Dave’s Football Blog

It appears the lower divisions of American soccer are about to undergo a massive upheaval.

Less than a week after Nike sold United Soccer Leagues to the Atlanta-based NuRock Soccer Holdings, a group of USL team owners — whose own bid to purchase the league was rejected — threatened to bolt from USL and start a breakaway league.

And wouldn’t you know it? My local club, the Carolina Railhawks, are right in the middle of it all.

The breakaway threat comes from a group called the Team Owners Association, which consists of five current USL-1 clubs (Carolina, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps), one club in stasis (Atlanta Silverbacks), one expansion club (Tampa Bay Rowdies), and one expansion group looking for a club (St. Louis Soccer United). In its rather bitter missive, the TOA claims that it is “committed to a restructuring of USL-1 into a truly professional soccer league which complies with the international rules established by FIFA, the governing body of international soccer.  These rules include the requirement that the league be owned and controlled by its teams.” Clearly, the TOA thinks the boys at NuRock would rather keep USL going as a single-entity league like MLS.

According to David Fellerath at Triangle Offense, most of the TOA member clubs have not committed to playing in USL-1 in 2010, which will accelerate talk of a breakaway league. Plenty of questions remain, though — the biggest one being whether there are enough clubs to pull this off in the long term.

At this point, I figure that any breakaway league will probably need a minimum of 8 clubs to get started. That’s good for a 28-game season, where everyone plays home-and-away twice.

The TOA has eight members, but not all of them are on the most solid footing. Miami, Minnesota and Atlanta are all struggling with their finances, the Rowdies are brand new, and St. Louis’ club doesn’t exist yet. Plus, the Whitecaps are bound for MLS in 2011, and MLS commissioner Don Garber is still flirting with the Saputo brothers in Montreal. So even if a breakaway league forms in 2010, it’s guaranteed to lose at least one member before 2011 begins.

The question then becomes who would join the TOA in this breakaway league. Portland? The Timbers are also joining MLS in 2011, so they pose the same problem as Vancouver. What about the Charleston Battery, a club that would lose a few of its nearby rivals if it stayed in USL? How about the Austin Aztex, a club co-owned by a Stoke City board member who could be swayed by the TOA’s argument? What about USL-2 clubs in larger markets, like Crystal Palace Baltimore, who have been looking to move up to USL-1?

Then there’s the potential linchpin in all this — FC New York. Having the NYC market will be crucial to the future of any fledgling league, especially in terms of TV money. If FCNY bails on USL in favor of the TOA, this breakaway league would suddenly have a lot more clout when it approaches the networks.

Of course, all that is just speculation at this stage. NuRock could still convince the TOA owners to stay with USL for another season. It would take a lot of convincing, though, and at this point, I fully expect the lower divisions of American soccer to look very different in 2010 and 2011. All I can hope is that I’ll still have a club to support then.

UPDATE: Inside Minnesota Soccer has an even better write-up of this story. Make with the clicky.