The USL is set for a milestone vote on the adoption of a promotion and relegation system in its lower-division men’s soccer structure, sources briefed on the plans tell The Athletic. The sources, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the vote before it takes place, are optimistic the vote will be passed, but it is not considered a certainty.
Owners will vote on whether to proceed toward the new competitive structure at the USL’s board of governors meetings, set to take place Aug. 9-10 in Colorado Springs, Colo. If enacted, the USL would be the first open professional league system in modern U.S. soccer history.
The vote will not be on a specific and finalized framework for promotion and relegation, the sources said. Rather, the topic up for a vote will confirm whether ownership at the leagues’ clubs has enough collective interest to merit further work toward implementing an open system among the USL’s professional competitions.
A USL spokesperson declined to comment when reached by The Athletic.
The upcoming vote culminates work that publicly began in earnest at the USL’s 2021 mid-year meetings, when the organization formally proposed working toward incorporating promotion and relegation between its second-division Championship and third-division League One.
My understanding is that the pro/rel is only between USL1 and USLC, so my beloved Ballard FC wouldn’t be eligible for promotion. Kinda makes sense, though, since USL2 isn’t sanctioned and they only play for like, two and a half months a year, and can’t even pay real salaries, but it would whip if we made USLC!
Why do they only play for two and a half months a year?
My guess would be money
The league is mostly focused on filling the gap for college players between school years, so they only play in the summer. Ballard’s regular season this year was 5/21-7/16; if they make the final, they’ll play until early August. We had trouble in the playoffs last year because some of the players had to depart early to return to their college teams.
I would assume that as the league grows from this that they would eventually include USL2 and below.
Yeah USL2 isnt included in this, but there is going to be another division between USL1 and USLC probably consisting of teams from both the divisions. Maybe Ballard and a couple other USL2 teams will move up to make the third division, but that depends on if they meet the financial and stadium requirements
Up the Bridges!
But yes, I think that there may also be issues with the college eligibility of players if the league were a mix of professional and pre-professional players (?). I can’t imagine how it would work to include USL2. Though I think that Ballard FC could certainly generate the fan support needed. Would probably need to move out of Interbay, though …