The Aztexan

The 2006 hit "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley popped up in my iPod's shuffle today, and it struck me as a near-perfect fit for the mood of uncertainty facing 2nd division pro soccer in America this winter. A sort of theme song for the USL/TOA/NASL train-wreck, if you will.

You can listen along to the song in this YouTube video.

I remember when,
I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
But there was something so pleasant about that place
Even your emotions had an echo
In so much space

And when you're out there, without care
Yeah, I was out of touch
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much

Does that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Possibly...

And I hope that you are having
The time of your life
But think twice
That's my only advice

Come on now, who do you,
Who do you, who do you, who do you think you are?
Ha ha ha, bless your soul
You really think you're in control?

Well, I think you're crazy
I think you're crazy
I think you're crazy
Just like me

My heroes had the heart
To lose their lives out on a limb
And all I remember
Is thinking, I want to be like them

Ever since I was little
Ever since I was little it looked like fun
And it's no coincidence I've come...
And I can die when I'm done

But maybe I'm crazy
Maybe you're crazy
Maybe we're crazy
Probably...

Labels: deep thoughts, The League

The Cleveland City Stars are no more. I'd heard rumors that they might move back down to USL-2, but for some reason the league decided to pull the plug:

After months of negotiation and meetings, and in the midst of the conclusion of our sale, the USL decided to terminate our franchise just prior to Thanksgiving. This news came as a significant surprise to us given the nature of the process we were involved with up until that point. After much consideration and counsel the leadership of Cleveland City Stars decided to accept the leagues termination of our franchise and all implications thereof.

Well, there's another batch of second division soccer players on the market, including Gordon Kljestan (Sasha's big brother).

When I dug up my City Stars expansion team preview from the beginning of the year, I was struck by the fact that their "promotion" to USL-1 was announced on Dec. 5, 2008. If you take a look at your calendar, you'll see that's almost exactly one year ago.

By all accounts, Cleveland had been building a decent team in USL-2 up to that point. They won that league's title in 2008, in fact. But it was clear that the league rushed Cleveland's move to USL-1, to help make up for the Atlanta Silverbacks' sudden departure last November. Perhaps if head coach Martin Rennie had known they were going to move up, he wouldn't have taken the Carolina Railhawks job.

Whether it was the gap left by Rennie's departure, or just expansion-team growing pains, there's no argument that they struggled this season. As did the other expansion team, our Austin Aztex. 2009 was the first USL-1 season for the Aztex, though with the 2008 PDL season under its belt, the organization wasn't completely new. But even with some experience from their USL-2 and PDL campaigns, the two USL-1 sides wound up slugging it out for last place, as expansion teams are often expected to. Cleveland eventually claimed the bottom spot by just 2 points.

They were our fellow expansion team — our freshman classmates in the class of '09, if you will — so I'm sad to see them go.

Meanwhile, we're watching the USL/TOA/NASL/WTF drama unfold. Who knows what tomorrow, let alone next Spring, will bring. But as of now, here are some of the new teams which may be launched onto the front stage of 2nd-division U.S. soccer next year:

1. Atlanta Silverbacks — yes, there used to be a USL-1 team with that name, but what does their roster look like right now?


2. Crystal Palace Baltimore — moving up from USL-2, like Cleveland did


3. Tampa Bay Rowdies — brand new organization, despite the retro name


4. St. Louis — brand new team, not even a name yet; same owner as WPS's Athletica


5. FC New York — brand new organization (and rumored to already be in trouble)


6. Ottawa Fury — existing PDL team

And not only brand-new teams, but depending on how it all plays out, possibly a brand-new league, too.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking, and nothing is settled. (And you know no work gets done anywhere the last 2 weeks of the year.) My point is that this is all harder to pull off than it looks. Having meetings, making presentations, trademarking names and issuing press releases is the easy part.

Just ask the Cleveland City Stars.

Labels: deep thoughts, The League, USL-1

There's been lots of ink & pixels spilled about Thierry Henry's handball. Let me add to the clamor a little bit. I mean, why have a blog, if you can't spout off whenever you feel like it?

