Okay, Sportsnet just ended one of its updates by saying the Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps will be taking next year off.
Guys, if you can’t get hold of Ryan, Craig or Gerry, you can still run soccer stuff by me. I may not work there anymore, but I can still help you avoid making mistakes that big.
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Yes, the United Soccer League is in huge turmoil, with most of its teams apparently walking away. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a league.
Here’s the dime-store, quick-hit bones of the thing:
Nike sold USL a couple of months back, and the breakaway teams refuse to acknowledge the new owners. The dispute is deep enough – and heavy enough – that the league is kicking out teams as quickly as they can walk away.
The breakaway teams – apparently including Montreal and Vancouver, but all the details are in play right now – are applying to the United States Soccer Federation to form a new league.
Vancouver, of course, will be joining Major League Soccer in 2011. Most of us on the local soccer beat fully expect Montreal to join them in 2012.
The Portland Timbers, who will walk down the MLS aisle with the Whitecaps, are still in USL-1, as are the perennially strong Puerto Rico Islanders. I expect this divide must, eventually, close.
There are too many teams – and too much at stake – for some form of league not to form and function. Who ends up owning it is for the lawyers. If you’re a ‘Caps or Impact fan, the only real issue is the name of the league, and who benefits from the franchise-fee cheques.
Don’t panic. Hang in there. It’s bad, but far from fatal.
More details as they emerge.
Onward!