Does USL League One Have Structural Problems?

With recent folds, fans are wondering if the league is truly set up for long-term success. Here are some ways to improve their chances.

City Stadium, Richmond, VA (file); image credit Alex Ashton

With the last few years of success, the United Soccer League has pushed a message of sustainability. However, for as much as we would love to see the league’s continued success, we saw a few cracks in the foundation at the end of this season.

This year, both Northern Colorado Hailstorm and Central Valley Fuego exited the league, and it made many question if the third division league is set up for long-term success. Are there structural problems in the current league set-up? BT90 staff decided to identify a few and offer potential solutions.

Expansion Fee Decrease

The current fee to join USL League One is $5 million. It’s been reported that third division competitor MLS NEXT Pro’s fee is less (the exact value is unknown), meaning the USL may have lost markets in Cleveland, Albany, and Bridgeport simply due to the price, with the potential to lose more as MLS NEXT preaches its “sustainability” for expansion franchises.

Not only does the current expansion price hurt League One when it comes to competition, it also takes away from the league’s own sustainability, pushing away the teams that could make up the basis of a proper third division. The League’s biggest current need is teams willing to stay permanently in USL League One.

There is a solid base, but it needs to grow, as there will always be another use of the league as a tool to launch a Championship franchise. We’ve seen it this year with Lexington, and we’ll see it again with Union Omaha (and likely others). There is nothing wrong with that, but to offset, the expansion price must be brought down so that investors in smaller markets can bring teams to their cities.

Smaller markets like Statesboro (South Georgia Tormenta) and Naples will make up the backbone of permanent league members. They have no initiative with their attendance to move up a level, and their inclusion in the Championship would only induce problems with the Pro League Standards, so bring down the price and the backbone of League One grows stronger.

The teams with Championship aspirations may not mind the current $5 million as they build a fanbase, but plenty of hopeful investor groups will. Besides, this change benefits those big investor groups, too, giving them a cheaper and therefore more attractive incentive to use League One as a springboard for the second division.

Regionalization

Forward Madison’s COO Connor Caloia told fans that the team’s travel budget is increasing by $100,000 in 2025 as five new teams join the league from wildly different geographic regions: southern California, northern Texas, Southeastern Florida, the New York City metro area and Portland, Maine. Further, with Central Valley Fuego and Northern Colorado departing, there will only be two western sides in the league: AV Alta FC, located in Lancaster, CA, about 70 miles north of downtown Los Angeles; and Spokane Velocity.

Teams are heavily concentrated in the southeast: Charlotte, Chattanooga, Greenville, Knoxville, Naples, Richmond, and Tormenta (Statesboro, GA). As of 2025, there will be just two in the northeast (Portland and Westchester), with Texoma standing alone in Texas. Madison and Omaha represent the upper midwest.

Regionalization desperately needs to happen, as teams currently take on Championship-level travel for less benefits, but is still a ways off at the current rate of teams entering and exiting the league. 2026 should see the addition of Fort Wayne and Corpus Christi, and possibly Eugene, OR, Boise, Sarasota and others. However, Omaha is slated to depart by 2027. Will existing teams be able to survive the costs until a stable, regionalized system is available?

Advertising, Broadcasting, & Revenue Usage

When the league terminated Northern Colorado Hailstorm’s franchise agreement, the club’s owners filed a lawsuit against the USL that accused the league of taking USL League One’s national broadcasting and sponsorship rights deals’ revenue to use for the promotion of the Championship and Super League. Whether true or not, if the USL wishes for the third division to gain eyeballs, they’ll need to better use the advertising power they already have.

While League One franchises can have their own local broadcasting and sponsorship deals, the national ones are not set up to favor the league. Most of the 100 matches shown on networks through the CBS deal will be Championship matches, and League One’s main interest-driving event, the Jäegermeister Cup, is stuck under an ESPN exclusive deal that puts most matches under the ESPN+ paywall. How do you expect a new tournament to draw viewership if viewership comes at a cost? Does the USL really want to face the same question the MLS does today?

If they are not to face it, they must negotiate USL League One into a more prominent role in future TV deals. They must also use their current advertisement ability to bring up the league more. While the Championship will always be promoted more, there is a significant divide when it comes to league promotion on the national scale. That divide doesn’t need to close, a crack must be left in the door, but only a crack and not a space in the doorframe.

Promote the connections to local fans. Promote the rivalries. Promote the success stories and the defeats. All of these joys the league brings are unknown to a casual soccer fan in our country, yet they know the Championship’s. The USL can close this divide, and if it means spending more on League One and slightly less on Championship, it should be done. Even if they are or aren’t spending on USL League One already like the Hailstorm claimed, advertising must increase. When all teams operate at a loss, use the revenue wisely.

Younger Rosters

If promotion and relegation is not coming any time soon (it probably isn’t), USL League One rosters will likely need to trend younger in an effort to become more stable.

We’re seeing signs of this right now among several teams, including the Richmond Kickers and South Georgia Tormenta, and potentially Chattanooga Red Wolves. This includes an increased reliance on first and second year professionals, as well as academy players and local talent, with a goal to develop and sell the best young players.

In this model, USL League One would act more as a development league over the next five or so years until reaching sustainability. Many teams in the league have been upholding a money-losing, veteran-heavy model, which can bring success on the pitch, not necessarily driving a significant increase in attendance.

However, if an organization shells out $1.5 million on a roster, and it doesn’t significantly boost attendance, and it receives no reward other than glory if it wins the title, how long will it continue to do this? Even the deepest pocketed owners will only sustain this for so long before walking away.

With no team known to be turning a profit; likely only two existing organizations coming close to sustainability targets; and a CBA dictating minimum pay levels implemented through 2027; payrolls will likely need to be more streamlined and err more towards the minimum.

This will reduce opportunities for older players in the medium term, but once clubs become more financially sustainable, they will be able to afford to bring in talented veterans again.