If there was ever a warning call to lower league soccer, one shook the soccer landscape today. In a story broken by The Athletic’s Jeff Rueter, “MLS is in the advanced planning stage of a lower-division league intended to serve as a link between MLS Next academies and first-team rosters.” The Next academy system has rapidly expanded to replace the DA that was disbanded by the Federation early during the pandemic.

But unlike the “MLS2” teams that have populated USL tiers up to this point, this new league would have much fewer roster restrictions. According to Rueter, “instead of being a strict U-23 or ‘reserves’ league, there isn’t expected to be an age cap or roster restriction on the number of over-age players per team. The idea is for the format to be flexible to be utilized however each MLS organization sees fit.” That all seems fairly benign to soccer fans unfamiliar with the cutthroat nature of lower league soccer. Especially so, when considering that “MLS is expected to file a third-division sanctioning request for the new league to the U.S. Soccer Federation this week.” The league is planned to launch in 2022, with a majority of MLS teams participating. This is going for the jugular.

MLS appears to be setting up its own farm system, from academy to “minor league” to MLS. In The Athletic article, Rueter points out that MLS can use this league for tinkering, developing talent, and expanding media share. What he doesn’t focus on is that these lower league teams will only serve to strangle the rest of tier three, by laying claim to third tier soccer with a perceived (and maybe real) advantage for players hoping to move up. Why play for another tier three league, USL 1 or NISA currently, if a player can cut the middle man and sign with an MLS side? Chris Kessell, an outspoken critic of MLS’s expansion offered his perspective. “The push towards the monopolization of soccer in the United States by MLS with their youth MLSNext League, this new reserve league, and even the delving in to recreational adult soccer by individual team owners is a worrisome development. Having a small group of individuals being gatekeepers to who is allowed access to the game is not a positive development to anyone interested in making sure soccer becomes increasingly representative to all groups and communities throughout the country.”

Fans of lower league soccer have wondered what it will take for the leagues to work together, if this isn’t it, there’s no hope. USL and NISA, NPSL and UPSL, the regionals, all have to come together. But already that seems to be too much to hope for. According to a source, at least one lower league national league has decided the winds are blowing elsewhere and is in talks to partner with the new MLS system. The rumored league is the UPSL. We are seeking confirmation from the UPSL at the time of this article. Once the league responds, we will include its statement.

Early in American history, even before the Declaration of Independence, the colonies were under threat from outside military action. Ben Franklin, a publisher in Philadelphia and future American statesman, published a political cartoon. The cartoon was of a snake, divided into 8 parts, each labeled with the initials of the colony it represented. Under the snake, the caption read “Join, or Die.” This is a crossroads for lower league soccer in this country. Either the leagues will join together, create something to rival the dominance of MLS or the pissing contests will continue and the fight will be over. Some, including myself, have been too passive in my criticism of MLS expansion. Now it’s time to battle.

Lower league soccer in the United States deserves more respect than to simply be the minor league system for MLS. There is beauty in our level of the game. Beauty that is UNMATCHED in the franchised, cookie-cutter MLS universe. MLS is squeezing the entire lower league system out of existence or, at least, into irrelevance. It’s time to Join, or Die.

- Dan Vaughn