Club News
USL’s American Soccer Dream
USL made national headlines when they announced on February 13th, 2025, their plans to launch a Division One league, followed by the announcement of promotion/relegation on March 19th for the new Division One league, the Championship, and League One. If sanctioned by US Soccer, USL Division One would be of equal status to MLS and compete for the best major soccer league in the U.S. The implementation of promotion/relegation in the USL would become the first in the U.S. and test the question asked for many years, “would pro/rel work in the U.S.” USL HQ informed the public that they planned to have the inaugural season of Division One during the 2027-2028 season with promotion/relegation beginning in 2028.
Until November 3rd, with the announcement of Tony Scholes being hired as the President of the Division One, only three teams have applied for membership to the inaugural season of Division one: Louisville City, North Carolina FC (who announced at the time of the Scholes news that they would fold until the launch of Division One), and Pittsburgh Riverhounds. There has been a rapid expansion of teams in the already existing leagues since the two announcements. Teams joining League One are: Fort Lauderdale FC (2026 debut), New York Cosmos (2026 debut), Port St. Lucie SC (2027 debut), Sporting Cascades FC (2026 debut), and Rodeo FC (2027 debut). Fort Wayne FC and Sarasota Paradise would also be joining League One from League Two (2026 for both teams). For the Championship, Reno, NV will once again have a team planned for a 2027 debut. Along with those teams, USL is actively working to expand to other markets. The markets and partners they are looking at are Brevard County, FL (Space Coast Pro Soccer), Riverside, CA (Riverside Pro Soccer), Brownsville, TX (City of Brownsville), Winter Garden, FL (Central FL Pro Soccer), Santa Rosa, CA (City of Santa Rosa), and Pensacola, FL (City of Pensacola).
Along with these recently announced teams and partnerships, USL has teams joining the organization just in time for promotion/relegation that were announced prior to the February and March news. Starting with League One, these teams include: Corpus Christi FC (2026 debut) and Athletic Club Boise (2026 debut). As for the Championship, they will be adding Brooklyn FC (2026 debut), Sporting Jax (2026 debut), Atlético Dallas (2027 debut), Milwaukee Pro Soccer (TBD), USL Pro Iowa (TBD), Buffalo Pro Soccer (TBD), and Ozark United FC (2027 debut), while Santa Barbara Sky FC (2027 debut) would replace Memphis 901 FC.
Other than that, news on the Division One and promotion/relegation had been quiet until USL snatched Tony Scholes from the English Premier League. Tony Scholes will be the President of Division and help with the implementation of promotion/relegation. Scholes served as the chief football officer of the EPL and will join USL at the end of the EPL season. As of November 15, 2025, USL Division One has not been sanctioned as a division one league by US Soccer. The hiring of Scholes indicates that they are confident this new league will get approved or they have already been told it will, behind closed doors. The fact that we have not heard news on what the promotion/relegation format would be, and Scholes task would be to help implement it could mean that USL has not come to a decision on one. Since we do not have any ideas on what the format could be, I want to provide a possible option that they could go with.
One of the biggest questions people have had since the USL announced promotion/relegation was how they would tie it to the playoffs. There is an option they could do, but it would result in only having one playoff. USL would have a playoff for Division One, but they would eliminate the concept for the Championship and League One. It might not be the most popular idea here in the U.S., but the main goal for the lower leagues is to get promoted, not to win a trophy. They would retain the league title for those two leagues with the winner being the team with the most points at the end of the season, just like how it is in the European leagues. The purpose is to create fairness for the top performing team(s) in the two lower leagues and reduce confusion. If there is a need for a playoff format, they could adopt the format the Bundesliga uses where the 16th best team in the first division and the 3rd best in the second division face-off in a two-leg match to see who would be in the first division the following season. The other option is the Championship concept, where the teams who finished 3rd through 6th in the table compete in a promotion playoff. The semi-finals are two-leg matches while the final is a single-leg match. The winner is promoted to the EPL. The execution of promotion/relegation must be done perfectly to retain fans, gain fans, prevent confusion, and be entertaining.
