MLS to launch reserves league beginning play in 2021 by The Athletic. I wonder what the new hierarchy would be for Pro Soccer in this country? Behind a paywall, so listed below you'll find the full article:
theathletic.com/2136000/2020/10/13/mls-reserves-league-usl/?redirected=1By Jeff Rueter Oct 13, 2020
Six years after the last one folded, Major League Soccer is again launching a reserves league.
MLS could announce its new competition by the end of this week, multiple sources tell The Athletic. The circuit is aiming to begin play in 2021, but details on competition format and specific clubs participating still need to be finalized before a concrete kickoff date is established. The new league will function mainly as a U-23 league to bridge the MLS Next academy to the first team, while also offering an option for over-age players rehabbing from injuries.
Though the new reserves league will lead many MLS sides to pull their second teams out of the USL’s Championship and League One competitions, sources indicate that MLS teams will be allowed to keep USL affiliates if they so desire. The sources added that this would be an attractive option for clubs who think the USL would offer a higher level of competition, particularly in the second-division USL Championship. Multiple sources named Real Salt Lake (pending new ownership’s vision), New York Red Bulls, FC Dallas and D.C. United as four clubs which still desire to field second-teams in the USL
This won’t be MLS’s first go at starting a reserve league. The league did so previously in 2005, but teams struggled to utilize the competition effectively. While matchday rosters consisted of 20 players, a meager 12-game schedule hardly justified any investment (no matter how modest) in players who would neither feature in MLS nor get enough game time to develop. After a two-year hiatus starting in 2009, MLS Reserve League returned to the pitch in 2011.
Just two years later, MLS integrated its reserve teams into the then-third-division USL. At the time, the USL sorely needed stabilizing after many of its strongest clubs had broken off to form the NASL ahead of the 2011 season. After 2014, the MLS Reserve League formally ceased with its participants in the USL now deemed “affiliates” or “MLS2” teams colloquially.
As the USL grew and added more independent clubs, some MLS teams saw less value in fielding affiliates. In 2020, seven MLS teams didn’t field an affiliate in either the second-division Championship or third-division League One: Cincinnati, Columbus, Los Angeles FC, Minnesota, Montreal, Nashville and Vancouver. Three teams have already pulled their affiliates from the USL ahead of 2021 (as reported by both The Beautiful Game Network and The Athletic on Tuesday): Orlando, Philadelphia and Portland. In total, just 14 MLS clubs operated their own affiliates in the USL in 2020, as another handful partnered with independent sides.
At first glance, it’s those teams without affiliates which will obviously benefit from an in-house middle step between the academy and first team. When speaking with The Athletic about Minnesota United’s new academy approach, Manny Lagos said the team would forgo any USL affiliation and play in a reserves league “as soon as possible.” However, it’s the teams which have formed partnerships with independent clubs that may see an even greater reward. For example, New York City FC had a nominal partnership with San Antonio FC; in 2020, they didn’t send a single player on loan to Texas. By having a reserve team training in-house, it helps a club with an already prolific academy further sophisticate its development pathway.
The new reserves league initiative comes as MLS has asserted greater control over its youth development approach. The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) folded in April, leaving many MLS youth programs without a league to play in. For those clubs, the DA has been replaced by the league’s own competition, MLS Next, announced this summer. Concrete details on what MLS Next will actually look like are scarce, but it will have six age groups, ranging from U-13 to U-19. The league has promised to significantly reduce travel and lodging costs from DA levels and host neutral-site regional competitions more frequently.
But even before the DA’s demise, there were signs that MLS was keeping its options open for adjustments to its player pathway. After previously branding the MLS-USL partnership as a “multi-year deal,” 2020 press releases switched the phrasing to a “year-to-year agreement.” Both leagues publicly called the other a strong ally, while declining to comment further on the shelf life of that relationship. Not only were travel costs growing as the USL continued to expand, but the league’s dues were a major annual expenditure: Championship participants paid $225,000 in yearly fees in 2020 while League One clubs sent “just under $100,000” to USL headquarters, according to sources familiar with the leagues’ relationship. In total, that means MLS-operated affiliates in the Championship gave the USL $2.03 million in 2020.
