When the 2014 season comes to an end, the MLS Reserve League will cease to exist.

That means MLS teams looking to get meaningful minutes for their reserve players will have two options: Partner with a USL Pro team and loan players to U.S. soccer’s third-tier domestic league, or create their own USL Pro franchise, as the LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls have already done.

Rapids president Tim Hinchey said last week that in the long term he would love to have a USL Pro team — and a PDL team, for that matter — playing home games at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. But, he added, that’s a ways off, so the Rapids are actively pursuing a partner in the USL Pro.

“We’ve had conversations with a lot of different clubs. We started that process quite some time ago,” Hinchey said in a phone call on Friday. “I was actually meeting with a prospective club this weekend in New York.”

Hinchey declined to say more at the risk of jeopardizing negotiations.

“We’re certainly making progress and I think when we announce, it’ll make sense,” Hinchey said.

So, what are the chances the Rapids will partner up with the newly-created Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, which is scheduled to begin play in 2015? Depends on who you ask.

“Our current relationship is good,” Switchbacks FC president Nick Ragain said last week. “We’re having discussions with them and we’re both trying to figure out what this looks like. Whether it’s a local partnership, or whether it’s something else. All that hasn’t been worked out.”

Ragain is in the midst of an enormous project, launching the brand new USL Pro franchise, getting a stadium upgraded, fostering a strong supporter-group culture in Colorado Springs and trying to find an MLS dance partner. It’s a monumental checklist for a project he first got involved with in July 2013.

“Certainly, there’s some great advantages to a local partnership and we feel over the course of the next few months that we’ll be able to hone in on that and let everyone know when there’s further developments,” Ragain said. “If that’s with the Rapids or if that’s with someone else.”

It very well could be that Ragain’s Switchbacks FC will have to find another partner. Hinchey said the Rapids are not in talks with the Colorado Springs club about a possible partnership.

“We have no relationship with that club,” Hinchey said on Friday.

The Switchbacks, who were awarded a franchise in December 2013, were added shortly after the announcement of the MLS-USL Pro partnership.

“One thing that was unique about the timing when we entered the league is that we were basically the first franchise to come on board after the announcement of that relationship,” Ragain said. “And up to that point the relationships between the MLS teams and the USL Pro teams were based on friendships, really.”

When asked if perhaps the Rapids were caught off guard when nearby Colorado Springs got a USL Pro team, Ragain said that was certainly not the goal.

“We didn’t directly reach out — not that we didn’t want to reach out to perhaps the Rapids or perhaps another affiliate — but we were respecting the process,” Ragain said.

Ragain added that from his understanding, there were conversations between both leagues and the Rapids prior to the announcement of the new Colorado Springs franchise.

“Were they appraised on everything? I don’t know,” Ragain said. “We were not involved in those conversations. But we are speaking and we hope for the best.”

Ragain added that he’s also had talks with other MLS clubs about a potential affiliation, but declined to say which ones.

In the meantime, Ragain is focused on getting the green light from the Colorado Springs City Council for about a $2 million privately funded upgrade of Sand Creek Stadium, which he said was built in the 1980s by the U.S. Soccer Federation, boosting its capacity from 2,000 to 4,000.

“The goal is to sell that place out, every game,” Ragain said, adding that some of the top architectural minds in the world from the firm Populous Architects are working on the upgrade.

He said the club is looking at other successful USL Pro franchises, such as Sacramento Republic FC, as a template for building a new team and a fan base.

“Based on looking at both Major League Soccer teams and USL Pro soccer teams, the teams that have tended to be most successful are the ones that really fostered their supporters groups,” Ragain said.

Colorado Springs will zero in on the 18-34 demographic, who Ragain said brings more to the table than just attendance, and the club’s second target will be families and youth-soccer participants.

“Like any sports franchise, it doesn’t work without community, without people that feel that they participate and are of value,” Ragain said. “That’s a statement of: This is Colorado Springs’ team.”

On June 5, the club plans to unveil its crest at an event at Ivy Wild, 1604 S. Cascade Ave. in Colorado Springs, at 6:30 p.m.

In September, Colorado Springs hopes to host exhibition matches at Sand Creek Stadium, between two separate teams, if the upgrades are complete by then.

Daniel Boniface: 303-954-1104, dboniface@denverpost.com or twitter.com/danielboniface