USL League One 2025 Expansion Updates
The class of 2025 continues to make progress. Here's the latest on expansions.
Each month, we’ve been checking in on the status of the 2025 season, currently shaping up to see the largest expansion in league history. Since last month, there have been some major updates to almost all of our confirmed expansion sides, and another one seems even more ready for confirmation.
On Track to Join USL League One in 2025
These sides have been announced as joining in 2025, or appear to have all the pieces in place to make such an announcement. They have met enough key benchmarks to indicate a successful entry to the league.
AV Alta FC
Image credit AV Alta FC
The Lancaster, CA based side is moving right along with expansion plans. Last month, they revealed full branding in front of a 2,500+ crowd, and have been selling season ticket deposits since the next day. Earlier that week, the club also announced the hiring of Brian Kleiban as head coach and former Central Valley Fuego VP Nehemias Blanco as General Manager. The latter seems to be shaking every hand in town while building a positive relationship with the community ahead of the inaugural season.
Construction started to convert Lancaster Municipal Stadium into a 5,300-capacity soccer-specific stadium, a project expected to finish in time for the 2025 season.
The club’s first kit will be released in September.
FC Naples
Image credit FC Naples
After a series of teasers, the southwest Florida side revealed its branding on June 15th. The club is set to play at the already-completed 5,000 capacity Paradise Coast Sports Complex on the outskirts of Naples, and have collected over 1,000 season ticket deposits.
Now they’re concentrating on hiring technical staff, and continuing to build engagement with their local community and the league’s fans through a robust social media content creation program.
Portland Hearts of Pine
Image credit Portland Hearts of Pine
The Maine-based expansion side released full branding in April to rave reviews around the soccer world. They’ve also sold a ton of merchandise (including to a celebrity or two, as seen above), and nearly 2,500 season ticket deposits, a number higher than some USL League One teams’ average attendance. The last big announcement was that of a partnership with local craft brewery Bissell Brothers to develop a beer garden at the stadium.
Portland Hearts of Pine will play at Fitzpatrick Stadium, undergoing some renovations this summer to bring it up to league standards.
Texoma FC
The Sherman, Texas-based side made a splash last month with the hiring of English former footballer Adrian Forbes as Sporting Director. Forbes previously served as Head of Coaching and Player Development at Luton Town FC, and has playing experience at Norwich City, Luton Town, and Swansea City, among others.
They already announced one of the more high profile celebrity ownership groups in the league, including (American) Football’s Gronkowski family, MLB pitcher Matt Barnes, backed by De Anna Guerreiro of Legends Advocates, an investment house focusing on professional athletes.
The club will play in the 6,500 capacity Bearcat Stadium in Sherman, Texas, while pursuing a 7,000 capacity soccer-specific development in the area. They revealed full branding in December, and started collecting season ticket deposits in April.
Finally, they teased the announcement of a manager “soon,” something that is probably closer now that they have secured a Sporting Director, and are in the early stages of registering professional tryouts.
Santa Barbara Sky FC
Image credit: UCSB Intercollegiate Athletics Department
The long-awaited California-based club was relatively quiet until they dropped confirmation of a multi-year agreement to play home matches at University of California Santa Barbara’s Harder Stadium. This represents an upgrade from the previously announced football stadium at Santa Barbara City College, as they’ll only be sharing with UCSB’s storied soccer programs, rather than a football team. Local media had reported this agreement last month, but it’s now official.
The club continues to sell season ticket deposits, and branding has been fully released since 2022. We await word on the hiring of technical staff, but feel a lot better about the prospects for 2025 with the stadium announcement.
Westchester SC
Image credit Westchester SC
The Mount Vernon, NY based side released full branding in the week leading up to a community event on June 15th. They also started taking season ticket deposits on June 20th.
The club officially introduced Simon Baines as sporting director. He served as the owner of New York Premier FC, which will be merged into Westchester SC’s academy ahead of next season. They also brought in a high profile investor in New York Jets quaterback Tyrod Taylor.
The club will play at the Stadium at Memorial Field in Mount Vernon, and is in a solid partnership with the city on the use and upgrade of the facility.
Principle owner Mitch Baruchowitz confirmed to us that Westchester SC had been quietly working on joining USL League One for a while. The sudden announcement in April was not related to Brooklyn FC’s jump to USL Championship.
USL Eugene
In April, USL League One announced a new project “USL Eugene.” The project is led by the same group behind current USL League Two side Lane United FC.
The new USL League One side will go through a complete rebrand from Lane United FC, as explained by managing director Dave Galas to Josh Duder of One League Under the C on a recent episode. This is a plan that has been under consideration since at least 2020.
The side will play at an expanded Civic Park, a 3,500 capacity facility upon completion. The upgrades are in progress, and set to finish by November. The club continues to state its intention to field a side in 2025. The re-branding is in progress, and no ticketing info has been released yet. However, there’s plenty of time for both.
