The Rondo - MLS vs USL

The thing about USL, I feel like USL has the ability to really sign like a star

and start building around the league in their prime. Like, I think that's going to be the main key for them. If they can sign a player in their prime to come from Europe into USL

that's going to be a game changer. The USL is going through some interesting changes

putting promotion and relegation into the league. Is this the chance for USL to become better than

MLS? I love it, dude. I'm such a pro-real truther, and this is where I get to finally be a European

snob and be like i was right the whole time you guys like i think usl have absolutely smashed it

they've got the time in the like in the soccer landscape in the space where they can afford

to take their time piece it together and build what could be a far more sustainable league that

looks like a european model and that's dope that's the way football is for sure for sure i think also

i think usl teams have done a great job of being able to develop young players like you know you've

seen with Orange County they've been selling players abroad um I think also Louisville City

sold Joshua Winder to Benfica who also made his debut as center back for them I think a couple

weeks ago so you're starting to see the process of USL teams also becoming valuable to European

clubs and being able to buy talent at a less price compared to MLS what's the point of buying

a player for three million in MLS who's 17 or 18 years old when you can buy a kid for 200k in USL

who might have the same amount of you know potential and has probably played more professional

minutes so that's another big thing you know it's crazy i was talking to someone from fc tulsa the

other day and he was saying he was having a conversation with his boy at benfica like two

years ago and the guy at benfica like ben fika knew every usl team every usl player like was just

so tapped in and i think it's awesome like this is the way that the usl has to function in the

global landscape and then people are going to start caring i mean what are you saying yeah i

I mean, obviously, ProRel, everyone wants to see it. And I think it's going to be amazing when it's implemented

But yeah, as you were saying, I think it's another place for players to develop in the U.S., for teams to build out facilities, start academies

I think it's only going to be a good thing for soccer in the U.S. And yeah, I'm a person who's pro fans, pro players

it's going to get more players the opportunity to get paid in america which is amazing as well

and make like soccer a full-time job for these guys some bread bro i know exactly i know some

guys in usl working a second job bro like it no joke out here that crazy you know part of that is like the football romantic in me as well it kind of like when a premier league team goes and plays a non team do you know what i mean it like they playing against a bunch of guys who are like

factory workers like midweek which is like kind of charming but then when it comes to actual

professional soccer it's like maybe you shouldn't have to like be a fishmonger or something oh i

don't know why i don't know why fish fish bro that sounds like some like 1700s job that i would

probably get or some you know i'm saying but at the same time another thing i'm excited for bro

my mom she said that the one of the reasons why she doesn't like mls is the reason she doesn't

like that they bring too many old foreign guys to the league you know i'm saying i think that's

honestly something that usl could actually benefit from because i'm looking at lafc for example bring

olivier giroux this 37 year old striker and he's struggling i'm seeing marco royce lose 7 nil

away in new york red bulls i'm like bro this is the way you're ending your career my guy like

the thing about usl i feel like usl has the ability to really sign like a star and start

building around the league in their prime like i think that's going to be the main key for them if they could sign a player in their prime to come from europe into into usl that's going to

be a game changer that's going to be the first big move that's how i think we're going to know

when it's legit right when someone from europe makes a decision like you said in the peak of

their career or like maybe a little bit towards the end but you know what i mean when they've still got a lot of football left to come over and be like no i want to play in usl not mls because i

see this as a growing community one thing i'm also super gassed about and i know this is funny because

i'm gonna ask you this is why you're wearing a cincinnati jersey but like fan communities around

usl man these these clubs have done such a good job of building brands and getting people like

gassed about it yeah 100 i mean your shirt is the perfect example oh yeah this is one of the best

brands maybe in all of like u.s soccer at least like it has the potential to be at least from what

i've seen with their marketing but yeah like cincinnati for example we started in the usl

that's the reason we got into mls is because we first you know became a usl club so we know that

sort of like starting point right building our community from the ground up in the technically

smaller you know league in u.s soccer and we played in the u.s open cup we made the the run

we beat MLS teams as a USL team. And, you know, obviously MLS was the goal because USL there

there wasn't really a future in it back then, right? Now that there's promotion relegation

