Last week, NPSL’s Laredo Heat announced they would be creating a UPSL side to allow developing talent more opportunity for playing time. In the press release, Matt Kahla, UPSL national director, saw the move as a net positive, “Laredo Heat is expanding operations and looking to the UPSL as part of their plan. That's a tremendous vote of confidence for the UPSL, and we are definitely looking forward to Laredo Heat SC's contributions moving forward." The move by an NPSL side to create an incubator club in the UPSL has been a recent trend so I reached out to J.J. Vela, Laredo Heat GM, to learn more about the move and how he sees the relationship between the two big national amateur leagues.

Some fans see UPSL and NPSL as competitors, how do you see that relationship?

The fans are right and I see the NPSL, USL2 and UPSL as competitors in the general scheme of the U.S. soccer landscape; however, each league serves a different type of "clientele". We were members of the former USL2 (the PDL) for many years and now have competed in the NPSL for two seasons and this coming 2020 Spring and Fall Season, we will have a team in the UPSL which we have named the Heat 2 since we will still compete in the NPSL during the 2020 Summer Season as the Laredo Heat SC, the team that has been competing since 2004 (except for the two year hiatus in 2016/2017). The relationship between the leagues is cordial and professional, in my experience, all three leagues function within their respective markets (even if there are teams from the different league within the market) and it's really up to each club to market itself to the community and most importantly, what type of team each one wants to showcase on the pitch. We would be lying to ourselves if we did not acknowledge that within each league, there are teams that are run very, very professionally and compete year in and year out for league championships while others are managed with minimum budgets and do only what is expected in terms of minimum standards on game days, on and off the field.

What is the talent differential between the two leagues in your opinion?

Again, not only the difference between the NPSL and UPSL but between the NPSL, USL2 and UPSL. Each league, by virtue of where their member club is located, the type of player they recruit and the level of professionalism they bring to their community (at the end of the day, we are all amateur clubs) can have very competitive and talented players. In previous years, due to the U.S. Open Cup Tournament, we have seen teams from the amateur levels of U.S. Soccer not only compete but thrive versus teams from our Tier Two (USL Championship) and Tier Three (USL League One and NISA) professional leagues so the player talent is there in all three leagues, the only difference in the "talent level" between the league's has to do with what I mentioned above, where the club is located and the player they recruit to play during their respective seasons (NPSL & USL2, summer only as you know).

Long-term, do you see the UPSL and NPSL creating a formal agreement?

I do not, each league serves a different type of soccer "client / investor". The league fees vary so much between the three leagues that a team like the Florida Soccer Soldiers (UPSL) who had a great U.S. Open Cup last year would see no reason to join the NPSL or USL2 for the same type of access to competition. For us as an organization, as an example, we left the PDL (USL2) after the 2015 season because there were only four teams in the division for three years (2013, 2014, 2015) and travel just got too expensive, not to mention, not enough teams to market a season to fans and sponsors. In 2018 when we returned to play, we went with the NPSL because of the # of teams in the conference and the conference was much more regionalized though the USL2 has gotten better traction in the State of Texas.

Will talent move between the two sides?

In terms of talent, it has and will continue to move between the different teams in the NPSL, USL2 and UPSL since none of us nor the players really have any type of contractual obligation to each other (being amateur teams). In the two years that we have played in the NPSL, we have registered players with experience in the USL2 and UPSL, some even as far away as California and New York...they were just college players looking for the best option to play summer soccer to showcase their talent. In addition, we (the Laredo Heat SC) feel we are an excellent option for college players looking to play in a professional setting during the summer months and with our relationship / affiliation with FC Helsingor from Denmark, many players with no college eligibility left can also benefit playing for our NPSL side.

What is clear to us is that there is an unspoken hierarchy in the grassroots game, regardless of what league officials might say. That hierarchy (which may not be entirely based on fact, but certainly lives in perception) of amateur leagues (and the clubs that fill them) goes something like: city league<regional league<UPSL<NPSL<USL2. One big question mark currently is where a league like Gulf Coast Premier League (and it’s soon to come expansion Mountain Premier League) fits into this hierarchy. The GCPL lost four clubs to the NPSL in this year’s offseason, so it’s safe to assume those clubs saw the jump to the NPSL as an upgrade (which may or may not be true). Also note, NISA wasn’t mentioned because it’s not an amateur league.

One of the big complaints often thrown at the U.S. Soccer Federation is the lack of organization and tier designation. That complaint is vital to the landscape, because if USSF doesn’t do their job, public perception will make the decision for them (maybe that’s what they want?). And public perception is a terrible measuring stick for the quality of a league. It’s too easily swayed by PR and flashy presentations. It’s also easily pushed one way or another by big money investors who see potential to throw cash at dominating markets. That was true during the NASL/MLS battle and it’s happening again in the grassroots level. Perception is becoming reality.

It’s fantastic to see NPSL sides expanding operations to grow talent and it’s clear Laredo has a plan to develop their player pool. While that will pay off for Laredo’s players, the bigger questions are still unanswered about league superiority and hierarchy. Until the Federation sorts things out, we’re left to guess and assume. That guesswork may not yield the best results for the parties involved.

- Dan Vaughn