Since the end of the 2023 season, eight USL clubs have either folded or gone on hiatus. Numerous expansion efforts have been delayed; one organization debuted in USL League One and dropped out of the division within the span of a single year. It’s undeniable that the USL has raised its profile and seen growth at the top, but the league’s model doesn’t come with a safety net.
As the USL established itself as the second division in the United States, stability was at the core of its pitch. Rival leagues were highly decentralized; the USL, organized as a privately owned company with franchised clubs, offered a unified vision.
Owned and operated by the Papadakis family and investor Robert Hoskins, the league solidified thanks to the arrival of MLS affiliate teams, added dozens of independent organizations atop that firm base, and eventually outgrew the developmental sides entirely. Along the way, the USL started a third-tier competition in the form of League One.
In many ways, the USL succeeded in stabilizing the lower leagues. However, it established a business model that’s increasingly difficult to justify in the process. With grand promises of a new first-division “USL Premier” competition anchoring a promotion-and-relegation system, the league’s ceaseless pursuit of growth via expansion may be destabilizing.
It doesn’t matter if your club is around for a year or a decade, expansion fee checks cash either way for the USL.
As of the 2024 season, it cost $25 million for a prospective club to join the Championship. Presumably, the entrance fee for USL Premier will be even higher. Now, in a sharp contrast to MLS, where expansion fee revenue is divided up among the league’s existing clubs, the USL’s expansion fee revenue isn’t shared among existing clubs – it doesn’t leave headquarters.
