The competition will feature a Modern Professional Era (1995-present) record 64 teams, including every US-based professional club in the American soccer pyramid from Major League Soccer (16 teams), the North American Soccer League (6 teams), and USL PRO (10 teams). The remaining 32 spots will be filled by amateur clubs from the Premier Development League (16 teams), United States Adult Soccer Association (9 teams), National Premier Soccer League (6.5 teams), and US Club Soccer (0.5 team). An NPSL club will square off with a representative from US Club Soccer for a spot in the 2012 competition.

Another major change will be in the hosting format. The bidding process has been stripped out through the quarterfinals. Each team can apply to host each round and if both teams’ venues meet USSF’s standards, the federation will conduct a blind draw to determine the host. In the past, in addition to meeting USSF venue standards, teams would have to submit a financial bid, and the team that bid the most was awarded the home game. The old bidding method will still be used for the semifinal and finals of the tournament.

Lastly, another change will be when the competition begins. The first four rounds of the 2012 Open Cup will taking place on consecutive weeks. The tournament will begin on May 15 – the earliest the Open Cup has begun in the Modern Pro Era – with the 32 amateur clubs matching up in geographic fashion.

The winners of those games will move on to Round 2 the following week, May 22, where the 16 NASL and USL PRO clubs will enter.

The week after that, on May 29, Major League Soccer will take on the Second Round winners. With the number of teams, a fourth round will added and will take place June 5. The Cup hasn’t had a fourth round since a four-year run from 2003-06.

Three weeks later, the tournament will hold the Quarterfinals on June 26, followed by the Semifinals on July 10, and the Open Cup Final on either August 7 or 8.

Owner Phil Rawlins is likely to announce the move next week as he has been unable to find new investors in the Austin area for the club. Rawlins also wanted to find ways to cut his losses a bit and lower travel costs as the nearest club this past year to Austin was St. Louis, which is 850 miles away.

This news is a bit of a shock considering the Aztex had the greats increase in attendance this past season and were one of the top clubs in the USSF D-2.

Rawlins attended meetings recently with both the NASL and the USL-Pro. Some saw Austin as a final piece for the NASL’s bid for a D-2 league that is currently under review. Currently the NASL only has six clubs with the Carolina RailHawks, FC Edmonton, Miami FC, Montreal Impact, FC Tampa Bay and the Puerto Rico Islanders. Both St. Louis and Minnesota are attempting to find new owners or investors for their clubs which could bring the tally to eight clubs.

It stinks to see a club like this have to relocate due to the lack of teams near by in their division. I know the USL Pro is going to be set up in a way to promote regional play and lower travel costs. Its just too bad the league couldn’t find investors in areas closer to Austin.

For more on the Austin move to Orlando, check out the IMS article from earlier today.

The new USL PRO league. (Image borrowed from uslsoccer.com)

File this in the “it didn’t shock me” category. The United Soccer League announced today that they would be merging their first and second divisions next year to become the new USL PRO division, a second division under Major League Soccer in the American soccer pyramid.

It sounds like this new USL could be possibly more aligned with MLS in terms of player development.

Team owners and league officials are meeting in Tampa, Florida today to lay the groundwork for the 2011 debut of USL PRO, which will be governed by team owners and present the highest level of competition in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean outside of Major League Soccer (MLS).

USL PRO is a national league featuring a regional competition model to build natural rivalries and reduce travel-related costs. The U.S. Soccer Federation-affiliated league benefits from the leadership of the dedicated and experienced professional staff at USL’s Tampa headquarters as well as the developmental support of USL’s proven and integrated system of leagues.

USL PRO will consist of as many as four geographic regions in 2011. Teams scheduled to compete in USL PRO in 2011 will be announced in the coming weeks.

