If this new league is able to claim Tier 2 status, this would be the ideal time for MLS to cement a relationship with them. I’ve heard various comments in the past year from people around MLS that the lack of the reserve league had made things much more difficult in terms of roster management. A relationship between MLS and this new league could give MLS the benefits of a reserve league, but run mainly on someone else’s dime.

Also, help from MLS could allow this league to expand quickly, and increase professional soccer’s footprint in the US and Canada. I hope Garber et al. are following this story closely.

USL-1 is better than the MLS reserve league ever was, reserve league is about usl-2 or pdl plus an extra injured first teamer getting playing time

while that is true historically, that does not mean that it will be true forever.

With the drama going on at the lower levels I suggested once that MLS should associate with the TOA and have their Reserves compete against non-affiliated sides as is done in Spain and Germany.

No arguments here. That’s why MLS getting in on the ground floor of this new league makes so much sense. They’d be getting their reserve players much higher quality play and wouldn’t have to fund the cost of running the league themselves. The new league would benefit by having a supply of players on somebody else’s payroll who would all be looking to show their worth, so they’d be going all out every game.

i don’t know where else to post this, but dave – on the left menu bar, the “featured posts” section…. each of those links, when i click, i get a 404 error. obviously those articles are not gone, maybe want to fix/update the links?

also, what is TOA?

TOA = Team Owners Assoc.

I’ll try to fix the featured post link. What browser are you using?