Farewell Seattle & Atlanta – Welcome Austin & Cleveland

By: BoriQa | December 5th, 2008

The USL-1 farewells to the Seattle Sounders, who moved to the lesser (but better marketable) MLS; and the Atlanta Silverbacks, who are taking a time out in 2009.

At the same time the USL welcomes two new teams to the 1st division in 2009, the expansion team Austin Aztex FC; and the USL-2 Champions Cleveland City Stars, who got promoted to the 1st division.

The Aztex will kick off its inaugural season in the USL-First Division at Nelson Field in downtown Austin. Nelson Field seats up to 10,000 fans and features a new field turf pitch installed in 2007, as part of a $2 million renovation project. Krenzler Field is the new home of the Cleveland City Stars and just reopened this past fall after undergoing a $2.9 million renovation that has transformed it from just a soccer field to a year-round multi-use sports complex.

The two 1st division Canadian teams, the Montreal Impact and the Vancouver Whitecaps, are both reconsidering their bids to join the MLS, and are questioning the ridiculous MLS $40,000,000 USD franchise fee. They both should be back in the USL in 2009. Just 3 years ago the Toronto FC paid a $10,000,000 USD franchise fee to join the MLS, still ridiculous.

The overated MLS might be considered by some to be the United States’ “1st Division”, but recent history in the CONCACAF Champions League proves otherwise.

The USL must do a better marketing job, nobody argues that. They need a face lift–not on the field–as the league has done an outstanding job of growing quality on the field. But, they need to retool from a marketing standpoint.

With the addition of the Aztex and the City Stars, and the deletion of the Sounders and the Silverbacks, the TRUE 1st division! maintains a total of 11 teams for 2009, including the returning teams: Puerto Rico Islanders, Vancouver Whitecaps, Montreal Impact, Rochester Rhinos, Charleston Battery, Minnesota Thunder, Carolina Railhawks, Miami FC Blues and the Portland Timbers. Another team, the Tampa Bay Rowdies is scheduled to join the 1st division in 2010.