# USL One Central Brand, Three Leagues...



## younothat (Sep 27, 2018)

TAMPA, Fla. – On a historic day for the evolution of soccer in North America, the United Soccer League has unveiled a new structure and brand identity for each of its top three leagues ahead of the 2019 season.
https://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/953025

“Today’s announcement comes at the dawn of an exciting new era for our sport,” said USL CEO Alec Papadakis. “The USL has spent the past eight years transforming our league to meet the evolving needs of our team owners, players, coaches, fans and partners. We have established our place in the U.S. soccer landscape while blazing the trail for professional soccer’s future by introducing a new third division, completing the nation’s professional soccer structure.

“We are bringing three leagues under one central brand that will uniquely represent the USL’s vision for the future and give rise to local passion in new cities currently without professional soccer. The new brand and logos are inspiring and convey a new direction. They are innovative and modern and tell a story but more importantly, refuse to let others define us. The USL will now be modeled after a tried and respected international structure. One central brand, three leagues: USL Championship – the pinnacle of competition; USL League One– the foundation of professional soccer; and, USL League Two – the Path to Pro.

“We are repositioning the competition under MLS with a new strategy, new names and logos,” concluded Papadakis. “As we look to the future, the USL is ready to put its fingerprints on U.S. Soccer’s drive toward becoming the best in the world, and its pursuit of winning a FIFA Men’s World Cup.”






"The USL has existed for a while now and has been, at various times, the second, third, or second and third divisions in our pretend pyramid. Technically, the USL is made up of multiple separate leagues: the USL, formerly known as the USL Pro, which, after the collapse of the NASL, is the U.S.’s sole officially sanctioned second division; the USL D3, a league that hasn’t yet begun play but will aim to serve as the country’s currently vacant third division; and the Premier Development League, which, as the name implies, is mostly made up of small regional teams and reserve teams of clubs higher up the food chain.

Just yesterday, the USL announced its plan to rebrand and restructure itself. The league’s top division will be henceforth known as the USL Championship, the USL D3 will be called the USL League One, and the PDL will become the USL League Two. If this sounds familiar, it’s because this naming structure has been ripped directly from the English Football League, which governs the second, third, and fourth divisions of the British pyramid. England’s second division is called the EFL Championship, the third division League One, and the fourth division League Two. In some ways, this bit of Euro cosplay is even weirder than the sort we’ve grown accustomed to.

https://deadspin.com/restructured-united-soccer-league-apes-everything-briti-1829308957

Well having a pyramid is good  but the "We are repositioning the competition under MLS"  not so much.     

Was hoping to see #ProRelForUSA or promotion/relegation system among the 3 leagues but no mentioned of that. 

In contrast the UPSL http://www.upslsoccer.com/ has restructured and has Promotion & Relegation

The UPSL tiers represent five different levels — Tier one is Pro Premier. Tier two is the Championship division. Tier three is UPSL’s third division, we call it League One. Tier four is the UPSL Youth Academy and tier five is the UPSL Masters Division for players over 30, over 40, over 50, and over 60.

The majority of our UPSL teams are in the Pro Premier and Champion divisions.

" UPSL BELIEVES IT SHOULDN’T COST A LOT TO PLAY SOCCER IN AMERICA"

_Diane Scavuzzo: How does promotion and relegation work in the UPSL?_

Yan Skwara: It’s just like the English soccer league — When teams do well in UPSL’s League One, they are promoted to the Championship division. When they do well in the Championship division, they get promoted to Pro Premier. In England, you’ve got the Premiership and then you have the Championship division. In England you have professional soccer teams dropping, and you have teams rising. It simple works.

_Diane Scavuzzo: How do you define doing well?_

Yan Skwara: Promotion and relegation impact the top two teams and the bottom two teams. It’s the same as the English Premier League (EPL). In the EPL, the bottom two teams drop and the top two teams go up. 

_Diane Scavuzzo: Have you met with any resistance from league owners when they’re forced to drop?_

Yan Skwara: No, not at all. I think it’s really a wake-up call for league owners that they need to step it up. 

It is a very healthy process in both directions. If competitively you’re not doing well enough to remain in the top tier maybe if you change things around— invest a little bit more capital or invest a little bit more time, build a better staff on and off the field, identify and recruit better players — then you could have a chance to climb back up.

PROMOTION AND RELEGATION IS NOT ABOUT LIMITATIONS, IT IS PROGRESSIVE.

All clubs have the ability to rise. Unlike in the MLS where everybody’s at one table and whether you have a great season or a poor season.

https://www.soccertoday.com/upsls-yan-skwara-on-bringing-pro-rel-to-the-american-game/


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