USL Split Could Benefit MLS

The rumbling that has been shaking the base of the American soccer pyramid since United Soccer Leagues was sold to an Atlanta-based group in August finally has split it in two. On Tuesday, the 'Team Owners Association', a consortium comprised of several existing and potential clubs, announced their secession from the league that has controlled this country's second and third divisions for a dozen years.

But with TOA ringleaders in Montreal and Vancouver eyeing MLS, it makes sense to question how a new minor league (which already has applied for Division II status with the U.S. Soccer Federation), is going to work. The answer, according to sources and a bit of common sense, may be to serve as the true feeder system that MLS has never really had.

TOA is comprised of the owners of the Atlanta Silverbacks (which was on hiatus in 2009), Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps, along with an investor group from St. Louis that runs the Athletica franchise in Women's Professional Soccer. The group said their unnamed second division circuit intends to secure certification and compete with USL next year.

"This is not your typical new league," Impact President Joey Saputo said. "Most of our teams have existed for years. We have united some of the best owners, teams and markets around a new vision for a professional soccer league in North America."

It wouldn't be American soccer without some old-fashioned infighting, and by all accounts this divorce had a lot to do with USL's new owners, a group called NuRock Soccer Holdings, and founder Francisco Marcos' desire for a whole lot more centralized authority than Saputo and Co. were willing to accept. Clubs pay $250,000 to play in USL1 each year and reportedly were growing frustrated that Marcos and league officials were micromanaging their organizations (and levying fines for every bit of noncompliance).

"We feel that [USL] in its current state has handicapped the growth of our team and the league itself," Saputo said. Carolina owner Selby Wellman said, "Over the past two years we have been working tirelessly to restructure our league to be owned and controlled by the [team] owners in order to elevate our league....The owners make substantial investments in their teams. However, the national level investment required has not been made because [USL] has always been owned, operated and controlled by third parties."

Miami FC President Aaron Davidson: "When your league is owned by someone else, you aren't incentivized to invest in or be loyal to your league. That's precisely why [USL] is so relatively unknown and has so much turnover in teams."

Davidson is right about USL's place in the American sports landscape (his Miami team draws a few hundred fans per game), but it's hard to gauge whether that's a result of poor marketing and organization or whether it's simply a result of minor league soccer being a hard sell in a saturated market that's still working on embracing the game at its highest level.

Minor league sports are a curious proposition to begin with. In the U.S., they traditionally revolve around grooming young players for a future with the major league organization with which the lower-division club is affiliated. In other countries, minor league teams have the opportunity to be promoted to higher levels if they win and have more incentive to keep their own players. USL was neither -- there is no promotion or relegation to or from Major League Soccer and Marcos never seemed interested in aligning with it as a feeder league. Limbo resulted, and the TOA owners obviously are sick of that.

MLS ended its reserve division experiment last year following four seasons of play. It never really worked -- clubs often were unable to play even the 12 scheduled matches because fielding a full team was so problematic. They were hunting for players wherever they could find them. It was not worth the investment. At the same time, USL management showed no interest in functioning as a reserve league.

So now, both MLS and TOA have something to gain. MLS's relationship with TOA is already strong. Vancouver is set to join the big boys in 2011 and Montreal surely will follow soon thereafter. The TOA circuit will need funding and support, and MLS can contribute in exchange for some sort of reserve or player development agreement with TOA clubs. Rumors about MLS's interest in that sort of setup have been circulating for weeks. The new league also will need to expand, as U.S. Soccer reportedly wants TOA to have at least eight teams. It has seven now and will be reduced to six once Vancouver departs.

USL, meanwhile, may be forced to merge their first and second divisions. The Rochester Rhinos will be the flagship club, especially once the Portland Timbers join MLS next year. Expansion franchises in New York City and Tampa have been awarded, England's Crystal Palace is looking to increase its investment in Baltimore and the league has said it is committed to adding teams in Canada. Rochester is rumored to have issues with USL as well, but declined to join the breakaway group. Whatever happens, the landscape will look decidedly different from 2010 forward.

History suggests that a unified minor league has enough trouble selling its product, and that competing leagues will just weaken each other. There aren't enough soccer dollars to go around. That's why there must be more to TOA's intentions than they revealed in Tuesday's statement. If it isn't already in discussions with MLS about some kind of partnership, it should start talks soon. Ultimately, that kind of alignment is best for American soccer.