As ladies’s soccer grows extra in america, a brand new league plans its emergence.
United Soccer League, which operates a number of lower-division competitions in america and Canada, announced the planned launch of new women’s league, the USL Tremendous League, in August 2024. Not like USL’s different organizations, this one will play on the highest division {of professional} soccer in america alongside the Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League (NWSL).
“Our intention is to make the USL Tremendous League globally acknowledged and admired for its monetary stability, operational excellence, neighborhood constructing and high-level competitors,” USL CEO Alec Papadakis mentioned. “We’re establishing and rising our nationwide footprint whereas making certain that each one our groups are homeowners or main tenants of a soccer stadium. We’re aligning our calendar and roster guidelines with the worldwide recreation.
The league nonetheless wants approval from U.S. Soccer, the game’s home governing physique. A professional league sanctioned by U.S. Soccer must check off a number of standards, such at the least of eight groups within the first yr (75% of which have to be based mostly in the united statesand play in metropolitan markets of at the least 1 million individuals), stadiums that seat at the least 15,000 individuals and one principal proprietor per crew with a web value of at the least $40 million.
Though the brand new league would turn out to be the second Division I ladies’s competitors within the U.S., it would not straight compete with the NWSL due to scheduling variations The USL Tremendous League video games will probably be performed from the autumn to the summer time, whereas the NWSL performs from the spring to the autumn.
USL Tremendous League crew websites
USL plans to open with 10-12 groups for the league’s inaugural season. Cities that may have already got groups embody Charlotte (N.C.), Dallas/Fort Value, Lexington (Kent.), Phoenix, Spokane (Wash.), Tampa Bay and Washington, D.C.
Different potential cities embody Chattanooga (Tenn.), Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Madison (Wisc.) and Oakland.
Ladies’s soccer recognition is on the rise
The NWSL has quickly grown because it was based in 2012. The league doubled from six to 12 groups from 2016-2022, and can add two more teams next season and another two teams by 2026.
Recognition-wise, the league drew a record 915,000 viewers for its 2022 title recreation on CBS between Portland Thorns FC and Kansas Metropolis Present — a 71% bump from the earlier season’s championship recreation. The NWSL is reportedly listening to other offers for its tv rights with the league’s present take care of CBS set to run out. A match between San Diego Wave FC and enlargement crew Angel Metropolis FC drew a league-record 32,000 reside followers as effectively.
That is the kind of publicity the USL Tremendous League hopes to attain in its inaugural season.
The league introduced it is working with the consulting firm Octagon to handle its media rights gross sales in addition to the experiences firm Legends for its partnership gross sales. Legends’ different purchasers embody international soccer manufacturers like FC Barcelona, Liverpool FC, Manchester City FC, Real Madrid CF and U.S. Soccer.
