TOA announces the formation of a new US soccer league

Ever since the USL playoffs kicked off this past September the future of the USL-1 has been a hot topic of discussion. This past fall Nike decided to sell their majority ownership of the USL organization. Several bidders expressed their interest and it looked like the St. Louis based group led by Jeff Cooper would be gaining ownership over USL-1. This was a move welcomed by all, since several of the team owners wanted to see the USL-1 move toward an owner-controlled league. However, at the last minute Nike announced the sell of the league to an Atlanta based company. This switch pushed several of the TOA members to distance themselves from the USL-1 front office. The USL-1 responded by terminating the team contracts for the Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC and the Minnesota Thunder. The 2009 Playoffs ended with Vancouver and Montreal meeting in the final. Going into that final game both teams already knew there contracts would also not be renewed with the USL and thus the 09 Champion would not return for the 2010 season. All of that headache led to a few weeks of uncertainty, rumors and secret meetings between the USL, TOA and USSF. 

Until today that is, when we finally got official word that a new soccer league would be formed in 2010. A new Division II US Soccer League will feature at least 7 franchises - Carolina, Miami, Minnesota, Vancouver, Montreal, Atlanta & St. Louis. The league is set to begin play this coming April. The press release features a short bio on each of the 7 organizations. 

This split officially takes away 5 USL-1 clubs and creates a competition between the new league and USL-1 as the 2nd league in US Soccer (behind the MLS). While the USL obviously has a major head start (TV contract, decades of experience and a solid framework), I think in the long run we could see this new league over take the USL-1. Here are a few reasons why:

1) Larger Markets - If you look at the prospective clubs the TV ratings for the new league would be higher. New League - Raleigh, Atlanta, St. Louis, Miami, Montreal, etc. The USL's current line-up is headlined by Cleveland and Portland (Portland will be leaving for the MLS after next year). 

2) Better Potential for Growth - The TOA is interested in developing the marketing brand of the league across the nation to better support each club. This was a major negative against the USL and the way Nike had been running the league. A strong push for national branding, in major US markets, relationships with international clubs.

3) A future with the MLS - Every soccer fan in America wants to see a promotion / relegation system, but until now its looked impossible. The USL has several tiers and even they don't use the system loved world round. Additionally, the USL would never be willing to join up with the MLS and take on a role as the '2nd league', even though fans of the MLS and USL both know where the two rank. With the creation of this new league we have the possibility of creating an MLS-2 or MLS-B once a sustaining foundation has been built. I believe the MLS would be interested in buying a fully developed second league in order to widen its brand and create develop for MLS-1 teams. 

So there you have it. A brief recap of how we got here, the big news today, and a few of my thoughts on the new league formed by the TOA. Any comments?