My guess on who will be in this USL PRO league looks something like this:

Austin Aztex, Charleston Battery, Charlotte Eagles, Harrisburg City Islanders, Pittsburgh Riverhounds, Real Maryland Monarchs, Richmond Rickers, and at least three potential expansions teams in Orlando, San Antonio, and possibly Phoenix.

Now I’m purely speculating over the three expansion teams and that fact that all the USL-2 teams will join the PRO league next year. Its very possible that the USL will move some of their Premier Development League teams up as well. More than likely the Dayton Dutch Lions will be a D-2 team in this new model next year as well.

I like the idea of breaking up the league into different geographical locations to reduce travel costs and what not. How they actually go about doing it will be interesting to see. I think it will also be interesting to see how the US Open Cup is laid out for next year with the USL and NASL splitting for good here.

This news comes after last week’s announcement that the NASL would be submitting their bid for the 2011 season to the USSF with 10 teams. The teams in the proposed NASL would be the Carolina RailHawks, the Puerto Rico Islanders, the Montreal Impact, the FC Tampa Bay Rowdies, Miami FC Blues, the Rochester Rhinos, NSC Minnesota Stars, Crystal Palace Baltimore, AC St. Louis and FC Edmonton, an expansion franchise.

So which league will thrive more? This new USL model or the NASL?

MEDIA ADVISORY/PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

WHAT: Major Announcement regarding Orlando’s newest professional sports franchise

WHEN: 2 p.m., Thursday, March 4, 2010

WHERE: Courtyard by Marriott, 730 North Magnolia Ave., Orlando

WHO: Orlando Titans President Steve Donner; United Soccer Leagues President Tim Holt, Central Florida Kraze Head Coach Joe Avallone

DETAILS: Media requiring additional details should contact Jay Preble at 813.373.9451 or Dan Pearson at 407.601.6516, ext. 313. Light snacks and drinks will be served.

USL Public Relations – Jay Preble / Gerald Barnhart / Jason Minnick – Tampa, FL – 813.963.3909 – Twitter: USLsoccer

I guess we’ll know more by the end of the day about this new team in Orlando.

I’ve thought long and hard on Orlando’s chances as a MLS city before. But something this past weekend gave me a reason to think about it a little more. I think the Pro Soccer Classic at Disney World was a hit for both the city and for the MLS teams involved.

Now of course it was preseason action which means it counts for nearly nothing but in the long run this tournament, which should become an annual destination for preseason play could ultimately help the southeastern part of the country get soccer back for good in MLS.

I still believe we are years away from seeing MLS-level soccer in Florida or in the south. Let me just say that from the start here. As much as some would love to see Miami, or even Tampa Bay (man I miss those days)…or even Atlanta or somewhere in North Carolina, the one city that we tend to forget is Orlando.

The market is a decent sports market. The Magic seem well supported and there’s always been talk of adding other professional sports to the city. A MLS team wouldn’t be competing with any other pro-level sport except for late regular and post season Hoops in the NBA. And I’d be willing to think that it could attract some decent talent from overseas due to it being a popular city with foreigners.

Now of course there is no current ownership group in line and the league has never really made Orlando a top choice to expand to and there would be the need for a new stadium to be built. But as Jeff Leadbeater points out it would be a cheaper option than say attracting a MLB club to the city.

Again, it is just a thought. There’s no current talk of anything remotely happening in Orlando that would get them above a Montreal for a MLS expansion slot right now but I’d honestly love to see this city be taken a little more serious if the right pieces fell in line. I know there are a lot of “ifs” in place with this but we’re always looking for a good market for this league and this could be one.

We all mostly agree that MLS needs to eventually go back to the South at some point in the future so why not Orlando?

Today he has added a new podcast/video interview with NASL or USSF Div II Carolina Railhawks Brian Plotkin. The two discuss the crazy offseason that surrounded the USL/NASL/USSF Div 2 as well as some other items.

Enjoy.

Crystal Palace Baltimore Stadium rendering. (Photo via CPUSA)

A little mid-day stadium porn for you. And believe me some MLS teams would love to have this stadium right now.