This Twohundredpercent piece, Trying To Dissect The Thierry Henry Handball, sums up the rational, measured response. His main point, repeated several times, boils down to: "to expect anything but win-at-all-costs behavior from a pro footballer is foolish". He dismissively summarizes it here:

So, there we go. Thierry Henry handled the ball and that decision may or may not have knocked Ireland out of the World Cup. He could have come clean but, hey, he’s a footballer. What he did is what they do if it gives them a chance of a result and it’s what they’ve been doing for years – for decades even beyond Diego Maradona. He could have apologised. He could even have refused to celebrate the goal, but the fact that he did neither is hardly a surprise, except to those in the media that had placed him upon a pedestal some years ago."

Fine, it's not a surprise. But you know what? It still sucks.

Forget pedestals for individual players. I don't care if it's "the aesthete’s footballer", as Twohundredpercent dubs Henry, or a neanderthal thug like Kyle Beckerman.

How about this. Here's a guideline for you. How about: all mega-rich global superstars, who earn their astoundingly pampered living playing a game with a ball at their feet, have to at least play by the damned rules.

So while I may not expect the star striker of the French national team to admit that his crucial goal in a World Cup qualifier should be disallowed, I can still be mad that he didn't. I'm a fan; that's my right. I'm a part, however infinitesimal, of the ridiculous spectacle that is 21st-century pro soccer.

And I think cheaters suck.

Labels: deep thoughts

The Wikimedia Foundation has kicked off their annual fundraising campaign:

Lots of people love Wikipedia, but surprisingly few know it’s run by a non-profit, the Wikimedia Foundation. The Wikimedia Foundation has just one purpose: to support the free and open sharing of knowledge. We don’t sell information and we don’t accept advertising. Your donation is what makes Wikipedia possible.

I have a simple guideline for subscribing, donating to, or otherwise financially supporting websites: if I'd really miss it if it went away, then I support it. Wikipedia is not just in that category, it defines it (no pun intended).

Think about it: Wikipedia is frickin' magic. The very idea of it is just crazy, really. Yet against all odds and every shred of common sense, it works. And not just works, but works fantastically. Wikipedia is a modern-day miracle, high-tech, yet human-powered.

I just donated to help keep Wikipedia running now and forever. I encourage you to do the same. And if you're hesitant to chip in, then I give you this challenge: for the next couple of weeks, the rest of November, keep count of how many times you reference Wikipedia. At the end of the month, look at that number, and consider again whether keeping Wikipedia running isn't worth a few bucks.

Labels: deep thoughts, media

I really enjoyed Chicago Red Stars' CEO Peter Wilt's post on Pitch Invasion the other day, Grading WPS in Year One. In it, he takes a hard look at 8 aspects of the just-finished inaugural season of Women's Professional Soccer. These include attendance, fan experience, marketing and operations, and quality of play. He also has an overall summary grade for "sustainability":

WPS will not “make it” in 2009, 2010 or 2011. “Making it” in this case is about sustainability and that merely requires keeping enough teams in existence for the League to be around for future generations. The League has not yet proven its business model operationally, but it has set a base line that allows adjustments to be made in order to work toward profitability much like MLS did in its early years.

I find this kind of analysis fascinating, because I'm interested in the business side of the American game as well as the play on the field. I was impressed by the thoroughness of Wilt (and presumably others at WPS) in analyzing their season.

Then I realized: that's the kind of stuff I want USL to pay attention to, but it doesn't seem to me like they've done nearly as well.

There are some significant differences between WPS and USL-1, to be sure. WPS is a brand-new league, with international superstars on every team, etc. But the attendance figures are similar, and from the standpoint that both leagues are laboring somewhat in the shadow of MLS (and EPL, FMF, et al.), there are surely some parallels.

Maybe the current USL-1 league and teams are all over these same issues, and I just don't know it. If nothing else, from my viewpoint as a fan, I don't feel like the marketing, the league-level branding, if you will, gets much attention at all.