Presumably, MLS will see its reserve league as a chance to avoid funneling money to another league while controlling all elements of its competition. However, it’s unclear if participating in the new league would truly reduce costs for the league and its clubs. Dozens of new staff hires will presumably be needed, especially for those clubs who previously skipped USL participation. And that’s to go along with other costs inherent in running a sanctioned professional league.
Multiple sources have indicated that MLS will look to secure a third-division sanctioning from U.S. Soccer, implying a baseline level of professional guidelines will be met. If granted third-division status, the new MLS reserves league would be the third competition with that designation, joining USL League One and the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA).
Some MLS club executives are bullish that their reserves league can be as competitive as the Championship, with one suggesting to The Athletic that it could have even greater intrigue to neutrals than the USL. Their rationale: while USL clubs continue to struggle to transfer players to MLS, affiliates host future first-division players across the roster.
Perhaps most impactful, though, is that now between MLS Next and the new reserves league, a pathway for players to MLS first teams exists almost entirely under MLS’s own umbrella — a likely necessary step as it looks to become more of a selling league.
The MLS reserve league’s impact on USL depends highly on which of the organization’s two leagues (Championship and League One) you focus on.
For the Championship, any pain felt will be minimal. While Real Salt Lake’s affiliate (the Monarchs) won the USL Championship final in 2019, just one team (Los Angeles Galaxy II) snuck into the 2020 postseason before being blown out in the first round. MLS2 teams are nearly unilaterally the lowest-attended teams in the league in normal seasons, making up eight of the bottom nine draws in 2019. As a result, affiliates were overlooked by the league’s initial national TV lineup in the original 2020 season, leaving the defending champions off of ESPN’s airwaves entirely.
As the USL’s expansion rate increased and new independent clubs became the faces and most competitive members of the league, affiliates were often accused of holding the USL Championship back. While MLS affiliates stabilized the USL less than a decade ago, it was clear the league was ready to forge its own reputation.
It’s something USL chief operating officer Justin Papadakis alluded to in an interview with The Athletic in September. The USL’s expansion aims simply haven’t had to consider MLS’s plans.
“When we look out into the future, our pipeline of expansion markets is not affected by that relationship (with MLS) because our strategy is to be the top level of soccer in our markets,” Papadakis said. “For example, we want to be the top level of soccer in Queens. They’re not trying to be the top team in New York City. We’ll continue to work on executing that and making sure that within those markets, we have the stadium, the ownership and the brands that will provide long term success.”
So while the Championship may not be all that affected by the new reserve league, League One could face significant challenges. The second-year circuit is already struggling to find its place in the U.S. soccer ecosystem beyond being a cheaper alternative for mid-sized markets like Greenville, Madison and Omaha to test the waters of professional soccer. The prospect of other MLS affiliates following Orlando out of the door adds to an ongoing fiasco with FC Tucson, who are looking to sort out its future after Phoenix Rising pulled its player development relationship midseason.
Orlando City B was one of five MLS-operated affiliates in League One, making up nearly half of the league. Even if Dallas kept 2019 champion North Texas SC in the competition, the other three teams (New England, Toronto and Inter Miami) could follow Orlando out and leave League One with just eight teams counting Tucson.
If Tucson bolts without a replacement, it could jeopardize League One’s claim for third-division sanctioning. Leagues must operate across at least three time zones to be deemed national instead of regional; without Tucson, the USL would lack a participant in Mountain or Pacific regions. If they’re able to endure or another club joins in the Western half of the country, that crisis would be replaced by a less-urgent, but still worrisome scenario where a league has less than ten competitors.
Papadakis said that growing League One (currently with 12 teams in 2020, though Toronto FC II opted out of the ongoing season) is a top priority for the USL. A USL spokesperson also said that they expect to make “three-to-five expansion announcements” between now and the start of the 2021 season, though most or all of these will start in 2022 or later.