Corpus Christi FC
In the works since 2020, the south Texas USL League Two side is showing even more signs of joining USL League One by 2025. In the last few weeks, they’ve quietly ramped up hiring, which appears to be in anticipation of a jump to the professional ranks. The company information in the job descriptions includes the not-so-subtle text “inaugural season as a professional team in March 2025.”
Nothing is official yet. But the hiring activity, along with the 5,000 capacity stadium due to be completed by January, and USL League One president Lee O’Neill making a visit to Corpus Christi on April 12th are strong indicators that we’ll see this side as the 8th addition to the league.
Works in Progress or Status Unknown
These sides have announced intentions to join the league, but are not officially announced by the league and/or are not far enough on key benchmarks to confidently indicate 2025 as their entry to the league.
Fort Wayne FC
Fort Wayne jumps up the list after multiple insiders spoke to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette in late May.
Co-owner (and former USMNT and professional star) DaMarcus Beasley said that a potential jump to the professional ranks is a “daily” conversation at FWFC, and the team continues to build out the infrastructure and community engagement to support such a jump.
A developer with BND Commercial, a company we previously mentioned as connected to a stadium proposal just east of the city in Allen County, also spoke to the Journal Gazette. BND’s Todd Ramsey said the development will be a 5,000 capacity stadium, and would be offered to FWFC to use. This is the first time we’ve seen this development connected to FWFC.
A similar capacity stadium had been proposed in downtown Fort Wayne, but at last check did not have traction.
There is also the factor of MLS’ ideas for Indianapolis and any consequence for existing USL Championship side Indy Eleven. Should Indy Eleven be pushed out, FWFC would consider USL Championship, but did not seem pleased at the prospect of Indy Eleven folding.
Said Beasley, “I know how hard they’ve worked to get their brand to where it is now. To maybe have that wiped from under their feet, that’s tough to take. As a fan, looking at those things, it’s tough.”
Fort Wayne FC continues to compete in USL League Two.
Real Central NJ
Reliable sources indicated that this project is very much alive, although the key foundations are still coming together. Currently in USL League Two, the club plays at Ben Cohen Field on the campus of Rider University in Lawrenceville, but would likely pursue a new complex somewhere in Mercer County ahead of a jump to USL League One. While the project is active and progressing, it is still in the early stages, indicating a jump in 2026 at the very earliest.
Wilmington
Local media caught up with the group behind USL Wilmington. While the renovation plans for Legion Stadium are approved and ready to go, the group confirmed that a last minute pullout of an investor put the project on hold. The group is seeking new investors, and have put all options on the table, from USL League One and USL Championship to MLS Next Pro. It would be a heavy lift to gain funding and move forward with the renovations in time for 2025, but we’ll see what happens in the next month or so.
There have been no further updates out of Wilmington since.
Fort Myers
In our last update, we noted that the city of Fort Myers rejected the proposal of original developer Pitch Prime, which had been linked to MLS Next Pro. After the rejection, the city turned to the second proposed developer, USL. At the time, USL was engaged in a lawsuit with the city over the original selection process. After being selected, USL dropped the suit.
This month, local media reported that representatives from USL were still negotiating with the city on the use of City of Palms Park. In the latest meeting between USL and city officials, USL requested a $40 million bond, and would be willing to insure it. USL is also proposing to refurbish the stadium, and develop multifamily housing, hotels, retail and offices in the area. There is no word on which USL league they have in mind, or on any ownership group.
The timetable of this one is still looking like 2026 at the soonest.
Lancaster FC
In our last update, a reader submitted a tip about Lancaster FC’s intentions to field a USL League One side, supposedly by 2025. The text is still there on the club’s website.
Screen grab from lancasterfc.com
They do already have branding in place for the USL-A infrastructure, operating as Lancaster FC, Red Rose City. The team also has access to a newly renovated Clipper Magazine Stadium, which recently had its turf replaced for easier conversion between baseball and other events.
However at this time, there is no official word on a 2025 project moving forward.
FC Tucson
When the USL League Two side self-relegated out of USL League One following the 2022 season, they indicated a desire to eventually return. As of right now, it does not appear that the club has solved the issues that led to the self-relegation, including stadium improvements and increased investment. We reached out to owner Jon Pearlman, but have not been able to coordinate any information yet.
Have a tip? Want to discuss any of these projects? Reach out via email: leagueoneupdater@gmail.com, or DM me on Twitter or Instagram.
This amazing, Alex, and thanks much!! But WHO is the celebrity wearing the Hearts of Pine scarf in the picture??
Related, Alta AV received over 1100 season tickets deposits on the FIRST day they became available (see link below):
https://www.uslleagueone.com/news_article/show/1311742
Lots of exciting things to look forward to! Always appreciate these updates. it looks like they’re filling out the league well geographically