Thursday, June 19, 2008

United Soccer League Expansion To Tampa

Ives Galarcep notes that the United Soccer League Division 1 will have a team in Tampa shortly. Since the demise of the Tampa Bay Mutiny from the MLS, Tampa has been without a professional team.

One interesting note in the development of USL-1 is that they have come to nearly monopolize the southeast with teams in North Carolina (Carolina Railhawks), Atlanta (The Silverbacks), Charleston, SC (Battery), Miami (FC Blues), and Puerto Rico (Islanders). I am not sure why the MLS has not been looking to this region of the country to grow teams.

To be sure, with this kind of geographic development, it would be nice to see a merger between MLS and USL to form a real league with promotion/relegation, but for business reasons that is not likely to happen anytime soon.

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