Anyone who follows lower-league American soccer will know by now how everything shook out. USL was granted D2 status and NASL...well...died. The USL took a couple NASL survivors in out of the cold and the 2017 lower-league seasons started without the NASL.
What killed the NASL could take up a series of blog posts on its own but for the purposes of this blog, I wanted to delve into the realm of speculative fiction. Over the course of the past two years, USL has expanded at a strong pace with new teams announced for the Division II version of the league and tentative commitments to the embryonic USL D3. But recent announcements about USL teams in Chicago and Oakland, combined with the league's success in markets like Cincinnati and Sacramento prompted me to speculate on the league's future. Where is USL going? Will it continue it's relationship with MLS?
The history of pro sports in America is dotted with rival leagues. The AFL and ABA both eventually forced mergers with the NFL and NBA while in baseball, the American league operated as an independent league for decades, only meeting the National League for All-Star games and the World Series. For the purpose of this speculative essay, history will repeat itself for the USL.
The Point Of Divergence
In the Alternate History genre of fiction, there's a point of divergence; a point at which history changes. For this series, that point is MLS ceasing expansion with the addition of Nashville and Miami. Also, in this version of the future, Columbus stays where they belong and Anthony Precourt takes his money and obsession with Austin to the USL.
Doubling Markets
One thing that American sports history has taught us is that large markets can and do support rival leagues. New York, Chicago, LA, and the San Francisco Bay area are all a testament to that fact with each market hosting more than one major league team. For our future USL, this is also the case as no successful league can survive without the top markets. Gotta get that TV money.
NASL Holdouts
As of this writing, Miami FC, Jacksonville Armada and the New York Cosmos are not part of the USL, nor do they show an interest in actually fielding teams in the USL. Rather, two of these teams are fielding NPSL sides with the owner of the Armada planting a seed of an unsanctioned league. Where do they stand in this alternate future? To be honest, the new D1 USL is going to need rich owners and owners that have deep pockets and connections to television outlets are going to be a necessity. In our future, the Cosmos and Miami FC are part of our speculative USL. This also means that high-dollar owners in Cincinnati and Phoenix don't bolt when the MLS door closes. Instead they're willing to make a new league in USL D1.
We're also going to speculate that some markets currently left out of USL and MLS are in play.
Promotion and Relegation
No speculative soccer blog would be complete without addressing promotion and relegation. While USL has made some overtures that there might be pro/rel between USL D2 and D3, there hasn't been any real progress on the subject. This league will also be new so at the beginning, pro/rel wouldn't be part of the equation. While I think pro/rel is completely unnecessary and the realities of sports business prevent it from becoming a reality, most reasonable soccer thinkers who actually like the idea will admit that we, as a nation, aren't there...yet. That's probably going to be the case for another 20 years.
League Teams and Format
Without further ado, let's introduce your inaugural USL Division I lineup. To begin, the league will consist of 20 teams playing in a double round-robin format for a total of 38 games. While it's customary in the US for leagues to play in geographic conferences, a 20-team league with the strongest markets and ownership groups will give our fledgling league time to take root.
Playoffs: The top four teams in the league table will play in the league semifinals with the winners facing off for the championship.
Teams:
Austin Aztex
Charlotte Independence
Chicago USL
FC Cincinnati
Hartford
Indy XI
Las Vegas Lights FC
Louisville City FC
Miami FC
New York Cosmos
Oakland USL
Orange County FC
Phoenix Rising
Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Sacramento Republic
San Antonio FC
San Diego 1904
St. Louis FC
Tampa Bay Rowdies
Charlotte Independence
Chicago USL
FC Cincinnati
Hartford
Indy XI
Las Vegas Lights FC
Louisville City FC
Miami FC
New York Cosmos
Oakland USL
Orange County FC
Phoenix Rising
Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Sacramento Republic
San Antonio FC
San Diego 1904
St. Louis FC
Tampa Bay Rowdies
So there you have it. Our initial 20 teams. In our next installment, we'll look at each team, where they'll play and the relative strength of their markets. In later editions, we'll explore the league's bylaws, US Open Cup and CONCAF Champions League qualification and the USL's relationship with MLS.
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