What if UT-Austin bought Austin's USL team? Instead of running it like BYU's PDL team, what if they ran it like some other universities around the world ran their sports/football clubs as just full professional teams with players not being students? Examples include Pumas, Tigres, Universidad Catolica, and UCAM Murcia. I am putting this in this forum because it's not really USL specific, but more of a case of a team with issues being located in the same city as a major university. Legally speaking, would the club have to exist separately as an entity from the university to get around laws? Would having a USL team called the Texas Longhorns hurt or help their local fanbase? Could enough revenue be made to cover the costs within a reasonable amount (with the difference essentially being advertising costs for the university), especially with facilities presumably already in place? Assuming they broadcast games on Longhorn Network, how would that be dealt with financially? Would the general public accept or not accept such an arrangement since it is so different from what we are used to in this country? This idea is admittedly quite out there, but it leads to some other fun hypotheticals. How about other possible USL-College pairings like Atlanta United branding a USL affiliate as the Georgia Bulldogs or FC Dallas partnering with TCU? It also makes me wonder what could have been if University of Phoenix had opted to buy a team for advertising purposes when teams were cheaper and that type of school was in more favor. In other adaptations of club models from other countries, I wonder how much outrage there would be if a local government decided to copy the format of current Turkish league leaders Istanbul Basaksehir and basically fund a team with tax dollars that pretty much has no fans other than municipal employees who did not have existing team allegiances (which in Turkey is a very small number).
I don't think schools would want to eliminate their NCAA teams for the sake of replacing them with USL teams. USL teams play during the summer when schools are closed or only have summer classes. I also don't know if the NCAA would allow schools to operate professional teams.
On paper the idea is sound, specifically in that there is already a built in fan base and color scheme to market and sell to in order to grow a Men's lower tier soccer program. However, the Athletic Department at UT would probably want their cut and at the least find a way to have their say in running the program if their colors and brand are being used. To this end, then one must find a way to have them be interested but let a third party grow the soccer side of the business to get things correct.
Title 9 is probably an obstacle. Can't even look like they are trying to fund a team that skirts those laws.
How are PDL teams professional? On the original question, one rule you will run into is the NCAA D-I rule that only five players from the same NCAA team can play on the same summer-league team. You won't be able to use the same squad for the college season and summer. And why would other players want to say, "I play for college X for the NCAA season and for college Y for the summer season?"
I know PDL teams aren't professional, but the first question of the topic asks about Austin's USL club, and I thought that referred to a USL club that wasn't a USL PDL club.
Yes, I was referring to an actual pro USL club and not a PDL club. Obviously we already know what would happen if a school owned a PDL club. Do you think that the NCAA would care or have jurisdiction on this matter? I admit that I haven't read all their bylaws, but I doubt this sort of thing would be covered. I specifically chose a school that has no men's soccer team. If it were widely successful, I could see other people taking notice, but if it just broke even or was approximately advertising cost, it might not be a big deal. Austin is a unique case because it's bigger than many other college communities and the existing USL club can't field a team right now.