Should MLS Purchase USL?

If that’s too many acronyms in one headline then allow me to elaborate. MLS is Major League Soccer, the top tier of football in the USA/Canada., as recognized by FIFA (and David Beckham). USL is United Soccer Leagues, consisting of USL 1 and USL 2, the de facto second and third tier of US/Canadian soccer.

I say de facto because there is basically no relationship between the two organizations. No promotion/relegation and apparently very little co-operation.

If anything, MLS delivers a major blow to USL every time it adds an expansion team. Especially in the Pacific Northwest. This year Seattle left USL 1 for MLS, in 2011 Portland and Vancouver will do the same. So MLS is basically eating USL alive and giving nothing in return.

Which might be why USL was put up for sale this summer.

But that’s not the big news. The big news is that – according to Canadian soccer blogger Ben Rycroft of Metro News Toronto – MLS is one of the parties interested in buying USL.

My head started to spin when I read that. First thought was the obvious one: Would this mean promotion/relegation between MLS and USL? Or even between the newly named MLS 1 and MLS 2?

The answer: Probably not. There’s still the old problem that MLS owners have paid the league a fat expansion fee, and won’t be interested in dropping down to play in a lower division after shelling out $30-$40m.

Unless.. maybe some sort of deal could be worked out where a promoted USL 1 team pays the expansion fee directly to the relegated MLS team. Essentially refunding the relegated owners investment.

But more importantly, why would MLS want to forego future expansion fees? No one’s going to pay millions of dollars to join a league they’re already part of. And if USL is in a financial shape worrying enough for the owners to sell, then it might be the sort of investment that sinks MLS rather than improving it.

So there’s a very good chance that this won’t happen. According to Rycroft’s post, a group of unnamed investors looks the more likely buyer than MLS:

“The USL owners have been in the loop the whole way since Nike put the league up for sale. There are a couple groups that are interested,” he said.

Two USL sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed MLS’s interest, but both said that it was looking less likely now, as MLS was not interested in the type of numbers Nike had asked for.

Their feeling was unless something dramatic happens, the third group, comprised of private investors, will be announced in the week ahead as the new owners of the USL.

Which is a shame. Not just because it means promotion/relegation not happening. But because it means the two professional soccer leagues in North America will continue to be independent of each other and engaged in a competition – for players, teams, fans, resources – that only one side is ever going to win.

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Category: MLS