs joining the league, that's mentioned after they say they want to grow the sport in markets that don't currently don't have a professional soccer club. That seems to imply a model similar to minor league baseball. I don't know squat about the geography of Ohio, but in looking at minor league baseball, I see it has teams in Toledo, Dayton, Akron, and Lake County (as well as a team in Columbus, but we'll ignore that one). Dayton already has a USL League 2 club, but the other cities don't, so they may be a good target for placing a MiLS team.

 

It seems to me that the MLS owners have come to the conclusion that the USL is a poor fit for their goal of player development, and a dedicated affiliated minor league is a better choice for them, but not one where it's just the parent club's reserve squad playing in a nearby college field or such venue. A not-too-distant but still separate market, as one finds with a lot of the higher level affiliated Minor League Baseball teams seems a reasonable set up.