Does USL actually respect itself?

The league continues to show signs of insecurity while some critics of MLS lap up anything USL sells

The 2026 USL Championship season was supposed to open with a celebration of the league’s ambitious future including PRO/REL and a coming D1 in a World Cup year.

Then came a labor dispute the likes of which we have never seen in the US professional game before. So, the opening weekend was defined by a haunting sixty seconds of silence—and a glaring omission by the league’s production arm.

Across the country, from Lexington to Irvine, from El Paso to Charleston and into the rain-delayed night in Birmingham, every match began the same way. The referee blew the whistle for kickoff, and then… nothing. For sixty seconds, twenty-two players stood motionless and silent.

The USL Players Association (USLPA) orchestrated a coordinated demonstration—a clear visual sign of a simmering labor dispute that has now reached a critical stage. While the players’ message was a demand for “Professional Standards,” television coverage largely ignored or failed to explain the protest to the home audience, thereby appearing to uphold the existing situation.

While USL and its production arm may think this wins them the PR battle (perhaps the players not striking has already shifted the momentum towards the owners anyhow) it actually could backfire, leading to further questions among the rather small audience USL matches garner on television and streaming media.

Protest was invisible to those at home

In multiple markets, the cameras appeared to pivot away from the center circle the moment the “kickoff” whistle blew. And they often drowned out the whistle with music or other effects.

• The Panning Shot: In several instances, broadcasts cut to wide shots of the stadium or tight close-ups of fans in the stands, effectively hiding the twenty-two players standing in solidarity.

• The Commentary Gap: While the players remained still, play-by-play announcers and color commentators in many matches continued with their standard pre-game talking points, failing to mention that the game had technically “started” but was being held in place by a player-led protest.

USL Productions also appeared to be sloppy in its coordination. Some broadcasts started the clock and scorebug when it was supposed to, others didn’t. Camerawork didn’t seem coordinated from venue to venue either. All this reinforces the “wild west” nature we have come to expect from USL and the US lower divisions in general.

Our Johnathan Starling who tracked every broadcast this weekend will have far more on this in the near future.

A message for Tampa and beyond; Would this happen in MLS?

The choice of the sixty-second delay is poignant. It signals that while the players are willing to play, they are also capable of stopping play at any moment - and the threat of a strike continues to loom. By standing still, they reminded everyone that without the labor, there is no product for the cameras to film.

However, the broadcast silence suggests a league office—and its media partners are hesitant to air anything not explicitly scripted.

While the USL promotes a future of promotion and relegation and “USL Premier” first-division status by 2028, and offers itself as an alternative to MLS (but is it really?) they remain so insecure in their own current body they cannot and will not discuss anything that isn’t league propaganda. Heck the halftime shows, full of pre-rolls promoting league stories to attract investors the last few years have taught us that…

It’s also important to note EVERYTHING that MLS critics accuse that league of doing we are now seeing executed in overdrive in USL.

• Scripted Broadcasts

• No discussion of controversy

• Heavily sanitized crowd shots

• Little to no critical match analysis (there are exceptions to this, it entirely depends on which bunker-bound commentator holed up in Fort Lauderdale you get for a given match)

• No discussion of the actual dominant story of the offseason

With this mind, how can MLS critics continue to boost USL as some sort of “blank canvas” that encapsulates all the hopes of the “soccer opposition?”

Is the hatred of MLS for whatever reason, rational or irrational so great that avoidance of proper discussions is justified? Is “solidarity,” which is the chief organizing principle of football/soccer only to be practiced in selective fashion? Does it apply to players or only to governing entities that at least in theory oppose what you do not like?

And seriously, if you think Apple’s MLS broadcasts are this scripted, you haven’t watched a lick of MLS since 2022. Yes it feels a lot like league propaganda but it’s never been as blatant as it is in USL- nor as self-serving. And this speaks to USL’s overall insecurity about its place in the soccer landscape.

To garner respect, you must show you respect yourself, warts and all. USL is proving once again they lack this self-confidence to really make a dent in the American soccer landscape at a macro level.

So let’s hope this is a wake-up call and things change ASAP. Not just in terms of the “professional standards” that the players are demanding, but the “professional look” most fans would respect. Chest-pounding and sanitized broadcasts can only take you so far.