Whether through affiliation or otherwise, New York City FC hope to have a USL Pro franchise representing their banner by next year.

“[Director of Football] Claudio [Reyna] and I have been out there having discussions with a lot of potential partners,” team CBO Tim Pernetti told reporters at the team’s YES Network press conference. “We have some really good options and expect to roll something out in the new year.”

The pursuit of a USL Pro side follows in line with an MLS-wide initiative encouraging clubs to either find an affiliate within the third division or begin a team from scratch to compete in the league. The idea, of course, is to give expanded roster opportunities to bench and depth players in a competitive atmosphere, thus taking the place of the MLS reserve league, which will be abolished for the 2015 season.

“We intend to be right in line with the rest of the league but we are taking time to view all our options,” Pernetti declared.

Of the current 24 teams under the USL Pro umbrella, only the Charleston Battery, Colorado Springs Switchbacks, Orange County Blues, St. Louis FC, Tulsa Roughnecks and the Wilmington Hammerheads are without affiliation. As for whether NYCFC will take on the added expense of a USL Pro side or simply encourage an affiliation deal, Pernetti simply said “it depends.”

“Depending on the few partners that we’ve talked to, the relationships are different in every case. There are some that are more involved with more investment. There are some that are more affiliations,” Pernetti explains.

“All of them service the technical side obviously, we intend to be right in line with the rest of the league, but we’re taking our time to make sure we’re looking at all of our options.”