USL already has a division one league with their women’s Super League, who is competing against the NWSL. Currently, the S League has only nine teams (Brooklyn FC, Carolina Ascent FC, Dallas Trinity FC, DC Power FC, Ft. Lauderdale United FC, Lexington FC, Spokane Zephyr FC, Sporting Jax, and Tampa Bay Sun FC) to the NSWL’s 14 teams (3 teams in the works). The Super League will be adding an additional nine teams (Athletic Club Boise, New York Cosmos, Ozark United FC, Buffalo Pro Soccer, Chattanooga Red Wolves FC, Forward Madison FC, Indy Eleven, Oakland Soul SC, and USL Palm Beach) with all but three to have their inaugural season to be determined. What makes the S League unique from the rest of the soccer leagues in the U.S. is that they use a fall-summer schedule. Competing against a top five women’s league in the world is a tall ask, but it shows the ambitions of USL.
They are also willing to take risks by voting to pass promotion/relegation for the men’s league and have a fall-summer schedule for the S League. If the S League schedule format proves successful, it stands to reason that they would move the men’s leagues to the same schedule. It would also avoid the organization from having to fight MLS for viewership when the leagues are in play, especially when they launch a direct rival and are at their most ambitious point in their history. The same can be done for the S League if promotion/relegation is successful for the men. USL can start establishing lower women’s leagues and introduce promotion/relegation to the women’s game here in the U.S.
Many would say USL still stands no chance at competing against MLS, even with promotion/relegation and having a division one league. That is the case when you look at the quality of the players is finance, but that is the reason why the USL made these decisions based on the reports prior to the announcements and afterwards. Promotion/relegation and the introduction of a division one league could see an increase in investors. We are already seeing that with the likes of Gio Reyna joining Fort Lauderdale as an investor, BellTower Partners investing into USL, Sofia Huerta and Kasey Keller joining the Athletic Club Boise ownership group, and the Chickasaw Nation becoming an investor of the OKC for Soccer just this year alone. Then there is the expansion fee for MLS, MLS Next Pro, and the USL leagues. MLS charges an astounding $500 million! Yes, the money is used to construct a proper stadium, acquire players, etc., but at this point it will discourage many from purchasing a franchise license. MLS currently only has two leagues and one of them is advertised as a development league to prepare for MLS. The expansion fee for an independent team to join MLS Next Pro is unknown, but Sports Business Journal reported in 2024 that it is significantly cheaper than the USL Championship. The fee to join the USL Championship is $20 million while League One is only $5 million. These two fees are significantly lower than MLS and that will be more appealing to potential owners, but unlike the MLS fee, it is not enough for a stadium, training grounds, and players. As for what the fee is to join USL Division One, that is unknown at the moment.
I highly recommend reading the ESPN article by Jeff Carlisle titled “Will USL’s Move to Pro-Rel Change U.S. Soccer, Threaten MLS?” In there, Carlisle discusses the reasons behind the decision and that it is mostly financial. For example, a USL spokesperson said they expect to see an increase in commercial revenue by 15% to 30% due to promotion/relegation. Also, the former owner of San Diego Loyal lost $40 million in 4 seasons. As for the reaction from MLS, we have not heard one yet. The only possible reaction we have seen from them is what the former MLS Next Pro president, Charles Altchek, told to Backheeled back on March 6th, 2025. In the interview, he told them they aim to have 40 to 50 teams and a possible second league with one of the MLS Next Pro leagues being a second division, putting it in direct competition with USL Championship. The biggest question is, whichever league that is, can compete for fans? Due to the Apple TV deal, we currently do not have the ratings of MLS Next Pro. The closest idea we have is the attendance, which is 5,580 for USL Championship per match to MLS Next Pro’s 3,361, according to Transfermarkt. Unlike the attendance, the viewership for USLC is much higher where the season premiere match had 453,000 viewers. MLS Next Pro’s massive expansion plan announcement date was either a coincidence, or MLS got word USL’s promotion/relegation implementation with the division one news, and this was their response. I will let you come to your own decision.
It seems, as of right now, it appears MLS will sit back and wait to see how the USL’s Division One and promotion/relegation will play. Division One and promotion/relegation will either be successful for USL and lead them to the financial success they are hoping for or lead to the possible collapse of USL. American sports fans are not the only ones keeping their eyes on USL now, but the rest of the soccer world is after their two massive news. The coming years are going to be exciting times for American soccer!