All of which is simply to say, I hope that when the dust settles from the current USL/NuRock/TOA drama, somebody makes sure to address these kinds of issues at a league level.

Labels: deep thoughts, The League, USL-1, WPS

My, my. The drama we've had in the United Soccer Leagues in the last week is enough to support a new soap opera. Perhaps USLLive.com should branch out. Here's an episode guide, in case you're just catching up. It's a long story already, so get some popcorn and settle in.

First, we got the news that some outfit called "NuRock" had acquired United Soccer Leagues:

Rob Hoskins, Chairman of NuRock Soccer Holdings, commented, “Our vision for USL is to become the most competitive and profitable pyramid of soccer leagues in North America, while providing affordable family entertainment, and serving as the inspirational destination for professional and amateur youth soccer players in the U.S.”

Nike and Umbro will continue to support USL through a long-term sponsorship agreement naming Umbro as the official sponsor and exclusive supplier of match balls for USL’s professional and amateur leagues, including USL First Division, USL Second Division, Premier Development League and W-League. Nike Soccer will also serve as an exclusive sponsor for USL.

Well, that sounded nice enough. But it became immediately apparent that there was trouble with this deal. The blogs Major League Soccer Talk and Inside Minnesota Soccer were the first to provide some details:

We are aware that the sale to Nurock is a shock to many including some owners in the league. It’s widely known that Traffic FC along with a current USL-1 owners group made a bid for league but did not win that bid. However, that same owners group led by Aaron Davidson of Miami FC and Selby Wellman owner of the Carolina Railhawks, have been unhappy with Marcos and Executive VP of USL Tim Holt. We had been informed by multiple ownership sources, that Davidson and Wellman were working with another group who were in the due diligence stage after winning the bid from Nike. The other group who had reportedly won the bid was not either Nurock or Traffic.

They have since followed that breaking story with an in-depth 3-part history of events leading up to the current telenovela situation: "United Soccer Leagues at a Crossroads".

Part One: Building USL starts all the way back at the beginning, starring a former executive for the NASL's Tampa Bay Rowdies, Francisco Marcos.

Marcos founded the Southwest Indoor Soccer League (SISL) in 1986 which evolved into an outdoor league in 1989. Eventually, he created the first league that spanned North America since the old NASL. However, different from the NASL, this league created a pyramid system. This was something the Portuguese soccer executive understood from his connections to soccer in Europe. In time he built the league to include three levels of senior men’s play, the first national women’s league, (W-League) and the first competitive North American system of youth leagues (Super Y-League).

Part Two: The Struggle for Power covers Nike's purchase of the USL (via their purchase of league owner Umbro), last year's sudden team changes (the departure of the Atlanta Silverbacks and the "promotion" of the Cleveland City Stars), but most importantly, the formation of the Team Owners Association (TOA):

The TOA wanted a league that was team-owner controlled but were willing to negotiate with the league. The teams felt they needed more representation in the league office in decisions that directly affected the franchises.

The financial structure of the league was also in question by the team owners. They claimed the league did not share in the losses and held no accountability to the teams. The USL is structured in a way that teams pay a one-time franchise fee and then have yearly renewal fees. If a team was having financial trouble and would drop its franchise, the league would just repopulate and claim another franchise fee. Some owners were frustrated by this, as many USL teams lose hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. The annual operating expense for an average USL-1 team is between $1.5 million to $2 million. The long distances between USL-1 cities does not help with the cost of airfare and its said that most teams will spend more on travel expenses for one game than they will make in revenue in a home game. The average break even point for most teams is a home attendance of about 5,000.

Part Three: Negotiations Break Down details the groups and circumstances involved in the league's just-announced sale. It would seem that the TOA were on the verge of the takeover they sought, only to have it snatched away at the last moment:

When the dust settled, and the winning bidder was announced internally, it was Jeff Cooper’s group.

Cooper, a successful lawyer from St Louis, had twice attempted to bring MLS to a city whose history in the sport is second to none in this nation. As the owner of the St Louis Athletica, and a board member of English Football League club Brentford, Cooper had made an impact even without MLS. Now, Cooper appeared to have bagged his biggest prize of all: a league that consisted of over 600 clubs, professionals, amateurs and youth.

