SportsPro caught up with United Soccer League president Jake Edwards to find out why the organisation has introduced a new structure ahead of the 2019 season, and to discuss what opportunities that move is already opening up.

The United Soccer League (USL) has been keeping busy.

After being granted Division II status for the 2018 season – officially surpassing the faltering North American Soccer League (NASL) in the process – the league moved quickly to put plans in motion for a new structure that would closely mirror the lower-league model of English club soccer.

Those plans came to life in September last year, when the USL confirmed that its three leagues would be operating under one umbrella from the start of next season with a new brand identity and structure. The USL will remain as the overall league brand, with the second division becoming the USL Championship. The third tier, meanwhile, will be known as USL League One, while USL League Two, a player development league, will operate beneath that.

The restructure paves the way for a host of new commercial opportunities and has reignited talk of introducing promotion and relegation, something which Major League Soccer (MLS) has long resisted but which USL president Jake Edwards (right) says is already being discussed internally. A former player in England himself, Manchester-born Edwards is fully aware of the added entertainment value a system that allows teams to move up and down the leagues can bring, but there remains a constant emphasis on ensuring a high quality on-field product before any concrete changes are made.

The USL’s transformation also comes at a time when the organisation is flourishing. The league is expanding at a rapid rate – seven teams will join the USL Championship in 2019 – and a recent media rights deal with the ESPN+ over-the-top (OTT) subscription service has formed part of a wider digital strategy to reach a broader audience. Meanwhile, the presence of stars like the recently-retired Didier Drogba has boosted the global profile of the USL to unprecedented levels.

With all that in mind, SportsPro caught up with Edwards at Soccerex USA in Miami to discuss the USL’s recent rebrand, and to find out how it feeds into the organisation’s ambitious plan to build one of the best second-tier soccer leagues in the world.

What was the thinking behind the recent rebrand and restructure?

We’re launching a new professional league in 2019, and that gave us an opportunity to restructure and realign the three properties in a way that we felt would be recognisable for football fans in the US and abroad given the naming conventions being used in England, Scotland etc.

We wanted to give it a visual identity that was reflective of each division and the aspirations of each division, and something that we thought was reflective of our fanbase, which is energetic, fun, vibrant and dynamic.

So we went with the star and gold for the Championship; we wanted our current second division to no longer be identified in relation to other leagues or in a hierarchy, but given the trajectory of the league, media and commercial interests, the stadium building, the quality of the owners and all the things we want to do to build this league, giving it a name and a bit of gravitas to reflect where it is now and where it’s going was needed.

It’s still local, we’re still a local product for the communities that we’re in, but it is aspirational and we’re looking forward with this league, so I thought the gold and the star for the Championship was important to reflect that. Then League One is blue. It’s cool, steady, the first professional level of football in this country. And League Two is young, it’s red, it’s passionate – this is our pre-professional, amateur league with over 80 teams, and it’s predominantly a summer league occupied by the best college players in America, and most of those are going to get drafted to play professionally within the USL system.

What new commercial opportunities do you expect this to open up?

We’re centralising a lot of areas of the business now, so it’s always been important that we have a strong central league office, and we’re moving through some new territory now with the teams in terms of distribution of rights and aggregation of rights. So we’ve centralised all of our digital operations, we run all the websites and digital content for the teams, we’ve centralised the licensing programme so merchandise and licensing will all come through the same point.

You’ll see the commercial programme ramp up over the next 18 months. Each league will have its own identity, but it’s likely most of the centralised partnerships will penetrate all of the leagues. We think that’s one of the attractions with the USL - it has a massive footprint, it’s a big ecosystem. So what differentiates the USL from other leagues over here is that we reach players from the age of eight all the way to professional level, so we offer any partners access not just to professional players, clubs and fanbases, but also the youth community in and around those teams, and that is very different to other leagues over here.

We wanted to give it a visual identity that was reflective of each division and the aspirations of each division, and something that we thought was reflective of our fanbase, which is energetic, fun, vibrant and dynamic.

We’re also going to be launching some new competitions over the next two years. We’re working on an inter-league cup, a football league cup between the two divisions, so there are going to be a lot of commercial opportunities with some of those properties also.

Is promotion and relegation something that’s on the cards?

I can’t speak for MLS and I think they’ve made their position quite clear on it. In terms of our ecosystem, between our two divisions – and maybe one day our League Two as well – there may well be options for movement. I’ve played in that system my whole career, I’m very familiar with it, and I understand the ups and downs of it. The question is would that accelerate the growth of the sport here? Would that be better for attracting players to a more competitive league structure? Would it add value from an ownership point of view? So we have to weigh up all those things, and I think there’s a good conversation going on about it now.

But first we’ve got to focus on making our League One a really good professional league - we’ve got some great teams coming in, but there’s only ten teams. I think once we’ve got a structure where we’ve got enough teams, we’ve got the right venues, we’ve got the quality and the level of competition and the infrastructure built out, then I think you can start more realistically having those conversations.

