https://www.frontrowsoccer.com/2023...rOEbgMl5dYl4sjyPa9zK4YMNHIdnDDG33M1aigPw3I72g The United Soccer League has announced that Brooklyn, N.Y. and North Sixth Group have been awarded a USL League One franchise. The team will begin competing in 2025.
Is that really a reformed, moved Q FCC? If NYCFC is heading to Queens, a team in Brooklyn makes more sense and aren't there USL-1 teams possibly in Harlem and Central Jersey in the rumor department?
Austin Bold has folded instead of moving to Fort Worth. Rogers, AR, in the ridiculously quickly growing Northwest Arkansas metro area, will be fielding a team starting in 2026. https://www.uslchampionship.com/new...essional-soccer-landing-in-northwest-arkansas
------ Wow, so now we have NW Arkansas to go along with Northern Colorado , South Georgia , Rio Grande Valley. Really not sure with some of the market selection going on. These all scream "minor league"
NW Arkansas is the 100th biggest MSA in the US now. Population has grown over 250k since 2000 and was the 13th fastest growing metro between 2010-2019. Current population is over 576k. The region has 4 of the 10 biggest cities in the state and 2 more in the top 20. Rogers, the city where they're putting the team, has more than doubled in population since 2000. It's absolutely the right kind of place to try and break into for pro sports. Hopefully they'll come up with a better name than NW Arkansas.
Do you think USL League 1 needs to be in top 40 markets only? Just don't like the "regionality" of the names and want them to pick the largest city near them? USL League 1 is "minor league" if you want to compare it to the American Baseball structure (obviously they're not affiliates so it's drastically different but in theory, Division 3 is minor league).
-------------- These sound more like USL-1 or USL-2 names, not USL-C and definitely not MLS. Would have been fairly happy had soccer set up like baseball A>AA>AAA>MLB structure, but that ship sailed. MLS is doing their thing and USL is doing their thing and the disjointed nature of our soccer goes on. If they are going about things separate, I will give MLS credit for setting up a proper reserve league and academy. I am not sure USL has the deep enough pockets to do the same.
To be fair, South Georgia, Northern Colorado ARE USL-1 names ... and NW Arkansas is a placeholder, not a name. So I guess it's just Rio Grande Valley that you have issue with? I'm honestly hoping for more "regional" type of names ... specifically "Inland Empire". Don't limit yourself to catering to 1 smaller city when you can put your arms around a "region" when you're talking about populations of this size (which they should be at the USL-L1 level and potentially USL-C. Would it be great if USL-C were only in Top 50 markets? Sure, but that's not where we're at at his point in time. A minor league baseball structure would have sucked IMO. Independent soccer teams have much more of a reason to start academies than "MLS minor leagues". Some USL teams will have academies. There's no real reason they need reserve teams as the likely gap between a decently high level academy team is probably not far from a USL level (at least at this point in time).
As far as the RGV name goes, it's tough to pick a city name in that area because there are a bunch of them clustered together. Technically RGV plays in Edinburgh, but that would seem silly in Texas and probably need a descriptor for most people to have any idea where it is. Edinburg, McAllen, and Mission are all clumped together with no real borders between them, so RGV makes sense there. They're also seeing attendance climb each year now that they're not affiliated with Houston, and this year they're averaging 5063 per game while sitting 1 point out of a playoff position at the moment.
Completely agree, I have no issue with "regional" descriptions in team names. It is more inclusive and typically more "fun" than "City name FC".
Do lower-level teams really need academies? I don't see a problem with a farm system setup as it's something American fans are familiar with.
Louisville's academy has produced 4 players that have bene sold (2 to Europe), including Josh Wydner who just got sold for $1.2 million. At least at the USL Championship level it makes sense in a country that's the size of all of Europe. 30 MLS academies will miss a lot of solid to good players. Hidalgo is just a few miles south, but it's definitely part of that overall region.
Familiar sure, but I see nothing wrong with lower leagues staying independent as well. Teams certainly don't have to have an academy, but if they do, they'll keep the top local talent from going to nearby MLS teams potentially and like others have said, those players could be sold for pretty healthy profits as Europe is starting to recruit/buy up young American talent like never before.
------------- Glad to see attendance up. The few times I saw TV from there, didn't look like too many folks in the seats. You could then say if all teams were like this, not affiliated with anyone and they have to stand on their own, this is where you see owners having to do their best at operating their teams to keep them afloat. That is where pro-rel would sure show quickly, other than record on the field, the team chances of going up or down.
------- Agreed in the sense that FC or United is over used. if the regional name is cool/good etc. I would be for it. I guess just don't end up with a cheesy minor league baseball name like the Savannah Bananas
============== I should have clarified my comment about setting up like minor league baseball THAT is an expensive proposition if the parent team is helping the lower teams financially. That is partially confirmed by the changes minor league baseball as made in the last couple years. In fact, baseball probably really only needs AAA (guys very close to going to the big show) and maybe a AA where the guys have come out of college, walk on's etc. I think baseball with going on to A and rookie leagues has too many leagues. Thus and I am am spinning my thoughts again, that soccer, with divisions with pro -rel , forces teams to get better on the hope of "going up" and if it means having a reserve team and academy teams to do that , then good teams will. MLS is to set up to buy or develop their own players and after time on parent team, hopefully set for $$ Not necessarily the wrong set up at this point and time (better than our former retirement league status) It just would fun to see MLS operate in the pro-rel mentality as we all know we have motivated owners and some not so motivated.
The side you can see off the hard camera has those stupid field level suites. I think Houston had them build it that way to match their stadium. They've had 5k attendance in games where you can hardly see anyone unless there's a replay from the opposite side showing the main stand. It's a bafflingly bad setup for TV.
-------------- Amazing how that still happens. San Jose is sort of like that- seems that lower portion is never really full. In "my" stadium, the press boxes ,suites and luxury boxes are all "behind" the camera and I do everything possible to make the camera side look "full". Always liked DC United putting the supporters on the camera side.
Spokane has released their branding for their debut season in League One next year. https://www.uslleagueone.com/news_article/show/1279653 Welcome to Spokane Velocity FC.
Just curious, now that San Diego is folding, would there ever been any interest in expanding to either San Luis Obispo or Santa Barbara to take the Loyal’s place? Even though the majority of fans are college types, both areas support their NCAA teams very well. The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos especially are very popular and average over 3,800 fans per game. Cal Poly also draws very well and their rivalry against UCSB and sometimes draws over 12k. If Oakland or Monterey Bay can filed teams, I’m pretty sure fans would come out and support a USL team in those areas.