Promotion and relegation is coming to the USL.
Announced by the league on Wednesday morning, a supermajority of club owners voted to implement a pro-rel system on Tuesday, following in short order after the USL’s announced plans to create a first-division competition. According to The Athletic, the USL’s new Division 1 men’s league and pro-rel are both being targeted for a debut in 2028.
No sports league in America has ever adopted promotion and relegation. The USL’s decision to do so is, thus, historic.
The league has publicly teased such a move since at least 2018, when then-president Jake Edwards touted the potential of such a system. Since then, the USL has added a full third-division competition in the form of USL League One in addition to its second-division USL Championship, divested itself of MLS-affiliated development teams, and grown to include 38 independent organizations. There have been attempts at bringing a pro-rel vote to the table over the last several years – most notably in 2023 – but consensus was sparse amongst the owners.
That’s now changed. With the USL on more stable footing, allowing the cream of the league’s crop to form a first-division competition was a logical (if bold) next step. Now, pro-rel will be a major part of the USL’s ongoing evolution. While it’s clear that approval wasn’t unanimous, the owners are definitively on board for major reforms.
The news is exciting. There’s no two ways around the hype. Still, fundamentally changing how multiple soccer leagues operate is no mean feat. Pro-rel is approved, but the pathway to implementation is a long one – in terms of regulatory compliance, logistics, and bottom-line impact.
With that caveat in mind, let’s dig in: what are the biggest questions surrounding promotion and relegation in the USL?
