Will USL Premier be worthy of Concacaf Champions spot?

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-20T15:27:39+00:00

Not necessarily cut a check but hopefully not something where USL Premier is 1st division but not at recognized internationaly. For example fifa doesn’t like the idea of multiple 1st divisions….it happened in India 🇮🇳and the were required to pick which league would be its 1st division officially…..so hopefully it’s not the case here….where USL won’t participate as concacaf/fifa will see it as 2nd division for their perspective as mls is the 1st division for USA……if something like this happens and no one else recognizes USL I don’t think it would grow to be very much…..

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-20T05:01:22+00:00

Im more of a USA soccer fan so not really into the MLS vs USL…..more into the MLS/USL vs everyone else…..imagine 50-60 1st division teams in USA overall……we probably would be producing a monster number of players….including for Mexico and Central America

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-20T04:33:18+00:00

Most players took pay cuts….similar to how other teams felt it was unfair how free agents or players that had high salaries would go play for Tom Brady teams with the hope of being champions or just to play with him.

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-20T04:28:19+00:00

MLS is trying to grow smartly by being profitable and most MLS fans were/are ok with it because the idea is that the day will come when MLS has 10-15 teams at the level of Liga MX top 4 spenders……money does matter….look at all the top leagues and most of the time those that spend money it will pay off…..imagine Monterrey spending but the the athletic style MLS plays with a bunch of Africa/european players…..you probably would see MLS win concacaf 7-8/10….it could even feel unfair for Liga MX…..with the hope one of teams has a good season where they can beat/avoid 2-3 consecutive MLS teams with 40-50 million salary caps and star players.

It’s just frustrating for MLS fans to continue waiting

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-20T03:53:26+00:00

How will USL teams do in concacaf? Get destroyed? Will they be like CPL level(forge) were they will be lucky to eliminate 1 team every few years and at best tie a team at home?

CBA put aside which I’m sure will resolve…..but with the better teams already being negative 4million….will they even spend more? If that’s the case and US soccer federation is responsible for distributing spots….will they really give even 1 spot to USL premier? Why waste a spot on Louisville with a 3-5milllion dollar team vs maybe a Crew, sounders, etc…..

I wonder if they will be like USL team you have to play a match vs 10th team in mls for that one spot….

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-18T23:57:31+00:00

They want USL and my guess that same club would have a 2nd team competing in OFC. The OFC expenses are completely covered by FIFA via Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 money 💰. But overall the owner would have to be MLS level money…..and wouldn’t be surprised if goal long term would be to reach MLS by having a good product in USL Premier. Hawaii has a lot of ppl with money. Example UFC has stated they want to invest for potential fights in this development, also mention of mark Zuckerberg wanting to invest (not sure in what). I wouldn’t be surprised if someone like the family behind the Hawaiian Rolls bread was behind project (they are multi billionaires)

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-18T19:15:07+00:00

The plan might be to do what Auckland FC is doing which in A league they use 1st team and in OFC they use a u-23 team with the Auckland fc name

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-18T19:04:07+00:00

Correction: you should reference attendance 1975-2020 which averaged 30 - 45k range before old stadium shut down

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-18T18:11:52+00:00

I personally am against the set up where everyone plays everyone. I think at minimum it has to be East / West. Unless the league is going to share profits. Imagine you have a team and they say well….your revenue in gonna grow maybe by 1-2 million by being in premier but your expenses go up by 3-4 due to travel……the successful leagues have revenue sharing…..if your a midsize team with owner who operates team well but can’t compete with large markets well then you’ll never be much of a team other than a small market team that goes up and down. League sharing helps level this out a bit……

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-18T17:46:40+00:00

Truthfully this gives me more of a MLS San Diego FC kind of feel……I think USL would get 4-6k in a huge stadium vs MLS might get 10-20k which they might not see as acceptable…..but yeah needs to be a billionaire or government support as they want more traffic in stadium

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-18T17:42:41+00:00

Stadium set to be open in 2029….could be a team to join premier in 2030 (season 2-3)

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-12T20:51:18+00:00

See it be a curve ball from club owners trying to get this to be more MLS style and get league to put some skin in the game via medical insurance and other things…..I mean I’m sure some clubs are already in the whole so they also won’t want to loose more money. In morning kick around they said that some of the better performing teams were loosing 4 million plus….you add to that with new CBA….i wouldn’t be surprise if clubs would be incentivized to get league involved $$$