We’ll have to do an analysis of the pros and cons, and if it does make sense we’ll have the infrastructure to do that. It could be a way to be more compelling, to differentiate the league, to have more fan engagement and more interest from the media. There are some inherent risks, obviously, but if there’s buy-in from everybody then we’ll be in a position to do that. I think our inter-league cup in 2020 gives us a first chance to have a look at the difference in quality, and how the better teams in League One would stand up against some of the teams in our Championship.

Louisville City celebrate winning the 2018 USL Cup - the new league structure could pave the way for promotion and relegation

What do you think this restructure means for the NASL?

I can’t speak to the future of that organisation. They’re currently in litigation with the federation about perhaps their future or their past. A number of teams that have left that organisation have felt better aligned with our business plan and our trajectory, and Ottawa, North Carolina, Indy and Tampa have come into our league and been hugely successful in their first year or two.

In terms of our ecosystem, between our two divisions – and maybe one day our League Two as well – there may well be options for movement. I’ve played in that system my whole career, I’m very familiar with it, and I understand the ups and downs of it.

It’s a big country, so there’s always going to be the ability for somebody to come in, set up leagues and try to put something together. Our view really is that more football is good – but football done in a sustainable way. It damages all of us if it’s boom and bust – if you don’t have the right plan and teams or leagues are setting up and shutting down it’s not good for anyone in the game, so I think when we’re expanding and looking to go into new markets, it’s got to be done in the right way.

How much of a blow is it when a team from one of your bigger markets makes the move up to MLS?

Over the last decade or more we’ve had a number of teams that have built their brand, built their clubs and their fanbase in the USL, and you get a sense of pride about that when the likes of Seattle and Portland move up and are successful. The reality is that in those instances, when a team has done well and moved into MLS, it’s been replaced by one or more equally or more successful clubs. We’ve got huge interest in our league right now, we’re going to see some amazing groups coming in and big stadiums being built, so I think it’s all part of the momentum of the league.

I want all our teams to be successful on and off the field, and now we’re getting to the point where the vast majority of our teams are. Teams moving on is not a permanent situation. It is disruptive; it’s disruptive for other teams in our league, it is disruptive for the continuity and some of the things we do, but that’s going to come to an end in a few years, and then I think that’ll really help everybody in terms of settling down the marketplace.

The USL prides itself on building franchises that are closely connected to their local community

Is bringing in international stars like Didier Drogba a key strategy for building the profile of the USL?

Ultimately, we have to be a league that’s thinking football-first. We’re in a very tough business market in the US, so we’ve got to get the business right, but we also need to be first and foremost thinking about football, because if the football’s not good enough, the rest won’t work. That means better coaches coming in all the time and recruiting better players.

Having a player like Didier Drogba in Phoenix, Joe Cole in Tampa and many others we’ve had around the league with Premier League experience or international experience builds our importance for players in other countries. So when you’ve got a couple of marquee players in the league and they’re very active on social media it can only be a good thing – and it has a great impact for us. So I think we’ll see more of that, and I think you’ll see more of our teams going overseas in the off-season to markets that they may be doing business in.

You’ve recently done deals with ESPN+ and WSC Sports. Is ramping up your digital output something you’ve been focused on as a league?

100 per cent. It’s the fastest growing area of our business – we’ve hired more people in the last 18 months on content production than anywhere else. We are a football league, but we do look at ourselves as a content producer. Certainly in the US market, you’ve got to be a content producer, you’ve got to be digitally-focused, but you’ve got to have good content and it has to be packaged well and look good. That starts with having quality on the pitch; you’ve got to have things you can put out there that people are impressed with. You’ve also got to have fun content with human stories that get the players involved.

Ultimately, we have to be a league that’s thinking football-first. We’re in a very tough business market in the US, so we’ve got to get the business right, but we also need to be first and foremost thinking about football, because if the football’s not good enough, the rest won’t work.

It’s also important that we have other people amplifying the content and creating content of their own about the USL. There’s only so much content you can produce from the league office that fans are going to engage with, because our reach is what our reach is. We’re trying to grow it but when you have partners like Copa90 and WSC they have their own spin and their own way, but they’re liking the content, and they’re packaging it for their fans who are then engaging with it, so it just increases the spotlight on our league.

The global profile of the USL has grown in recent years thanks to the presence of international stars such as Didier Drogba

What’s the ultimate goal? Is it to be up there competing as one of the best second-tier soccer leagues in the world?

I think there are some wonderful second division leagues around the world that are doing things right at a very high level. We’re very young here, we’re eight years into this mission, so it’s absolutely to be up there as one of the top second divisions in the world.

But it is interesting in America you have this perception that you’re constantly trying to overcome that if you’re not the major league, then it’s not a big deal. Then if you look at the Championship in England as a second division it’s the fifth largest league in Europe – it stacks up against all the top first division leagues in Europe. The good thing about America is you’ve got an amazing opportunity because there’s no limit to how big you can become and how impressive this can be. So yes, it’s about being the best at what we do, and challenging ourselves to be in that mix of the top second division leagues in the world.

We’ve got a great plan, and over the next five years you’ll start to see it taking shape with these 10,000 to 15,000-seater stadiums we’re building and the new media and commercial partnerships – there are a lot of exciting things happening. So we’ve got to keep it steady, keep building from the first teams down to the youth academy programs in our clubs and see if we can get to that level – and I think we will.