Promotion and Relegation in the USL League System : Seven key factors to discuss

We can't do sustainable promotion and relegation overnight, unfortunately

I’ve seen in the last few weeks a lot of PRO/REL advocates angry at USL Championship growth. I discussed this on Twitter the other day, but I realize that isn’t the place for long-form content or fleshing out the entire picture with multiple perspectives. Therefore I am expanding that discussion here and giving more background on what is actually happening.

I understand the sentiment that demands instant promotion and relegation and have sympathy for it, but several key factors have to be worked through by USL before they institute a system of promotion and relegation.

Promotion and Relegation must happen long-term for the United States to compete at the highest level in this sport. However, as the sport becomes increasingly driven by financial considerations, skeptics of promotion and relegation view any piece of data or club failures as evidence it cannot work in the United States.

So it’s necessary for it to be done right the first time. USL is facing an onslaught of sorts from MLS on the men’s side while picking a battle with NWSL on the women’s side. Therefore USL needs to differentiate itself in the market and promotion and relegation is likely the way to go - but it cannot happen overnight.

Below I outline seven critical factors and components of this conversation.