Promotion/Relegation League System Part of US Soccer's '50 Year Plan'

Sunil Gulati (left), President of the US Soccer Federation (USSoccerPlayers.com)

A Stefan Fatsis article published Saturday on Slate Magazine's website has wrenched my attention from the World Cup for a minute. In the article, US Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati implies that a promotion/relegation league system with a fall-winter-spring season will be given a strong consideration by the USSF in the next 25 years.

According to Gulati, such changes are part of a 50 year plan aimed at cementing the United States' status at soccer's "adult table." Never mind that the plan was unheard of before last year. Never mind that there has been no serious talk of how to go about implementing such a plan in light of the MLS's fierce protection of its centralized franchise system and the inability of second tier professional leagues to maintain a viable business model. And never mind that it was more of a rhetorical reaction to FIFA president Sepp Blatter's joke that after a conceding 3 goals in the second half of the 3-2 loss to Brazil in the final of the 2009 Confederations Cup, the US would do well to remember that soccer is a game of two halves.

My main concern when it comes to a promotion/relegation league system in the United States is the question of financial and organizational viability. While a most of America's "big" sports have multi-tiered leagues, non of them are interconnected and most of them are set-up as player "farms" to feed top-tier teams. In fact, a number of second and third and even more fourth tier soccer teams in the United States have developmental ties to Major League Soccer franchises. If these teams were to become independent, self-determined entities, it may become more expensive for teams to recruit and develop players, which in turn may increase player development costs across all tiers.

So while Gulati's statements may be less of a concrete plan and more abstract conjecture, they have basis in a comforting truth: Soccer's progress in the United States over the past 25 years has been meteoric and the next 25 years may be even bigger.