-
In the 2018 USL season, we have nine teams playing in minor league baseball stadiums. This is a uniquely American phenomenon, and not just at the USL level. The Kansas City Wizards, before they became Sporting KC, played in a ballpark for three seasons, the New York Cosmos play(ed)...
-
After a long, dramatic D2 offseason fraught with lawsuits, chaos and #HotTakes, we have finally emerged at the other side with the USL as our now and future D2 league. Last year’s season broke records on and off the field, and raised the bar for what we can expect...
-
The North American Soccer League lost the important part of its lawsuit relating to Division 2 sanctioning, and as a result has cancelled the planned 2018-19 season. Of the eight teams that participated in the 2017 campaign, two have already folded. The San Francisco Deltas won the title and...
-
Welcome back to Project 50/50. This is Part III of my ongoing series, wherein I find what I believe to be the best untapped markets for professional soccer in every single U.S. state. The idea is that every single team concept should be Division 3 compliant, with a stadium...
-
Welcome back to Project 50/50, my quest to find the best city in every single U.S. state for lower-division professional soccer. The idea is to put together a plan for a market that is theoretically Division 3 compliant, so that the city could join either the NISA or USLD3....
-
If you take a look at Cashman Field, the ballpark where Las Vegas Lights FC is set to play in the 2018 USL season, you may notice that it’s rather square. If you have never done such a thing, here’s a visual aid, consisting of a satellite image of...
-
With the two conference semifinals set for tonight, it’s time to unveil the MLS Cup radial bracket. Columbus Crew SC hosts Toronto FC at 8 p.m. ET, followed by the Seattle Sounders and Houston Dynamo kicking off at 9:30 in Houston. Follow John on Twitter: @JohnMLTX. Support Soc Takes on...
-
Recently, a website for “Penn FC” was posted to the USL subreddit, along with speculation that the Harrisburg City Islanders might become Penn FC for 2018. If we dig a little deeper, the signs look a lot stronger. For one, if you remove the “under construction” element, you get the...
-
With Louisville City FC and the Swope Park Rangers squaring off for the USL Cup tonight, it’s time to unveil the USL Cup radial bracket: Follow John on Twitter: @JohnMLTX. Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to patron-only Soc Takes Pod episodes, exclusive written content and tier rewards. Click here to...
-
Right now, the American soccer landscape is in the best shape it has ever been. We have a thriving top-flight league in MLS, two growing Division 2 leagues and two newly announced Division 3 professional leagues in the USL D3 and NISA. With new leagues come new markets, and...
-
When the group bringing NASL soccer to San Francisco announced their branding on Jan. 30, 2016, I remember thinking “this is the most corporate, boring, design-by-committee crest in soccer.” And at the time it was, by miles. However, the ownership group behind the long-rumored Orange County team decided to...
-
Through the end of the NASL spring season and roughly halfway through the USL season, we have plenty of meaningful attendance data to overanalyze, from which I’ve drawn an interesting few conclusions and issued some mostly meaningless awards. Let’s start off with the NASL spring season. The “The Miami...
In the 2018 USL season, we have nine teams playing in minor league baseball stadiums. This is a uniquely American phenomenon, and not just at the USL level. The Kansas City Wizards, before they became Sporting KC, played in a ballpark for three seasons, the New York Cosmos play(ed)...
After a long, dramatic D2 offseason fraught with lawsuits, chaos and #HotTakes, we have finally emerged at the other side with the USL as our now and future D2 league. Last year’s season broke records on and off the field, and raised the bar for what we can expect...
The North American Soccer League lost the important part of its lawsuit relating to Division 2 sanctioning, and as a result has cancelled the planned 2018-19 season. Of the eight teams that participated in the 2017 campaign, two have already folded. The San Francisco Deltas won the title and...
Welcome back to Project 50/50. This is Part III of my ongoing series, wherein I find what I believe to be the best untapped markets for professional soccer in every single U.S. state. The idea is that every single team concept should be Division 3 compliant, with a stadium...
Welcome back to Project 50/50, my quest to find the best city in every single U.S. state for lower-division professional soccer. The idea is to put together a plan for a market that is theoretically Division 3 compliant, so that the city could join either the NISA or USLD3....
If you take a look at Cashman Field, the ballpark where Las Vegas Lights FC is set to play in the 2018 USL season, you may notice that it’s rather square. If you have never done such a thing, here’s a visual aid, consisting of a satellite image of...
With the two conference semifinals set for tonight, it’s time to unveil the MLS Cup radial bracket. Columbus Crew SC hosts Toronto FC at 8 p.m. ET, followed by the Seattle Sounders and Houston Dynamo kicking off at 9:30 in Houston. Follow John on Twitter: @JohnMLTX. Support Soc Takes on...
Recently, a website for “Penn FC” was posted to the USL subreddit, along with speculation that the Harrisburg City Islanders might become Penn FC for 2018. If we dig a little deeper, the signs look a lot stronger. For one, if you remove the “under construction” element, you get the...
With Louisville City FC and the Swope Park Rangers squaring off for the USL Cup tonight, it’s time to unveil the USL Cup radial bracket: Follow John on Twitter: @JohnMLTX. Support Soc Takes on Patreon for access to patron-only Soc Takes Pod episodes, exclusive written content and tier rewards. Click here to...
Right now, the American soccer landscape is in the best shape it has ever been. We have a thriving top-flight league in MLS, two growing Division 2 leagues and two newly announced Division 3 professional leagues in the USL D3 and NISA. With new leagues come new markets, and...
When the group bringing NASL soccer to San Francisco announced their branding on Jan. 30, 2016, I remember thinking “this is the most corporate, boring, design-by-committee crest in soccer.” And at the time it was, by miles. However, the ownership group behind the long-rumored Orange County team decided to...
Through the end of the NASL spring season and roughly halfway through the USL season, we have plenty of meaningful attendance data to overanalyze, from which I’ve drawn an interesting few conclusions and issued some mostly meaningless awards. Let’s start off with the NASL spring season. The “The Miami...