The TOA began working with Cooper, who had outbid their own efforts and found him to be on the same wavelength. With radical changes about to be made to the league under Cooper’s direction, a closing on the deal that appeared imminent was suddenly off.

Instead, Nike who had formally recognized Cooper as the high bidder shifted gears and awarded NuRock control of USL. This move, which was done legally but without properly notifying many owners, created a further rift with USL’s Tampa based leadership, which could be irreparable.

Meanwhile, the TOA made its appearance on the scene. Their first press release was a little veiled, if only due to the PR-speak.

Following extensive negotiations with USISL, Inc., the parent company of the United Soccer Leagues (USL), to restructure the USL First Division (USL-1) into a league owned and controlled by its teams, the Team Owners Association (TOA) today announced that it has accelerated its pursuit of all league options for the 2010 season and beyond. The TOA, led by the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, St. Louis Soccer United, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Vancouver Whitecaps, reached this decision following the announcement by Nike, Inc., the parent company of USISL, Inc., that it had concluded the sale of USL to a third-party (NuRock Soccer Holdings) which does not own a team in USL-1.

"Accelerated its pursuit of all league options for the 2010 season"? What does that mean? BigSoccer blogger Bill Archer took a stab at parsing the press release, along with his own view of the situation:

I don't know much about this NuRock Soccer outfit, beyond what we all can read in the usual cookie cutter corporate-speak press release. Maybe they're great guys.

Personally I agree with the TOA: it's time USL became a real league, owned and operated by and for the teams themselves which is, by the way, exactly how FIFA says it should be done.

As long as the interests of a third party are involved - be it an individual, a public corporation or a private partnership - then stuff like long term development and the good of the game are going to take a back seat to the bottom line. USL1 isn't a chain of muffler shops or fast food joints and it can't be run as if it was.

In the midst of the airing of all this dirty laundry, the league continued to press ahead. The new owners were already restructuring the league offices:

United Soccer Leagues announced Monday the restructuring of its executive management team following last week’s acquisition of USL by NuRock Soccer Holdings from Nike. NuRock’s Rob Hoskins will serve as Chairman with Alec Papadakis being named CEO. USL’s Tim Holt has been named President of the organization with founder Francisco Marcos transitioning to the position of President Emeritus and Senior Director of International Development.

... As Senior Director of International Development, Marcos will expand his recent efforts in the area of international relationships and partnerships as his primary role with the organization, utilizing his European background and residency as well as his numerous relationships with soccer leaders around the world to aid USL in its objectives to foster meaningful relationships between USL, its clubs and players with foreign clubs and organizations.

Back on the TOA side of the story, Montreal Impact president Joey Saputo didn't wait long to start spelling out exactly what the TOA has in mind:

Saputo said the teams, which include the Vancouver Whitecaps, can still reach agreement with NuRock to have more say in league operations, but if not, they are prepared to play a full schedule in 2010 in their own league.

..."We have no say on the type of owners coming in," he said. "No disrespect to (some) other owners, but they don't belong in this league. But we have no say. We find out at the last minute that teams are coming in, like the Cleveland Stars. It makes no sense. We want control of our destiny."

...He said starting a new league would cost about the same, as the teams are already in place [and that] other clubs are prepared to join a new league so it would have between eight and 12 clubs.

..."The league exists because of the teams, not because of the league," he added. "I think we have the power. We are united and finally, we've decided to take this strategy of looking at other options."

So there you have it. The TOA damn sure is threatening a breakaway league, no two ways about it. But then suddenly, news is out from the league that Ontario's Ottawa Fury want to move up from PDL to USL-1:

"Our application for a USL franchise, at this point in time, ensures that soccer specific elements will be incorporated into the stadium design to optimize the experience for soccer fans and players," said Jeff Hunt, an OSEG [Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group] partner.

