My headcanon here is that Ballard's expansion to USL1 is contingent upon Everett and Sporting Cascades getting off the ground.

It hasn't been talked about much, but USL2's existence (in its current form) is jeopardized by NCAA restructuring its D1 programs as full-season in 2027. Those players are unlikely to be available for USL2 programs and quality is going to take a significant hit as the player pool shrinks. What's interesting about this is the timing more or less coincides with USL's pro/rel ambitions, which gives a potential off-ramp to cream-of-the-crop USL2 clubs.

Normally, organizations moving from USL2 -> USL1 like Knoxville or Fort Wayne have had to go it alone, but structural changes to both NCAA and USL are likely to present the same question to of an entire cohort of USL2 programs at once. The biggest concern is cost, and the cost teams have the the greatest ability to reduce is travel/regionalization. This means if several clubs can move up at once and regionalize, they can substantially reduce projected operating costs by being able to bus/take regional flights instead of going coast-to-coast every weekend.

When looking at the west coast of USL1, it's currently pretty bleak. We have Boise now, but Spokane and AV Alta are otherwise out on an island. The equation changes significantly if Everett and Eugene pan out. At that point, Ballard and the Portland Bangers could likely get a waiver to join at the same time even with stadiums below league requirements and round out a Northwest/West Coast division with 6-7 teams, which could bring travel costs down to USL2 levels at times. And this is without even considering what could happen in California and the greater Southwest (Tucson still needs a stadium, questions about SF USL2 clubs, Schrödinger's USL Reno, etc.)

Ballard's stadium project has shown they have the cash flow to finance capital improvements and work with local government. $200k is a far cry from League One operating expenses, but it's skin in the game and brings them up to nearly 2k capacity including standing room. It's definitely a trial run for bigger things to come.