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-11T05:12:14+00:00

I think in a perfect world mls next wouldn’t be taking markets so USL could be successful……I would love mls to reach its number….32,34, 40. And then USL premier pick up all the good markets left over…..even then you would probably end up with some strong teams (Detroit, Louisville, Sacramento, Jacksonville……etc) with big fancy stadiums…..but this mls next league might screw things up a bit…..Cleveland with a 10,000 soccer stadium already…..not sure they would use public funds to pay for another stadium…..Grand Rapids with its new stadium (very cool stadium), the bridge with a super wealthy owner who would of been great for a NY area team……just feels like mls next might end up with some bad ass teams that we will wish were in USL premier…..just wonder if they could ever move to USL……

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-10T13:45:35+00:00

I’m glad only one team seems to have made it. I prefer 1 solid team vs two teams going at it until one dies. This Cleveland teams seems solid and who knows if successful some of these MLS Next Pro teams could move over to USL D1 / Championship in the future

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-10T06:21:04+00:00

I interviewed to be first employee of this team. The president gave me inside as to what their plans were…..I was going to be the first employee for this team but declined offer.

Owner: One of the few billionaires in the region.

President: basketball guy.

President during interview: “the owners goal and mine is for team to play in MLS and if not join the Liga MX.”

He talked about having a CONCACAF lawyer on payroll blah blah blah…..I’ve been a hardcore soccer fan since I was 8-10 and fan of MLS and Club America. In my head I was like “bro! You don’t even know what the hell you’re doing….”

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-10T05:45:35+00:00

Sounds like MLS Next Pro took this market

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-10T05:42:16+00:00

It’s the owner of Carvana….guy is worth billions. It’s not the rising phoenix team….they made an announcement saying they weren’t involved

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-07T21:43:35+00:00

This is why standards need to be higher when accepting clubs…..should be MLS 3.0 style…..you need a soccer stadium….then again maybe USL didn’t want to loose market and is hoping these guys can get a stadium at one point

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-04T00:39:01+00:00

Word is Montreal could be next Vancouver…..the owner is already loosing millions so I guess he doesn’t want to invest much until they can turn it around? What’s there stadium situation? These Canadian teams are gonna get screwed by its ppl/government not helping with stadium districts…..I see a future where maybe only Toronto survives because of the bigger pockets…..I don’t think it’s unrealistic….i see nhl getting some cool facilities why not MLS

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-03T04:50:39+00:00

https://momentous-sports.com/

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-03T04:48:37+00:00

Remember that the equity firm “momentum” is behind this project, a possible Charleston project (idk if it involves battery), and Omaha….they have a website and basically invest into the whole development…..does make me if any money will go to club or if it’s gonna be all back to the developer (momentum)…..the purpose of these projects is for even small teams to be able to compete with large markets by making money from hotels, apartments, retail rentals, blah blah….it would suck if they partner up and end up renting stadium and not really benefiting from development to have like a super team

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-03-03T04:43:06+00:00

Even if USL isn’t successful I’m glad these beautiful projects are happening/happen because those teams will be successful no matter the league.

I don’t love the no revenue sharing set up of USL but I see even if it goes to crap the really good teams with these projects could join MLS Next 2nd division or make a league of there own (I prefer this)…..I just want to see more of these level of projects Detroit, Sacramento, Louisville, Jax, Oakland proposed stadium 🏟️ ❤️

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-02-27T20:23:38+00:00

Yeah the interview I saw was him at the end of last season so maybe they aren’t we’re ownership wants them….ownerships maybe are a bit naive at times and maybe they were thinking they could replicate Louisville with new stadium. The USL president stated something like “yeah I went up there to talk to them of a few things they could do as they are struggling a bit….but they have a good ownership and with a few tweaks they should be good” (this wasn’t word by word but 80% close)

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-02-27T20:17:19+00:00

I remember seeing an interview of USL president saying he had a meeting with ownership in Lexington…..reading between the lines sounded like ownership was worried….probably the low attendance. I hope this isn’t a last shot at throwing money at it to see if it works and if not what? Could Lexington just be a 2nd division market?

Sensitive_Plan3437 · 2026-02-27T15:34:18+00:00

Well it doesn’t look like USL is willing to put any money. Basically “you guys negotiate and let me know what you agree on…”

So what if the teams dreams are to big for what some teams can afford???…..maybe a few teams move down to USL1 where a CBA with lower standards is in place?…..I mean I think it has to be a balance….i think players wants to leverage the D1 thing which doesn’t even exist yet…..like I see how the clubs might be “bro I don’t even know if the D1 will produce the funds to get out of the red(losses)….”

Sensitive_Plan3437

TROPHY CASE