I like it. Will put pressure on MLS's super expensive fees. Sacramento, Louisville, Indianapolis, Detroit, Pheonix, San Antonio, Pittsburgh, Las Vegas. A lot of big cities don't have an MLS team. They can build really nice stadiums to fit 15-20k people. Add in other big cities with new franchises: Cleveland, Oklahoma City, San Bernardino, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Memphis, Buffalo, Omaha.
That doesn't say it's implementing pro/rel. It says USL intends to start a D1 league with pro/rel as a "long-term goal."
I can't read the NY Times article. But USL's announcement makes no reference to promotion and relegation. It only says that they will be starting a D1 league in 2027-2028 (which hints that they will have a Fall-Spring schedule). I'm assuming they'll call it USL-Premier League. https://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/1331372 Pro/rel is possible, but USL has had that possibility ever since they added USL-L1 below USL-C. The biggest issue for USL right now is going to be meeting the PLS requirements. I would expect USSF to give them waivers, but getting the 15k seat stadiums is going to be hard for USL-PL. Not many teams in USL have the attendance to support a 15k stadium. Of course, given enough time and money that could change.
The addition of Pro/Rel to the new USL D1 division appears to be well-received by soccer enthusiasts. Due to their financial stability, certain MLS and USL owners have previously expressed distaste for Pro/Rel. Imagine spending many millions of dollars on youth development, soccer stadiums, USL fees, and other expenses just to be demoted and lose your D1 team status. From a fan's perspective, Pro/Rel appears appealing, but from a commercial one, it is illogical. Like MLS, USL will pay attention to and care for its owners. People will say USL should add Pro/Rel down the line. Owners will have the same issue "financial stability". As money increases owners will want to have more financial stability. USL could become the new MLS. USL has to add Pro/Rel at day one if not, they will not add it.
USL should add pro/rel, it would really be a brand differentiator. But they won't. Big fail. Missed opportunity. They cannot beat MLS head to head. They need a twist. Just look at San Diego.
I'm gonna start a new soccer league that is pro/rel. But it will be a soccer derivative. Prob 7v7. No goalie.
Sure seems like Pro-Rel is in their plans. Clearly not going to be easy but that appears to be the goal. Interesting tidbits in here. Says that pro-rel would be more of a regular season thing and that they would keep the post season and playoffs to decide the league title. Hints that they might target the US players that play or would play in MLS, the ones that are not the super high wage earners. Says that relegation might not be quite as punitive as it is in Europe because more money would be generated locally rather than huge TV contracts and that this would be the case even for the first division teams. Also says that calendar change would not be implemented, at least right away.
Hasn't that always been the plan for the USL championship? First, the goal he said was to "stabilize the league" Which I can assume Pro/Rel will not help with that. That could take 10,20, or 30 years. How many owners will be willing to do Pro/Rel at that point? What can USL offer that MLS can't? No Pro/Rel (At the start), same calendar. Maybe a different location. There's still going to be an expansion fee Leagues need good TV rights. If you asked me, I would see the USL Primer League (If that's the name) as a mini-MLS until they do something big.
Intriguing idea but not sure how they are going to pull it off unless there is an offset from MLS. Either a different schedule or, pro/rel or something else that is going to make them more appealing because it's going to be hard to outspend and out draw the long established MLS clubs. Unless they have an Uncle Moneybags.
But USL has lots of teams. And could easily allow other 3rd / 4th tier leagues to come under the fold.
Dominate is a strong word. Sure, they'll dominate within their small insular echo chamber. Social media at large though? I find it interesting that when they are presented with legitimate questions they go silent. Just ask them what they mean by "investment" when they proclaim that pro/rel will open the floodgates of people investing in the game....... Most of these folks who rage on social media don't go beyond surface level observations when they make their "analysis."
But people who hate MLS just hate to hate on it. They don't support other domestic leagues. They won't be able to claim that the quality is better either as it will be below MLS too. Quality is another factor (legit reason IMO) many don't want to watch MLS. So it will be worse with USL in that regard. They'll just be loud in social media as they are now. That won't be sufficient to get USL better TV deals which is what will be needed to televise USL D1, D2 and D3 games. Putting USL behind a "paywall" shouldn't be an option either (although it's the only way all games can be carried by one provider) because it should be free to the public so everyone can see it.
There was a small group of Cosmos fans who seemed absolutely convinced that the NASL had higher-quality play than MLS, even though many of the best players in the league were players who had washed out of MLS. I still remember that one guy making the assertion here that the NASL had far better referees than MLS, whereupon I looked up the NASL referee assignments for that week and found that four of the six referees had worked MLS games within the previous two weeks. So, yes, there will be some insisting that the USL has better quality. It's not nearly enough people to sustain a league, though. And there probably won't be nearly as many as there were for the NASL, simply because the USL doesn't have the New York Cosmos.
Well, at least we'll now have a proper experiment into whether pro/rel will unlock exponential growth of soccer in the US. I'm assuming the pro/rel will not include USL-2 teams tho. It'll just be between USL-P, USL-C, and USL-1.
That's the standard the prolies have set tho. They don't accept the incremental increases that have happened under MLS and USL up to this point.
I think there are lots of open questions regarding how much success USL will be able to have, but I see this as a really positive move for the sport in the country. I think there's great potential in removing barriers to clubs participating in the professional soccer system. It could really foster the growth of smaller local clubs and any increases there would feed the system at higher levels too. Or we could find out that the appetite for the sport just still isn't big enough. But at any rate. MLS will definitely be incentivized to raise salaries to fend off the competition from the new USL first division. But also there will be a little bit more pressure to make big moves because - whether you support pro-rel or not, this is exciting stuff and it's going to generate buzz for USL.