After this week announcing the additions of the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Ottawa Fury for 2017, USL president Jake Edwards has already started on the path to further expand his league.
In a wide-ranging interview with NBC Sports, Edwards said he envisions adding a Central Conference to the current Eastern/Western makeup as soon as 2018, adding that each conference could house 12-14 clubs.
This year, 29 sides competed in the USL, with Louisville City FC’s 60 points earned in 30 regular-season games second behind only eventual champion New York Red Bulls II.
“Expansion will continue for a little longer,” Edwards told NBC Sports. “We are in discussions with eight really good markets now. In terms of where we are looking to expand, we have a lot of good clubs on the East Coast but we are looking in the South East and certainly the South West as the two areas we need to prioritize to start connecting some of those cities together.
“We are in a number of advanced conversations so there will be some more announcements on expansion coming probably in the early part of next year.”
Edwards said an emphasis when making additions is building regional rivalries. Nashville SC will begin play in 2018, while FC Cincinnati launched in 2016. LouCity and Saint Louis FC debuted in 2015, building what figures to be the future Central Conference.
Edwards also discussed the prospects of promotion and relegation in the United States, gauged the success of Major League Soccer partnerships within the USL and updated the USL’s progress with its bid for Division II status, which he called a “long, rigorous process.”
Read the full interview here: http://bit.ly/2ejgIGH.
