In a perfect world, there would be no COVID, student loans wouldn’t exist, and everyone would remember your birthday. In that perfect world, there would, of course, be a perfect soccer pyramid and every deserving, well-functioning club would progress up the ladder through regular promotion. But there are no perfect worlds, so we have been dealing with a pandemic for almost 2 years, student loan debt is out of control, and I didn’t remember your birthday, or my mom’s, or my boss’. Oh, and we have one of the most convoluted soccer systems in the world, where no matter how good your club is, there is no promotion. You are in the league you are in until you either go out of business or move yourself to another league.

Minneapolis City SC, founded in 2016, has been the quintessential lower league success story. Originally the offshoot of Stegman’s SC, another Dan Hoedeman project, the Crows played their first season in the Premier League of America (RIP) before joining the NPSL and becoming a fixture in the Midwest Division. Each year, the club built off its strength, making small steps each year to expand operations that fit the budget. As member-elected chairman Dan Hoedeman puts it "We [club co-founders Dan Hoedeman and Jon Bisswurm] don't make our living in soccer. We like soccer, but we're not ‘soccer people’, right? There are all these ‘soccer people’ who have been around for a long, long time. And we did things differently than they did.” The club embraced that approach, doing things differently, all while growing their brand well beyond the mid-sized midwestern city of Minneapolis.

Each year the club released kits that were the must-have of that season. They partnered with European-based street artists to produce guerilla style murals across their home city. They established one of the first amateur club shops in the United States. And while the club gained plenty of hatred from rivals, across the world Minneapolis City has grown into one of the best known American amateur soccer clubs.

Lest you think all that growth is fluff and no substance, the team also continuously expanded its operations to impact the youth talent of its hometown. The team has always prioritized playing talent from the local community, but the creation of the Futures program took it to the next level. Launched just before the onset of the COVID pandemic, the program created a program that featured four “teams” with distinct branding to play each other and benefit from expert level coaching from MPLS City staff. Just last year, the team decided to foray into the UPSL and created a U23 team to play in the other national amateur league. These are the kind of moves that any city would celebrate and highlight as Minnesotans taking care of their own.

For Hoedeman, where the club played was less important than what his players got from the experience. “I think that the truth is, the Northern Guard have it right: it's ‘Club over League.’ What I care about is the club. I care about the players, the staff, and the fans and I want to do the things that are right for them...and though a lot of people are passionate about leagues, all I care about is Minneapolis City. It's the thing that matters and I want it to be the best for our players, our staff, and our fans.”

Over the last four years, the team has won - A LOT. In the NPSL, the team lost three regular season matches over that span of time (with one season being completely cancelled due to pandemic). Two of those losses came after the team had already clinched the conference. It’s hard to not feel that MPLS City has outgrown the talent level of the NPSL. “In the NPSL, we're expected to win every game.” Given that expectation, having the best team possible was a must for the Minneapolis club. The issue then, according to Hoedeman, is ensuring that the talent that pulls on the black and white remains top tier, especially as other leagues have begun expanding into the northern midwest. This is not a perfect world and a solution was necessary to solve the problem.

So this year, the team has decided to make a move - a big one in lower league soccer. The team is joining USL2 and will begin play in 2023. But rather than exiting the NPSL, the club will carry one large team and play both leagues. Hoedeman pointed out the examples of FC Motown and Westchester United, who both currently play in the USL2 and the NPSL.

For some in the lower league soccer community, the common refrain, each time a team joins the USL fold, is POACHING. But according to Hoedeman, “No, we were absolutely not approached by them. We looked at a number of different options, because we're going to keep the club alive and thriving no matter what we have to do...I think they were excited to hear from us. I've heard a lot on the sidelines of the Soccer Wars, poaching, and all that, but I'll say I haven't seen it. I haven't heard it. Maybe it's just me and nobody wants to poach us! Ha. I don't know.”

But Hoedeman’s perspective on Soccer Wars goes even further. “I do think it's overblown, in my opinion. Having been in all the amateur leagues, having seen and talked to them, they are doing the same things. You look at it and, okay, which League makes you pay an expansion fee? UPSL, NPSL, and USL do. Which one makes you pay dues? All of them. So then it becomes about what do you get from them because you just through the same hoops, but there are differences. For us, we wanted to level up. Our players want us to get better. Our fans want us to get better. Right now, there's no better team at the amateur level in the country than Des Moines Menace. I saw them play, and they are nasty, just nasty. And you know what? I'd love to go into a game with trepidation.”

The club plans to transition its U23 side into the senior side to create a team that would play the full seasons of NPSL and USL concurrently, not unlike a Premier League team balancing the demands of league, cup, and continental competition. The UPSL side would continue to function, full of current Futures’ players. The club is the priority, the league is secondary. And in this scenario, all leagues will see the Crows on the schedule.

With all this being said, speculation about the future of the NPSL feels appropriate and in order. In the last 3 years, the league has watched its best-run, legacy-type clubs exit. Detroit City and Chattanooga exited through the pro route, not even leaving a developmental wing in the league (DCFC placed one in the Midwest Premier League last season). Maybe those clubs couldn’t be held back, given their aspirations, but look at the rest of the list: MPLS City, FC Motown, Grand Rapids FC, FC Wichita, Little Rock Rangers, Asheville City, PDX FC, AFC Ann Arbor. These clubs were once pillars of conferences, now either entirely gone or just lingering in the league. There are serious questions about the health of this league that need to be answered by the front office.

The vast majority of these clubs refuse to go on the record about their motives, aside from the perceived leveling up for player development. Almost zero criticism of the league is mentioned in interviews, but rumors abound around the edges about favoritism, tone-deaf leadership, and a stale approach to league management. With threats of fines and backroom chastisement, few rumors get the opportunity to solidify, so the league remains foggy to anyone outside the inner circle, including clubs in the league. But there are issues, real issues.

The UPSL’s new ownership continues to expand across the map, becoming the common denominator, low-entry national league, while NISA Nation is embracing the regional league approach and a self-described means towards professionalism, where does that leave the NPSL? What is the vision of this once-dominant league? How many more clubs will exit the same way the great clubs of the past have exited? How does this league staunch the bleeding? How does the NPSL distinguish itself from its competitors?

In the sport of soccer, if you aren’t growing, you’re dying. And while the NPSL has propped itself up with the addition of new clubs, none are at the level of the departing names. The league has to find a way to repair the internal machinery that seems to be wanting. Clubs leave for a reason and every cornerstone club that exits takes another bit of the league’s waning reputation. Ignore it at your own peril, NPSL, because this isn’t a perfect world.

- Dan Vaughn