As Alexi Lalas once said: “There is nothing to prevent others from trying to build a better mustap.” Based on preliminary details announced on Thursday, United Soccer League (USL) may have unlocked that mouse with a plan to launch a USL Premier League Division 2027 as a division I -league, pending approval from US Soccer Federation.
If USL can deduct it and implement a system for marketing and relegation between its leagues, it will give the majority of football fans in the United States something that it has longed for for decades: a logical organizational structure for the sport, ie. A pyramid.
No Major League Soccer (MLS) team would be part of the pyramid. In addition, MLS owners would never agree to a system for marketing and relegation despite Commissioner Don Garber’s history of moving the target posts on the subject. Major League Soccer’s Game Plan is to continue to act as a closed super -lane of North American teams.
USL’s announcement opens the door to a brighter future for the sport in the US
USL’s announcement, although it is not yet possible to adopt marketing and relegation, gives hope to football fans in the United States that it can be included.
“I think I speak for all the real football fans in the US that we hope and ask for marketing and relegation in this country,” said Sporting Jax Chief Community Officer Tony Allegretti at Sporting Pod. “When it finally happens, it is stretching me that we will be somewhere in that system.”
Sporting Jax, based in Jacksonville, Florida, plans to launch a men’s team in USL in 2026.
If a team has no opportunity to reach the top level, what is the point of existence?
And if a team can attend the top level as MLS with an investment of $ 500 million or more, will it be a sport anymore but purely a business decision? Where is the fun of it?
USSL D1 ACCOMPOSITION IS KICK UP UP BACK LONG MLS AS NEEDED
If USL can pull off its plan to launch the new top division in 2027, it will give MLS a much needed kick up the back. Monopoly often prevents innovation, so if USL can become a stronger competitor to MLS, it is in favor of football throughout the United States.
It gives hope to smaller cities throughout the United States that a team can move the leagues to the top level. At present, that dream is not, which prevents investments at local level. It also limits the player’s growth, which really damages the American men’s national team.
When you look at MLS from a 50,000-foot view, Top-Flight American league thrives with record participants, 2025 launch of MLS’s 30th team, and signs well-known stars such as Messi, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Marco Reus.
Therefore, if you live in an MLS city, you will enjoy the benefits of seeing your local team playing against decent opposition. With MLS only in 27 cities in the United States, this means that the rest of us, ie the vast majority of people in this country, have no local MLs to support.
Without a local MLS team, football fans are then faced with a choice to find out which league should watch TV and/or stream, or support a local team – if you have a – in USL or another lower league. With dozens of leagues from all over the world to choose from that are more accessible to viewers in the United States over TV and streaming options, this is MLS and Club Soccer in the United States falls flat.
It is not necessarily the quality of these other foreign leagues that is why they are more popular than MLS. Instead, MLS’s major deficiency is that it does not give viewers enough reasons to look at the league.
What is missing from MLS
In almost every other football league around the world, the most important components that keep fans are missing for most of the season from MLS:
– a system where each game is important
– a league season that has excitement from Game One to the last match
– sporting merits and
– Jeopardy, ie marketing and relegation
USL’s plans, even though they are preliminary, have many important ingredients in place to be a success and to give football fans in the United States a reason to believe and hopefully a local team to support. A fan of Liverpool FC who lives in any city in the United States would be open to supporting its local team if there was a pyramid where that team could rise to the top.
It attracts not only local football fans but also to foreign investors who are looking for an opportunity to invest in a market where the cost of entry is not half a billion dollars.