Don't bother searching that story for the year the Fury would join the league; it's not in there. The Canadian Press story on Joey Saputo linked above, however, puts it at "likely 2012". Not even MLS is looking that far down the expansion road.

The TOA isn't wasting any time getting their word out. Next up was an interview with TOA spokesman and Railhawks owner Selby Wellman. In addition to saying that the non-TOA teams (including Austin, but neglecting to mention Puerto Rico) "[are] still with us and part of our group wanting to move the league forward", Wellman also made these statements:

So the [existing] league office, basically, is an administrative operation. Just keeping up with 710 teams, registration and all those kinds of things they do. They move paper. They’re not like most league offices where you have marketing people, public relations people who can promote your league, who can go out and get national sponsorships, who can go out and seek new owners and get franchises and things like that. They don’t have the skills and the resources to do that. That’s what we’re trying to fix. And if we had been successful at buying the whole league, that was what we were going to do. We were going to restructure the league office into a marketing organization, not just an administrative operation.

...It’s pretty frustrating as an owner, I can tell you this, to put a lot of money, which we’ve done, into our team, and have the attendance to be pretty much not acceptable to us, related to the perception of us being just minor league soccer. Then all of a sudden, you know, I bring New England [Revolution, of MLS] and whoever here, and my crowds will quadruple on me. So what that tells you is that we’re in the market here in Carolina. And by the way, my fellow owners around the league have experienced the same thing. We know we have markets, we know we’re good soccer markets, all right, and we know we play really strong professional soccer. So we’ve got to promote it. And the league has to do that, the league office, that’s a league office’s function.

...I would expect somewhere in the next 30 days or so they’ll start coming out to us, wanting us to recommit to play in 2010 in USL. If they don’t come to the table with us having the ability to control our league, we won’t play with them.

There you have it. It boils down to the same statement heard in heated playground fights the world over: "I'm gonna take my ball and go home!"

I hadn't seen anything specifically from or about the Aztex in all this, so I emailed owner Phil Rawlins for a comment. His reply makes it clear that the team's position is not on the TOA side:

The TOA does NOT represent all the USL-1 team owners, far from it, there are several teams and owners that have chosen not to participate in that group and Austin is one of those. For the most part the "shouting-match" that is now taking place through the media is a distraction from the important work of running a successful team in the League.

I welcome the change of ownership at USL and believe the new owners can bring business savvy and a passion for soccer that can help invigorate the League. I hope that all parties involved in these discussions will give the new owners a chance to prove themselves and share their plans before pre-judging them.

So that's it, the story so far. Volleys will surely continue from both sides. Personally, the fact that this civil war has exploded out into public is embarrassing. The members of this league, in this sport, in this country, at this time, can hardly afford to waste any time or energy on this kind of infighting. It's also attracting the entirely wrong kind of media attention. Somebody here is too greedy for money and/or power — honestly, they probably all are, but someone is outdoing everyone else — and they're jeopardizing the future of this essential component of American soccer.

Here's my bottom line. I'm a soccer fan, I want to watch soccer matches. Thanks to the Aztex, I've had that for 2 years now, without having to road-trip 4 hours to Pizza Hut Park. If this whole ruckus winds up interfering with that in any substantial way, I'll personally hunt down everyone involved and key their car. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch the Aztex-Whitecaps game on USLLive.com.

Labels: deep thoughts, The League, USL-1

I've been seeing a good deal of "USL vs. MLS" talk lately. Stuff like:

• "How does MLS get away with stealing USL's markets?"


• "If MLS is the top level league, why are they getting their butts kicked in the CONCACAF Champions League while USL teams are cruising through?"


• "How did a lowly USL-1 side like Charleston Battery almost knock off powerhouse DC United in the US Open Cup?"


• "What role did MLS expansion plans play in the demise of the Atlanta Silverbacks?"

If you're looking for answers, you've come to the right place. I'm here to give the definitive solution to the real question that underlies all these:

How should these two American leagues relate to each other?