The Maryland Stadium Authority approved a $100,000 study on Tuesday to explore the viability of building a professional soccer stadium in Baltimore. Both DC United and the USSF Division II’s Crystal Palace Baltimore are being looked at in this study.

The renderings though are for CP Baltimore. A cozy little venue with a roof over all the seats with one end open for probably a party deck of some sorts. I like it…a lot.

The league will consist of two six-team conferences –  the USL conference and the NASL conference.

The USL Conference will include:

Austin, Minnesota, Portland, Puerto Rico, Rochester and Tampa Bay.

The NASL Conference will include:

Baltimore, Carolina, Miami, Montreal, St. Louis and Vancouver.

We will hear back in the coming days/weeks about the league rules, name, schedules, etc.

More on this to come after the conference call…

According to a press release (see below) sent out by the USSF, both sides failed to meet certain requirements to be sanctioned.

CHICAGO (Dec. 30, 2009) – The U.S. Soccer Board of Directors voted unanimously on Tuesday to not sanction either the USL or the NASL to operate a Division II professional league in 2010.

The decision was made on the recommendation of the Professional League Task Force, which determined that neither organization on its own was able to provide a viable and sustainable operation during the upcoming season. Both organizations were unable to meet U.S. Soccer’s requirement of a minimum of eight viable teams for 2010.

Despite the ruling, the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors has given both organizations seven days to try to work out an interim solution for the 2010 season.

“After carefully reviewing the findings from the Task Force it was clear there are still too many uncertainties for both organizations, which would be extremely difficult to resolve in a timely fashion that would allow them to prepare for the 2010 season,” said U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati. “In the best interest of soccer in the United States, we decided to not sanction either league at this point. However, we did encourage both leagues to come together in the next week and attempt to develop another plan which would allow a single league to be approved on a provisional basis. We are committed to finding ways to improve the long-term viability of all leagues and teams and continue the growth of soccer in the United States.”

Now things go back to the board room and both sides will have to some how work together to find a resolution. I think in a way it favors the USL side more than anything. Something about this just lets me think that even though the USL won’t be sanctioned for next year it does help them out in possibly getting some clubs back in their corner. The lawsuits obviously had something to do with this ruling as well.

Again, I’m not shocked by this ruling. I won’t say right now whether or not this is the right ruling by the USSF or the wrong ruling but I will say I am just not shocked by it. I think the USSF wants one single division two league here and not two separate leagues.

I know a lot of folks will not like this ruling but its the hand that has been given right now. Just another fun chapter in this story. I do think both sides need to just hug it out and settle their issues here.

The three clubs had allegedly�committed�contractually to play 2010 in USL�s First Division but instead opted to play in the yet to be sanctioned North American Soccer League. (Here is a link to the court filing.)

Seeing the league sue these clubs is probably a bit about protecting their best interest and I don’t think we can blame them for doing so since these clubs were slated to be apart of the USL in 2010.

I’m sure this was one thing the meeting with the USSF wanted to avoid here. Going down this road has to be a troubling path for both sides. This whole time I haven’t really been on either side of the fence between the USL and NASL. I like some things both have done but I’ve tried to stay as neutral as I can here with it. I do think though right now the NASL needs to cool their jets a bit though. They are a very ambitious bunch that still has loads of work to do like putting schedules together, getting a front office, doing some PR, etc. All that and more with only a few months time to do it in.

If the NASL wanted a season so bad in 2010, they should have decided to do a shorter season to get their stuff in gear before doing an actual full season in 2011. Sort of a dry opening before the grand opening if you will.

Now as far as the USSF goes, they need to act quickly here to cool the bad press that will come of this news. We know they put together a little “task force” to over see things here with this mess but really that won’t be good enough here. It’s pretty clear the USSF has no real stance on this situation right now, other than being sort of confused I think.

This messy situation just keeps getting messier.