United we stand - The Fans Speak Out

Soccer Digest, June-July, 2002 by Lonnie Bauer

MLS will only succeed when it's able to gain a wide base of fans willing to travel a decent distance to their closest team. Professional soccer needs to set up a system much like major league baseball's farm teams, feeder clubs from which local heroes can create a fan base as they move up the ladder. I would pay to see a regional, adult, semipro soccer team.

We live in Kentucky and try to attend the two MISL games available in Nashville every season, but outside of that there is not any professional soccer within a reasonable traveling distance of our area and no loyalties to any team or players. A semipro team attached to the closet MSL or MISL team would help to foster a solid fan base without costing as much as expanding the major teams. Putting these teams in areas that are not competing in the summer with major league baseball should attract a decent following that may be able to pay expenses. Local colleges or high schools would probably be more than happy to provide facilities until others could be built.

Lonnie Bauer
Eddyville, Ky.

Actually, there is a system almost exactly like the one you've described: the United Soccer Leagues. The USL operates the U.S.'s Second and Third Divisions: the 21-team A-League and the regional D3 Pro League. It also operates a men's amateur league (the Professional Developmental League), two amateur women's leagues (the W-1 League and the W-2 League), and a youth league (the Super Y-League).

The USL, founded in 1986 by Francisco Marcos, has even had its share of success against MLS teams. The league's premier franchise, the Rochester (N. Y.) Raging Rhinos captured the 1999 U.S. Open Cup. Still, the USL is primarily a feeder league. Entering the 2002 season, there had been 361 USL call-ups and 459 MLS player loans to the Second Division league.

Unfortunately, there are no A-League or PD3 Pro League teams located in Kentucky. There is an A-League team in Tennessee, the Nashville Metros.

For more information, log on to www.unitedsoccerleagues.com.