But first, let's step back and get some perspective. A good place to start is the fine 3-part series PotomacSoccerWire.com ran recently: Thriving in the shadows: The survival, and success, of the United Soccer Leagues. That short introduction includes links to all 3 parts, which are worth reading in full.

Part I: DC United exes find greener pastures in Vancouver

"I think players-wise, there should be more loaning back and forth," [Vancouver Whitecap Jay Nolly] said. "At the end of the season MLS should be looking [at USL] — the USL players have a lot more experience than going and getting a guy out of college. I almost think the USL should be more of a feeder system than a lot of the college system."

... Another common view is that USL players are typically just biding their time before an opportunity to move up to MLS presents itself. But Nolly and Moose offer a striking contrast to that idea as well: both men are happy with the Whitecaps and eager to help the club defend its championship in 2009.

So here are two seemingly contradictory statements: "MLS should be more interested in recruiting experienced USL players" on the one hand, and "some USL players are perfectly content to play at that level indefinitely" on the other. But that's not contradictory, that's perfect. There is (or could be) a path for advancement to higher league play, but there's also an acceptable and satisfying level for those who don't follow that path.

Part II: Season of success cues bullish outlook

"MLS clearly approaches [the Open Cup & Champions League play] differently — 'we'll get by one way or the other,'" adds [USL President Francisco] Marcos. "But guess what? The difference isn't enough for them to be able to take that attitude. We go to those games like our life depends on it — our reputation, our credibility depends on it. The results speak for themselves."

Those results have added lots of fuel to the "USL vs. MLS" fires. But some of the conclusions jumped to don't stand up to scrutiny.

For one, it's the nature of these kinds of competitions, especially the Open Cup, to result in upsets. Look at England's Carling Cup: as of the 5th round, 3 of the 8 teams left are from the 2nd division, and European superpower Chelsea was eliminated by Burnley in the most recent round. But does anyone argue that the Championship rivals the Premiership? Of course not.

Secondly, as in every league in the world, there are disparities between the teams that dominate year after year and those that always seem to languish further down the table. That is, just because the a league's best teams do well, that doesn't necessarily mean the whole league would be competitive at a higher level.

Part III: MLS expansion leaves United Soccer Leagues wary

"They have named five out of seven markets for possible expansion that are our markets, three of which are our clubs themselves," said USL President Francisco Marcos in an interview last week. "Are we flattered by that? Yes. But we can't eat flattery. Are we happy about it? Absolutely not. Can we do a whole lot about it? Not a lot."

..."There's other things that we're going to be demanding because we don't just want to become just simply the feeder, the testers of MLS grounds such as Rochester, which didn't happen. Montreal, which may happen. Vancouver, which may happen. Portland, which may very well happen," he noted. "Places that MLS would have never thought about if we weren't there."

I have a lot of respect for Marcos and all he's done for soccer in the U.S., but I'm afraid he comes off as a bit of a whiner in this piece. He hints that the USL may already be hip to my Grand Theory (coming up here in another thousand words or so), but I wish he wouldn't play the poor victim. Though what do I know? Maybe the USL is indeed the poor victim, and they've been majorly screwed by Major League Soccer. Either way, I couldn't agree more that it isn't fair for MLS to take advantage of USL's work.

Okay, that does it for PotomacSoccer.com's series. Our last exhibit is this piece by Mitch Howard on Major League Soccer Talk, USL Needs to Compete Directly against MLS.

The United Soccer Leagues has been a doormat to the MLS for too long. They have allowed MLS to walk all over them. MLS has taken multiple cities from the USL to put into their league and have not suffered any kind of legal troubles or image issues.

... History shows that the USL should compete directly against MLS. In both the history of football and basketball in the U.S., leagues have merged and absorbed each other.

Howard is taking the dramatic viewpoint here, casting MLS as the villain and USL tied to the tracks, feebly crying for help. Yet despite this difference in power, his proposed solution is a merger similar to those of the American Football League and the American Basketball Association.

The first argument (and the only one needed, really) against the head-to-head league idea is that FIFA prohibits it. FIFA countries are simply not allowed to have competing first division leagues. It's as true today as it was in 1967, when the NPSL and USA merged to become the NASL.

