#usl pro

Los Dos Wins in Heroic Fashion

Saturday evening at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah was a cold and rainy one for LA Galaxy II as they took on Real Salt Lake Monarchs in front of a crowd of 1001, that included the crew from ACB who went all out for Los Dos. In similar fashion as the first team last Saturday against Sporting Kansas City, LA Galaxy II scored a goal in the dying seconds of stoppage time and came out with the 3…

Wow. That’s perhaps the best word to summarize everyone’s response to USL- PRO’s giant announcement and marketing festival yesterday.

And just as MLS rebranded itself last year, USL followed suit. A juggernaut for marketers, including yours truly. I admit it — I was wowed. I mean, read this excerpt from their website:

“The new logo is not a corporate logo, it is a tribal mark, something to be…

LA Galaxy II Announces USL Pro Schedule #LAGalaxy #LAGalaxyII

The schedule for the USL PRO season has been released, giving us a chance to breakdown the key matches for LA Galaxy II — it looks to be a great season.

Key Matches

Sunday March 22nd vs Real Monarchs SLC– It’s the first game of the 2015 USL PRO season, and who better to square off against than the affiliate of Real Salt Lake  — Real Monarchs SLC. The Monarchs are a new club and will be looking to…

It seems the NASL clubs have no problem talking about loans and minutes for younger players to the USL PRO/PDL side. MNUFC Ibarra capping of USMNT has turned eyes to the NASL. Luke Mulholland, Former Rowdie, made his mark in the MLS last season. Amazing how all the MLS centric writing seems to focus on the 2 sides in the USL PRO.  Farm teams for the big club. Understandable but.  Not a fan of ManU but love the whole idea of FC Manchester United.  Supporter owned and backed. 

There will always be more Mulhollands than Beckhams or Messis. Pure passion for the game means more to me than shiny stadiums built for herd mentality.  Don't get me wrong, a strong domestic league will and should be the backbone for national success. American soccer is no longer a one trick pony. The MLS is Champions League upper third level of play. The shine is wearing off the EPL.  The Klinsmann/Garber spat is more about board soccer philosophy than how the national team played or who. 

Our model should be the Bundesliga one.  41% of supporters are women. Special pricing for supporter groups. We'll never have the 50+1 formula. But standing smart barrier terraces are likely.  The dream of playing competitive soccer at the highest level possible requires choices not a closed system.  

Some might not believe that life gets in the way of soccer. The past year it has.  Missed an entire season except for one match. That's the past. 

The NPSL is holding a combine for those players wanting to go pro. Detroit City FC has only one player on the Midwest team. Zach Schewee. Defender from Bowling Green. That DCFC isn't the top level of an academy system or aligned with a professional side (PDL), this is important. Three of our players have made it into the MLS. They didn't play for known national college powerhouses. Most of the roster plays for smaller D1/D2 universities. What they do carry are memories of Summer nights at Cass Tech. The eye of a seething cauldron of the Supporters passion for their club. Wear the colors once, you wear them for life. 

http://www.detcityfc.com/news/le-rouge-review-mls-draft/

Kofi Opare was drafted by the LA Galaxy in 2013 Superdraft. He played a key role in defense in the playoffs for the Championship side. Opare was traded to DC United for the 2014 season.  

Southeast Michigan's fertile hotbed of soccer talent was long a basis for the PDL Michigan Bucks. The problem was and is, they play in front of 600 reported average per game. Indoors. Shit field. Shit atmosphere. DCFC support in numbers.

http://boysinrouge.com/2014/08/04/number-crunchin-2014-attendance/

Then there's Reddit. For 2014 DCFC is #2 measured against NASL/USL PRO. 18th against MLS. 

The digital native support for soccer is all online and in social media.  Not the traditional media all the other professional sports are judged by.

What's the result of all this?  Duggan, the Bucks owner, all of the sudden wants to bring the USL PRO to Detroit. Build a 5000 seat stadium in 90 days. His brother is the Mayor. the 2015 USL PRO league expansion will be without the PDL executive of the year and Championship Bucks team. All this energy after 19 years of nothing. Interesting. And sad.

Lansing United won the Great Lakes East title on the last day against DCFC. The Lansing area had approximately 200 DCFC season ticket holders living there.  The Northern Guard nurtured the MSU Student supporter section when they met the core members at Cass. What does it say that after the first Lansing match, the NGS 517 was created. The area code for the greater Lansing area. AND. They play home matches in EAST Lansing. Not the city of Lansing. Best yet, the 250 strong traveling support chanted the much much much smaller home group out of their bar before the match. With NGS 517 flags leading the way. They join NGS Cascadia and possibly Germany in making DCFC a brand.

Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids tried to crowdsource a club. Epic fail. There's the typical off season chaos of clubs dropping or disappearing  across the country. The New Pacific NW conference lost most of it's clubs. That part of the country has a deeper soccer culture with the PDL and old A League.

The ownership of Detroit City are weighing the option of building their own stadium. Having to turn away 400 people for the last match, good problem to have. 3600 were inside while 200 stood on anything outside the fences of that electric watershed night. Yes, an American 4th division club has this level of support. One thing wouldn't change, Detroit City FC WILL play in the City of Detroit. HINT. Rumors of livestreaming are swirling in the FO.

It all comes down to money. The lifeblood of any soccer club.The Pittsburgh Riverhounds Stadium cost $13M. $3M for the FIFA 2 German turf field. Then there was the land along the river across from downtown. Unlike the most of the club with their own field, they suck. Without the attendance they filed for reorganization protection. Land in Detroit? No worries.Close to City Center? More challenging. Like Columbus, hockey has sucked all the money out of the equation. 

Real Monarchs, el hermano menor de RSL

El convenio de colaboración entre la Major League Soccer y la USL-Pro sigue dando sus frutos. Real Salt Lake acaba de unirse a la creciente lista de cuadros emeleseras que deciden poner un equipo filial en el certamen de tercera división, emulando el modelo adoptado por potencias futboleras establecidas como España y Alemania.

La nueva escuadra tendrá por nombre Real Monarchs, y en principio hará…

Former SMC soccer player going for title tonight

Former Saint Mary’s forward Agustin Cazarez and his Sacramento Republic FC side host the Harrisburg City Islanders tonight in the 2014 USL PRO Championship Game in a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Bonney Field.  The game is sold out but can be watched online at the  USL PRO YouTube channel, SacRepublicFC.com and locally in Sacramento on CW31.

Sacramento Republic has made a significant impact in its first…