NASL: USL breakaway & list

The second tier of North American soccer appears to be headed for a split. The USL, a league admired by many MLS hyper critics because it is not MLS and for no other reason, has driven its owners to divorce through its own incompetence.

You've got a break away league consisting of;
Montreal
Vancouver
Minnesota
Carolina
Miami
a revived Atlanta
and new franchises in St. Louis & Tampa


Lenarduzzi today confirmed to the CBC that the break was now imminent


Charleston, Austin, Rochester, Puerto Rico, Portland, & Cleveland appear to be sticking in with the USL for the time being.

Its all being reported by the highly venerable insidemnsoccer.com which is run by an all around nice guy, Fulham supporter, and as it turns out crack reporter.

If you have any interest in the USL and its imminent dispersal I recommend listening to this podcast of interview with said nice guy, Fulham supporter, and crack reporter (its starts a few minutes in);
http://www.rffootball.com/2009/10/21/in ... -quarstad/

http://www.insidemnsoccer.com/

 

RE: USL breakaway imminent

We(Carolina Railhawk Fans) are watching this very closely in the triangle. Whether they form their own league, or become an offshoot of MLS (MLS2 sounds nice), I'll be happy if there's football in the triangle and better marketing of the league, compared to USL.

 

RE: USL breakaway imminent

Thanks for the info Spencer, ever faithful defender, i will have a listen. When Cleveland was in USL 2 things were great. Great atmosphere, exciting games, we finished second the 1st year and 1st the second year in existence. Then Seattle became an MLS team so Cleveland was invited to move up to USL - div 1 and now I hardly know they exitst. Something is wrong.

 

Re: RE: USL breakaway imminent

Theres some info on that in there. The USL put heavy pressure on Cleveland to move up contrary to the better interests of the club. Team ownership is also culpable for agreeing to do it of course.

The disturbing element to USL is their reliance on expansion fees for revenue at 750k a pop combined with their lack of effort to assist the clubs in any way. The turnover in franchises down the years is remarkable.

 

USL Breakaway Official

Done. And interesting.

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=7051

 

USL Breakaway Official

Well this is the best news I have had all day. It's not quite an MLS team, but I'll take it.

 

This looks like it might have been a good opportunity for Peter Holt to have launched his San Antonio club. They've been talking about doing it and most recently said one of the USL's would be most likely. Oh well.

And isn't Vancouver part of MLS expansion? Surprised they'd build a new league around a team that's going to bolt soon. Not that I'm an expert, but it sounds like they got the better USL teams out of the group so this thing may have some potential.

 

It'll be interesting to see if USL teams start peeling off towards the new league now that the breakaway is official. Sadly Minnesota may not make opening day. The guy who bought the team a couple years ago has a lot of BS in his bag but not the cash it takes to keep the club running. The GM has left, the coach has left, the team is down to three employees, and the players who still haven't received their paychecks from the last couple months of the season. The club has been around for 15 years and all of the sudden, WHAM.

 

Word is, Vancouver plans to field a "2nd division team" as well as their MLS team. If they can get the reserve usage rules worked out with MLS and USSF, it will be great for them and you'll see most of the other MLS teams following suit.

 

Re: RE: USL breakaway imminent

The elephant in the room in your region is Charleston Battery. Venerable successful team and powerhouse
What is/was their role in this?

 

Re: USL Breakaway Official

Me too. I assume they'll be playing out the the A-B Soccer Park, since Jeff Cooper owns it now. You know anything different?

 

RE: Re: USL Breakaway Official

The name of this league has been revealed. NASL is coming back.

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/1 ... f-the-NASL

 

Re: RE: Re: USL Breakaway Official

Really? Please tell me there is more creativity in this bunch of owners than to use the name of a defunct soccer league! I mean if I were going to rip off an acronym I would have gone with the North American Soccer Association. At least with NASA you could have some clever marketing tie-ins like:

NASA is about to LAUNCH!
NASA - bringing you the stars!

Damn! I have the name now all I need is the scratch to start my own league. Maybe NASA will buy the naming rights to publicize itself.

 

RE: Re: USL Breakaway Official

Things just got ALOT more interesting.

Anyone see the movie "Once In A Lifetime"? Even if you have, time to watch it again. The NASL story appears to have merely begun a new chapter, and many of the old characters have undoubtedly hung around to help write the script.

Extra butter on my popcorn please!!

 

RE: Re: USL Breakaway Official

Interesting - Crystal Palace Baltimore joined them.

 

USL Breakaway Official

Here

Doesnt quite stick a fork in USL but jabbing at it

 

Re: RE: USL breakaway imminent

Since they were never a member of the TOA and due to the current level of instablity in USL-1 right now, they have decided to go down a level and play in USL-2 next year.

Here's the link from their official site. http://charlestonbattery.com/news.asp?y ... e=1&id=484

They are the only team in USL that I kinda feel sorry for because of all this mess.

 

RE: Re: RE: USL breakaway imminent

USL not happy with Baltimore and Tampa
http://usl1.uslsoccer.com/home/383511.html

 

RE: Re: RE: USL breakaway imminent

I wonder who writes these. It is "tortious", not tortuous.

Although, maybe they really do mean tortuous. That's just not grounds for a lawsuit.

 

Re: RE: Re: RE: USL breakaway imminent

:Chuckle: I read it how they wrote it and it seemed to fit, albeit a tad on the dramatic side. Looking up tortious, though, I'm sure that's what they meant. My guess is that either the guy was quoted (by a non-lawyer) or the web editor didn't recognize the word and "corrected" it.