But even apart from that, the arguments against such a competition are legion. Soccer is an international sport, while American football and basketball aren't (and were even less in the 1960s). Once upon a time, those sports could get away with competing leagues, for a while at least. They could tweak the rules, snipe players from each other, etc., and it was all in a kind of U.S.-only vacuum. With our modern soccer leagues already dying to woo fans of "real" soccer abroad, such tactics are unthinkable.

The other side of this international coin is that the U.S., in both national team competitions and the club-level transfer market, would be held back by such domestic squabbling and rivalry.

Which brings us, at long last, to the big answer to the big question: 42. No, wait, that's a different story. This big answer is: admit to and formalize USL's role as the minor league.

First, the admitting. For all the giant-killing USL teams have done this year, and for all the markets that MLS has stolen or wants to steal after being built up by the USL, it's clear that the USL is the minor league. Exhibit A in this claim is the recent crumpling of the Atlanta Silverbacks USL-1 team, as previously discussed. This is simply not the kind of thing that happens in major leagues. Teams may have financial trouble sometimes, but when do they ever simply pack up their ball and go home? And this isn't an isolated incident. There's been steady turmoil in the USL for years: the Richmond Kickers dropping from USL-1 to USL-2 in 2005; the Virginia Beach Mariners folding after the 2006 season; the California Victory's one and only season in 2007.

Exhibit B: compare and contrast the league final games in USL-1 and MLS. As I wrote at the time, the meeting of the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Puerto Rico Islanders in the USL-1 final was quite an understated affair. I couldn't even find a way to follow the game live, and I was actively looking for it.

Meanwhile we have the MLS Cup game tomorrow. It may not be the Super Bowl or the World Series, but it will be on network TV (ABC), it's covered in mainstream media outlets like USA Today, and their national sponsor, Volkswagen, has produced VW Road to MLS Cup, a series of event-specific commercials (which are pretty funny, imho). At the very least, the league has a dedicated section of their website for the match.

So, USL is the minor league. But despite what the word "minor" might do to one's ego, there is not a single thing wrong with that. In fact, it's an essential role in the American soccer ecosystem. Without USL, there are a lot of players who wouldn't be able to play league ball (i.e., with crowds and fans and everything). Without USL, MLS would have only colleges to draw from for young soccer talent in this country. And most importantly to me personally: without USL, Austin would never have a pro soccer team.

The next step is to formalize this situation, and eliminate the unfairness and friction that exist today. Both leagues benefit from the existence of the other far more than they threaten each other. That needs to be acknowledged and agreed to more explicitly. There are lots of ways that this could work; here are just a few ideas off the top of my head.

• MLS should augment its reserve and youth systems with USL teams


• Even if MLS teams don't directly partner with USL teams, their reserves or youth should compete with them
  


• MLS and USL should promote each other's games. Most Aztex fans I know also support either Houston Dynamo or FC Dallas. Why on earth don't all three teams' marketing departments leverage that?


• There should be, as Marcos mentioned, fair compensation to USL when MLS expands into one of their cities. If MLS cherry-picks the USL's best markets and drives USL out of business, it's going to hurt them, too.


• Movement of players between the leagues, such as the DC players in the PotomacSoccer.com article or the Red Bulls acquiring Mac Kandji from the Silverbacks, should be as easy. (In fact, this could be a lucrative deal for USL by itself)

Whew, okay, this post got a lot longer than I thought it would (congratulations on making it this far). I better wrap it up; here comes my inspirational conclusion.

Despite the perennial naysayers and their circa-1985 anti-soccer jibes, soccer is here to stay. It's not yet on the same level as baseball or basketball, and there are missteps and mistakes sometimes, but it's not going to disappear in a puff of smoke, either. There's still a lot of unrealized potential in the American sport, both within our borders, and on the world stage. The sooner Major League Soccer and the United Soccer Leagues acknowledge the realities and start working in concert, the better for everyone.

Labels: deep thoughts, media, MLS, USL-1