I think you going to have these teams who once were in the league with the goal of we want to be an MLS one day I think that changed I think they happy with where they are and you see a lot of teams um buying into USL League 2 USL League 1

in you know hopes of you know relegation is now coming promotion and relegation so you're going

to see teams want to stay in this league and it's only going to grow from there I gotta ask you you

you know you're a Cincinnati fan as if we haven't drilled that point home enough um but do you really

think that like being part of the usl helped you guys grow a brand like is there now more of a sense

of like club like history and camaraderie and that kind of thing because that's why you guys started

for sure i feel like i've actually had the pleasure of playing fc cincinnati when i was a cat when i

was academy kid at philadelphia union yeah i was playing for beth lim steel and we played at fc

cincinnati and that was one of the best places to play at because imagine you're 16 years old you're

playing in a stadium where it's 10k fans like fc cincinnati had fans in usl and it carried over

into MLS. So now you're going to see a scenario where maybe these USL teams aren't taking that

offer to go to MLS. They're able to grow this community and they're able to go have promotion

and relegation, have more money and more resources to grow the club right in USL

Do you know what the crazy thing is as well? San Diego FC, right? There was a $500 million

like, what was it like? Expansion fee? Fee. To be in, like, literally you just had to put down $500 million to be in the team

like or to be in the league which is mad usl look i'm not a financial expert here like journalists

in new york like i'm not but like it's not as expensive there is a fee but it's not it's nothing

it's nothing around 500 mil bro if you're paying 500 mil better be paying for all of usl but i'm

getting the whole damn league bro no but that's what's that's what's so dope is that you can like

it's the rexing story bro like you can start by paying not that much money quote unquote more

money and then i'll ever see in my lifetime but then like build it into a big thing that's awesome

that's the dream that is the dream facts that's the thing with with soccer as well that we don't

talk about enough right people are trying to win stuff all the time right you know like liverpool

like they're trying to you know win the league get in the champions league whatever the best part of

being a football fan is the journey oh for sure is the journey and it's like yeah is avoiding

literally we were talking to bradley wright phillips when we avoiding relegation is like the

coolest thing you can do in football. Yeah, for sure. And I think it's going to be even better too

because we've seen the Wrexham documentary, how much that brought awareness to the club

Imagine now USL teams are starting documentaries talking about their journey climbing through the league I need to know about Greenville triumphs triumphs so now it going to be a lot easier for people to watch the games and be fans of it because they seeing documentaries about a real club trying to come

from the bottom trying to go to the top you know what i'm saying to pina doing that they're making

a dump but they feel like you have to you have to you're starting out right like if you're if

you're gonna have promotion and relegation bro you better be out here telling the story like for

you have to because it benefited wrecks them so much if you want americans to really tap into

the soccer and the sport, and to see how promotion and relegation is beneficial, you as a USL club have to create storytelling around it

to grow the brand. It's a necessity. All right, so last question for both of you guys

Can it be bigger or better than MLS at some point? I think it's a tricky one because, you know

MLS is a closed league, right? So you don't have to worry about relegation

Now clubs, I think in USL, are going to have to worry about like financial struggles, right

You don't see that in MLS. There will be teams who fail 100%

There will be teams who are at the top or in USL right now who think they have it made

And once promotion and relegation happens, you know, they're only going to benefit. No, there will be teams who probably, you know, maybe Portland doesn't make it

I hope that's not the case, but it is a very real possibility to stay alive for as long as possible, bro

For sure. I think I feel like at the same time, I feel like I'm less going to do something about it

I don't know what they have under their sleeve, but they have, you know, the soccer Don, Don Garber don't play, bro

You know, you don't play. You know, you got someone. Is there room for both though? I don't know

Dude, that's the crazy question because no other league, like... No other country has two first division leagues

Yeah. America would be the one to do it though. America would be the one to make it work

We always have to go against the grain. Football? Nah, we're going to call it soccer. You know what I'm saying

Oh, we have promotional relegation? Nah, we have two separate leagues. One does, one doesn't

Dude, but if there ever was a country, and oh my God, I'm going to say something pro-American, this is the one that can pull it off because it's so big

It's so big. Like, why not? why not like have your league for the for like the the og like old american soccer fans you know

you're since well then again you're an expansion franchise but you know what i mean like your dc united's your i don't know like la galaxy's like all of those lot and then have one that is going

to start for the hipsters hi um and then move into a bigger thing i think i think they can coexist

now 10 years from now there's one by the other do they merge that would be sick but for now bro

enjoy the ride