On Wednesday the second-division United Soccer League announced a 2019 expansion team in Albuquerque, N.M., and the city was quickly added to the USL website with six others that have been granted future franchises.

Not among them: San Diego.

1904 FC, the team that originally planned to play in the now-defunct North American Soccer League and then announced it was headed to the USL, is an orphan again. Club President Bob Watkins confirmed what multiple sources told the Union-Tribune, that the USL denied 1904 FC’s expansion application and the team’s exclusive negotiating window for San Diego County expired May 29.

“San Diego remains a very strong market of interest to the USL and we continue to make progress on our efforts there,” Lenny Santiago, USL’s vice president of communications and marketing, said in an email. “There is nothing more we can add at this time.”


Asked more specific questions about 1904 FC’s viability, Santiago declined to answer.

Bottom line: 1904 FC is a team without a league, again.

“1904 is not going anywhere,” Watkins said of the club named after SD’s numerical places in the alphabet. “We made a promise to do this, and we’re going to do it. All the pieces are still there.”

Watkins said there’s still a chance they could reach an agreement with USL for the 2019 season. He also admitted that “every day after June 30 it becomes more doubtful.”


Two alternatives are USL’s new Division III league set to begin in 2019 and the National Independent Soccer Association, which San Diego State alum and former U.S. national team star Eric Wynalda is trying to launch. Neither, however, offers the attendance and sponsorship levels that likely could support a $10 million stadium investment.

In the meantime, several members of the 1904 FC staff, including COO Ricardo Campos, have left the organization and haven’t been replaced. And the club has not applied for building permits at the 22-field SoCal Sports Complex in El Corazon Park, pushing the project further behind schedule.

“The stadium plans are completed and ready to deliver to Oceanside,” Watkins said. “But I don’t want to commit to that if we don’t know where we’re playing. … It’s a catch-22.”

Watkins said his group of international investors headed by Senegalese soccer player Demba Ba initially approached USL in late 2016 and was told the San Diego market was off limits. Their group instead joined the NASL with hopes of playing in 2018.


In September, the NASL’s provisional second-division status was rescinded by U.S. Soccer, the sport’s national governing body that regulates professional leagues. The NASL filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the federation and first-division Major League Soccer but failed in two attempts to obtain a restraining order that would temporarily restore second-division status.

NASL essentially folded in February, and 1904 FC announced “we are finalizing an agreement with the USL to begin play in 2019.” If the 10,000-seat Oceanside stadium wasn’t ready, they’d begin the season at USD’s 6,000-seat Torero Stadium.

But there was no formal announcement from USL, and talks have steadily deteriorated since. Some sources say 1904 FC was unwilling or unable to pay the reported $5 million expansion fee; others, like Watkins, say “it wasn’t about money” but details of stadium leases and incomplete documentation of the ownership’s net worth.

Another USL requirement, according to Watkins, is at least 20 percent local ownership since the primary investors — Ba and three other foreign soccer players — are based overseas. They have so far been unable to secure it.


“We’re a bit surprised at the San Diego marketplace from an investor point of view,” Watkins said. “There is a lot of enthusiasm for professional soccer and soccer in San Diego, but it’s hard to get them to part with their money. We’ve probably met with 40 to 50 groups in Southern California, extremely prominent people.

“We’ve invested to date nearly $5 million. We are not shying away from the project because we’re afraid. We’ve put the money in. We’ve had nothing but a positive reception to what we’re trying to get done. … But the soccer community itself is very fragmented to a certain degree. It makes it difficult when you’re trying to put together a deal.”


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mark.zeigler@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutzeigler