(you're still here) You do know most EFL clubs do not turn a profit and have occurring debt? That's with an open system. Such a worthwhile system to invest it without identifying the risks involved. What does pro/rel solve then?
MLS 26 teams USL Championship 35 teams USL League 1 12 teams NISA 8 teams USL League 2 85 teams NPSL 96 teams UPSL 300 teams
The only one that has done this thus far is TFC II, likely because they wouldn’t have been able to play in Championship anymore anyway. I’m assuming you mean 30 independent teams here. Personally, I think USL can’t wait to prioritize L1: the MLS reserve league rumors would absolutely destroy L1 and they have got to figure out how to reduce the footprint for league. Whether that’s convincing the western reserves teams to drop (which would have an effect on the Championship) or just cut Tucson free and focus on the Eastern and Central time zones, I don’t know (NISA is going to have to answer this question at some point, too). At least they have that option, being D3. What I don’t think they have is time, though. They have one team that has any real following (although we will have to see how Omaha looks next year), so if things don’t start to improve you may see more investors ready to cut their losses. The problem with the “D3 market for the D3 league” strategy, is that the wells are much shallower to draw from. I totally cannot see this happening, but then I have failed to predict lots of things.
Defunct independent teams since 2015 MLS: 0 USL Championship: 2* USL League 1: 1 +2 MLS teams folded their reserve teams and Ottawa were forced to leave USL by CONCACAF.
I’ve been on this thread longer than you’ve had an account here, I have no idea what your point is. Yes. Nobody said anything about it being profitable. We said it encourages investment.
4 have folded. Rochester doesn’t count until they actually come back. 2015 is a little disingenuous here.
What? What's beyond USL? NISA? They're doing their own thing. Summer leagues for collegiate players like NPSL don't count. Amateur leagues? Ha! Ah, more condescending remarks. Need evidence from this, rather than speculative claim. I'm sure investors who are currently investing in professional soccer here would love to see their work devalued by the risk of relegation. Surely no lawsuits will come from this.
So tell me what your reasoning was for your surprise that I “was still here”. There is nothing “condescending” about swatting away whatever you were trying to establish there. This is a strawman. There is no shortage of investment in open systems, but nobody is coming to take away anybody’s territorial rights here.
Here’s the thing, we have no idea what the franchisees are saying to Edwards when he talks about the leagues considering pro/rel, but the way their system is structured, I’m not entirely sure they could do much about it anyway.
Probably, but USL is the only soccer organization that can manage multiple professional/semi-professional leagues at once. I'm always skeptical in their PR language just as if MLS or NISA said the same thing. I rather want them to build up their D3 league first though.
Didn't professional baseball had a form of promotion/relegation way, way back in the 1870s? Ultimately, the system was proven to be unstable so The Powers That Be (the founders of the NL) decided that in order for the game to prosper, the league should be a closed league model. That model got trickled down to NBA, NFL and NHL with league mergers.
To be clear, I seriously doubt USL will ever introduce pro/rel, unless the league saw an opportunity to make more money from it (or they need a way to differentiate themselves somehow). My point was more that the way the league works and their strong incumbency position wouldn’t give the clubs much leverage if the league tried to go through with it. NISA is a somewhat different beast in that regard, given that they have been open about wanting to expand enough for pro/rel from the start (which, to be clear, they have a looong way to get to) and the openness of the league/lack of expansion fees means clubs are free to leave if they don’t like it. CPL is similarly setting the expectation of pro/rel from the get go, although they also have a long way to go.
It looks like Oakland are definitely moving from NISA to the USL Championship next season. https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Report-Oakland-Roots-moving-to-USL-Championships-15546968.php
I guess if UPSL was brought into alignment with USL you could have promotion only between the USL Pro Premier and USL League One.
How is NISA PR speak any different than USL's? They are struggling to get 8 teams in order, dude. The league's survival is dependent on whether or not some of these makeshift, at times incompetent teams can stand on two legs or else the well-ran sides move on to USL. NISA won't ever, with their lack of transparency, promise Stumptown Athletic can or can't ever play again. That's not how their model works. Pretty questionable business model you have there.
Jake Edward's, USL President on pro/rel: “I think there’s a realistic possibility [of promotion and relegation],” Edwards said. “The sport is evolving, the sport is changing. What is considered normal now might not be correct in a couple of seasons’ time. How we’re approaching that, and I get asked the question all the time, is the launch of our second league, League One. A lot of focus and attention needs to go into building that league up over a short period of time. But we’ve got to get the right owners in League One, the right stadiums and infrastructure. We’ve got to make sure the quality on the field is at a good standard. You have to create parity as much as you can between the two divisions. Of course, the Championship will be different from League One in many respects, but it can’t be obscenely different.” https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/01/14/usl-jake-edwards-future-expansion-promotion-relegation I think we're in the wrong thread.
Their 100% going to be there. The thing I’m interested in seeing is if they can build a stadium. If they manage that, they’ll be in great shape to join the MLS at some point.
Location is important too. They’ll want to be downtown not just the outskirts of the city. They’d likely want to build a redevelopment of the area to generate additional income and that location would be tough to try and revive. I know they made a pass at some of the coliseum lot which is 100 acres but lost out to a group willing to buy the entire lot. That would be the best bet if they could manage to strike a deal for a piece of that lot. Tho I think the best bet is where they currently are at Laney. If they could strike a deal to build a stadium there it’s in a perfect location. Just don’t know if that’s actually possible.
USL already has League Two in this space? Also, UPSL was just bought. I don’t disagree with you at all about the fact that NISA is far from the point of having anywhere enough teams to consider pro/rel. It is an open and public aspiration of the league, which is fundamentally different than those that spent the expansion fee for MLS or USL-C being asked how they feel about their respective leagues implementing pro/rel. So, yes, NISA has a LOT of work to handle the logistics of pro/rel (realistically I would think that it would require about 40 teams, which I have a really hard time seeing NISA getting to in my lifetime), but they don’t have to sell the club owners on it, because that’s what they’re buying into. Agreed. Right league though! Whoa whoa whoa let’s pump the brakes a bit here. They have joined more leagues than they have wins at this point.