Since the United States did not make the World Cup, everyone has been playing the blame game. You can say what you want about US Soccer as a whole, but the fact is is that something needs to change, and that starts with an improvement in developing American youth.

One reason people create local clubs in the PDL/NPSL/UPSL is to give players in their local communities a chance to continue to play the beautiful game. But what else can we do? Well in my mind, US Soccer needs to create a Professional U23 league, one made up of academies from all of Division 1, 2, and 3. Let me explain.

Now, all MLS teams have academies and some teams in the NASL/USL do as well. North Carolina FC started their academy in early 2017 as an effort to get MLS. But there are several MLS teams who do not have a reserve team in the USL or a U23 team. There are only three clubs in the MLS that have a reserve team in the USL and a U23 team.

As of right now, there are four MLS clubs that functionally field a U23 club (Colorado, Portland, Seattle, and New York Red Bulls), six clubs in the USL (Nashville, Orange County, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, and Birmingham), two in the NASL (North Carolina FC and Jacksonville), and one in the UPSL (FC Boulder). Now all of the clubs field their teams in the PDL except for Jacksonville, whose team is in the NPSL.

What if all the teams in Division 1, 2, and 3 were required to have one?

Partnerships and Acquisitions

Currently, a common trend with several USL clubs is having a partnership with PDL sides. For the 2017 season, the Charleston Battery announced partnerships with three PDL clubs.

South Georgia Tormenta FC, Tri-Cities FC, and the Myrtle Beach Mutiny were the three that Charleston selected. Even though most of these deals are set up for the season, they aren't necessarily the most beneficial, but more a product of a flawed system.

Another trend is a professional team acquiring a PDL or other lower division side outright. Phoenix Rising did this in October… and I am a fan of this.

With the PDL side playing in another city, this allows soccer fans in the Tucson area to support their local club without it feeling like it is merely a USL2 sort of relationship.

My suggested League setup

So how will this work? For the purpose of this, I will include 2017's 23 teams in the MLS, 8 teams in the NASL, and the 30 teams in the USL so everyone isn't too confused. If you add all those up, then you get 61.

(Now I understand that teams are changing leagues, expansion is real, USL D3 plans to add a bunch of teams in their new league in 2019, and everything is fluid in lower-division American soccer. Just go with 61 for this example.)

So you start with 61 MLS/USL/NASL teams all required to have academy teams. Now that would seem like a lot of travel, but that problem can be eliminated. Split the country up into conferences, East and West, or East Central and West, or North South Central and West. I know 61 is difficult to divide evenly… but that’s okay too. With the craziness that is US Soccer, it will almost never be a perfect even number.

Why Create This League?

With the United States failing to make the World Cup, there has been a ton of talk on what steps the US needs to take. Some say new coaches, presidents, leaders in charge. Some blame the leagues themselves and say there’s not enough US players overseas, and some say we failed to make it because we don’t have Pro/Rel. However, with the creation of a U23 league formed around each professional team’s required academy, we can help solve the problem of development.

A lot of players go play in college during school and then play for PDL sides in the summer as amateurs, following NCAA rules. But the division between the college seasons and PDL, the time off, the switching between cities and coaches and systems… it’s not ideal. If there was a U23 League that players joined out of high school, we could develop younger players faster and more effectively.

Making these players pros will make them ineligible for college soccer, but maybe that’s okay. Maybe college soccer needs to change. Maybe it could go away completely? Players could get their education from college and develop their game at their academy U23 league team during their four years. Or they could go to college and play for college teams while other players choose to go pro and join the U23 league, there’s certainly enough high school players to fill both.