Papadakis said USL teams “have invested more than $100 million into stadium development in the past year.” He described his league as “a highly sophisticated competition model that cultivates strong regional rivalries.”

The USL has more than doubled in size in the past three years. It intends to play with 30 teams, the Kickers included, in 2017. As the league’s shadow has expanded, so has its financial clout. Cowlishaw said USL’s expansion franchise fee, $250,000 in 2012, now hovers near $5 million.

USSF’s decision appears to have been a compromise of sorts. Neither USL nor NASL fully meets USSF’s standards for Division 2 certification. NASL is, at the moment, certain that only six teams will compete in 2017. Some USL members fall short in areas such as stadium capacity and field size.

Collateral damage apparently was taken into consideration. Insiders believe demotion to Division 3 would have sounded NASL’s death knell. Failure to attain Division 2 status would have angered USL, which, at the moment, seems by far the more viable of the two leagues.