The US Soccer Federation (USSF) announced today the agreement reached for the 2010 season regarding the division II leagues. After months of controversy, lawsuits, and uncertainty, the USL and NASL executives were forced to come up with a compromise in the last week that would ensure a 2010 season for the teams involved in these leagues. The agreement reached will have the USSF overseeing the division II league for 2010 with teams from both the USL and the NASL.
The league will consist of two six-team conferences – the USL Conference and the NASL Conference.
The USL conference will be made up of:
*Puerto Rico
*Austin
*Minnesota
*Portland
*Rochester
*Tampa Bay
While the NASL conference will include:
*Baltimore
*Carolina
*Miami
*Montreal
*St. Louis
*Vancouver
New York and Atlanta are conspicuously absent from the current team list. In a USSF press conference call today, the league mentioned that the clubs were not yet ready for play and that the teams themselves had decided to play in 2011 instead.
It is pretty evident that the conferences were not set up along geographical lines as originally rumored. Instead, it seems that for political reasons the teams were divided more or less along their pre-conflict league allegiances – even though the new Minnesota team is part of the NASL but will play in the USL conference. While two separate conferences, the USSF said today that there will be complete interplay between both conferences.
Another important point to note is that the USSF has stressed that this is simply a temporary compromise for 2010. The USSF is not looking to run a professional league permanently, instead, 2010 will give all parties involved ample time to hammer out the final details for division II sanctioning in 2011 and beyond.
For further analysis on this subject, we recommend to excellent pieces:
> David Fellerath has a good recaps at TriangleOffense: Gulati and USSF step in: D2 soccer saved for 2010; outlook for 2011 still unclear
> Brian Quarstad as always with great analysis at InsideMinnesotaSoccer: US Soccer Press Conference Reveals More Details Concerning Resolution of NASL and USL
