Major League Soccer may no longer be the only men’s league sanctioned at the top of the US Soccer pyramid. The United Soccer League (USL) announced on Thursday it plans to launch a new Division I-sanctioned men’s league, the same sanctioning held by MLS.
The news was first reported by The Athletic before being officially confirmed by the USL itself.
The as-yet-unnamed league, which is proposed to launch between 2027 and 2028, would be the USL’s fourth professional league in the United States. The organization already has two sanctioned men’s leagues, the USL Championship in Division II and USL League One in Division III. Additionally, the USL Super League is a women’s professional league that is sanctioned as Division I.
The USL also includes two pre-professional leagues, USL League Two for men and USL W League for women.
According to the official announcement, the new Division I league will "serve as a platform for rising and established players to compete at the highest operational professional standards in the United States."
Rivaling MLS?
The planned, still unnamed and unsanctioned league, would launch between 2027-2028. Importantly, USL president Paul McDonough told The Athletic that the league does not plan to follow a Fall-Spring calendar, meaning the years listed above are a window for the league to launch within.
Alec Papadakis, CEO of the USL, said in the official announcement, “Creating a Division I league is a bold step forward, expanding access to top-tier competition, deepening the connection between our communities and taking another step in aligning with the structure of the global game. By uniting people through soccer and bringing Division I to more cities, we’re not just growing the sport—we’re creating lasting opportunities while building a more sustainable and vibrant soccer ecosystem in the U.S.”
According to The Athletic, the expectation is that multiple teams will move from the USL Championship into the new first-division league, with markets like Louisville, Sacramento, Indianapolis, Phoenix, and Las Vegas mentioned.
There is no word on if new teams will be launched specifically for the new top USL league. A Division I league – defined by US Soccer sanctioning standards as the highest level for professional soccer in the United States – is, according to USL, the next evolution in USL’s structure, establishing a fully integrated pathway for its clubs and players.
USL Ecosystem's Growth
Across each of its leagues, USL has been adding teams at a healthy rate heading into 2025. The USL Championship saw a promotion in Lexington SC, who joined from League One. For its part, League One added five teams across the country: AV Alta FC, FC Naples, Portland Hearts of Pine, Texoma FC, and the local Westchester SC in Mount Vernon, NY. That group was supposed to also include the launch of the Brooklyn FC men’s team before the organization announced a switch to USLC and a delayed launch in 2026.
Finally, while not professional, USL League Two is going into summer 2025 with a record 144 teams, with 30 expansion sides joining, including multiple defections from its main competitor the National Premier Soccer League.
USL has made multiple attempts to grow and diversify itself while establishing its own ecosystem within the US Soccer landscape. In 2023, the league was reportedly close to holding a vote on adopting a form of promotion and relegation between its Second and Third Division leagues. That motion was eventually tabled.
Michael Battista
With the potential addition of USL Division I, and a USL league at each of the three professional tiers, renewed discussions regarding pro/rel will be on the table. Not just with fans, but with owners having a new way into the top tier of US Soccer.
The USL also expanded its inter-league tournament in 2025 with the USL Cup, known as the Jägermeister Cup. That competition features teams from both the USL Championship and USL League One playing in a Champions League format.
Controversial Sanctioning Histories
The USL is the first to attempt a first-division league, separate from MLS, since the North American Soccer League in 2016. US Soccer denied that application and later did not sanction the NASL as Division II for 2018, leading to a years-long lawsuit between the leagues and the US Soccer Federation.
A Brooklyn jury last week ruled in favor of US Soccer and MLS, saying the two parties did not conspire to keep the NASL from receiving Division I sanctioning.
McDonough told The Athletic that the USL waited for the trial to conclude before moving forward with its plans, but that the court decision did not have any impact on USL’s decision to start this league.
That wasn’t the only time a league named the NASL was involved in a battle for Division I sanctioning.
In 1967, fresh off the 1966 World Cup in England, two groups sought to launch top-division American men’s soccer leagues. The United Soccer Association was granted sanctioning by FIFA and the then-named United States Soccer Football Association, while the National Professional Soccer League was denied sanctioning and labeled an outlaw league while still securing a lucrative television deal. The two leagues both played that year before merging in 1968 to form the original North American Soccer League.
Bill WilsonBusiness reporter, BBC News
Historically in other professional American sports, competing top-tier sports leagues usually end up merging. This includes the ABA and NBA in basketball, the AFL and NFL in American football, and the WHA and NHL in ice hockey.
Considering MLS has reported interest in multiple USL markets, some of which were listed by The Athletic as USL Division I candidates, this is something to keep bookmarked.
Officially, the US Soccer Federation does not have any qualms with multiple leagues holding the same professional designation. In men’s soccer, 2024 saw three leagues with Division III sanctioning and in 2017 two leagues had Division II sanctioning.
USL executives have met with US Soccer to go over their plans, McDonough told The Athletic. While no sanctioning has been granted at this time, he said “there’s no pushback from US Soccer" at this time.
Familiar Strategies
While the men’s game has never seen multiple leagues with Division I sanctioning at the same time, the women’s game currently has two top-flight leagues: The National Women’s Soccer League and the USL Super League.
The Super League was announced in late 2021 and launched in fall 2024, joining the USL W League to provide a full pathway for women's soccer within USL. The league currently has eight teams including Brooklyn FC, with three more scheduled to join next season.
Compared to the NWSL, the Super League is equal in sanctioning but not in level of play. The quality of the soccer is good but lags behind the caliber of the more established NWSL, which attracts some of the world's top players. One look at the current roster of the United States women’s national team shows that of the players who compete in America, all of them are in the NWSL.
The same applies to stadiums, broadcast deals, and other aspects of the respective leagues. NWSL is more prestigious, draws bigger names, and generates more revenue, whereas USL has the edge in both being the alternative and having a pre-professional system (USL W) feeding top-flight USL Super League.
Players who might not get the chance to shine in NWSL are getting those chances in the USL Super League. Brooklyn FC goalkeeper Neeku Purcell joined the first-year squad behind the more experienced Sydney Martinez. Through her five games played, she has three clean sheets and earned an invite to the January USWNT Futures camp last month.
Point being, while the two leagues are not the same, the opportunity to play domestic Division I women’s soccer is a huge game-changer for players. Something the USL knows and might look to capitalize on with this new men’s league.
