Report: USL Votes in favor of promotion, relegation in an effort to drastically reshape US pro soccer landscape

File photo courtesy Ed Thompson

According to a report from The New York Times / The Athletic’s Paul Tenorio, Promotion and Relegation is coming to American professional soccer for the first time.

BREAKING: Promotion and relegation is coming to American soccer for the first time.

USL owners, whose new Division 1 league starts up as a rival to MLS in 2028, voted for it to begin in its debut season, sources tell @PaulTenorio.

Details:https://t.co/FPdbYjUFT8 pic.twitter.com/1NokfNRTUO

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 19, 2025

The United Soccer Leagues (USL), representing American professional soccer’s second and third tiers, including the USL Championship, where the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC complete and USL League Two, which another Pittsburgh area club, Steel City FC will begin competing in 2025, has voted to add promotion-relegation to their system.

Currently, the two professional divisions under the auspices of the USL are the aforementioned USL Championship featuring 24 teams and the third-tier USL League One featuring 14 teams.

In February, the USL also announced that it has intentions beginning in 2027 to add a First Division league.

Analysis: USL’s ambitions to bring Division One league to US Soccer landscape by 2027-28 is a calculated gamble

While the USL is taking these ambitious and some might say calculated risks moving forward, despite it’s success in incrementally building things up bit-by-bit and piece-by-piece often times at the grassroots levels and bringing professional and pre-professional sanctioned soccer clubs in all corners of the mainstream United States, the country’s highest level soccer league, Major League Soccer remains a separate single-entity structure — with billions of dollars invested wholly in its top-tier franchises along with MLS Next Pro and Academy structure.

This initial vote to bring Pro/Rel to the United States still leaves a bunch of unanswered questions that will likely take some time to see details get sorted out, including what the format and system would look like.

According to the report, the USL previously discussed implementing Pro/Rel in 2023, but were not able to get enough votes to support it — primarily supported by owners understandable fears that — if relegated — potential revenue losses.  Apparently, this changed in the past week, sources shared primarily when there was a lot of positive responses buzzing from the Division One announcement.

For one thing, it’s unclear when promotion and relegation may be introduced — but the USL clearly has a desire to make this happen.  Some reports indicate that it could kickoff in 2028 coinciding the launch of the new league.

Much has already been written, discussed and speculated in the past month on Pittsburgh Soccer Now and our platforms (Sounding Off on Soccer Podcast) and other outlets about how this may affect the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. (See Below)

All we can say for now is — stay tuned — we’ll be learning more in the days, weeks and months ahead.

Sounding Off on Soccer Podcast: Thoughts on USL’s Division One gamble, two Pittsburgh W-League teams, Steel City to League Two and Riverhounds preseason

Opinion: Please, USL, don’t add a D1 League

Analysis: USL’s ambitions to bring Division One league to US Soccer landscape by 2027-28 is a calculated gamble