Tim Holt, president of the United Soccer Leagues (USL), recently spoke with me at length about the state of the USL and his vision for the organization. The USL supports seven professional and amateur soccer leagues throughout the USA, Canada and the Caribbean and its growth is surging along with the tide of interest in soccer in the United States.
“We’re going into our second quarter-century - it’s 26 years for USL, so it’s exciting to see the growth of the sport and USL,” said Holt. “It’s like we were living in the dark ages 15 years ago and there’s this soccer renaissance coming on. It’s fun to be a part of it.”
In the interview with Holt, which is divided into three parts, he discusses MLS/USL and MLS/PDL partnerships, potential 2012 changes to the structure of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament, women’s soccer in the USA and the possibility of a professional second division, and professional indoor soccer, the USL’s latest undertaking.
Currently, the USL features USL PRO (U.S. Soccer’s third division of men’s pro soccer), MISL (Major Indoor Soccer League), PDL (Premier Development League), W-League (women’s developmental soccer), Super-20 League, Super Y-League, and now Beach Soccer. [Click here for the complete lists of teams within leagues.]
Tim Holt, background
Holt first joined USL as Director, USL First Division Operations 1999 and was named President of USL following the acquisition of USL by NuRock Soccer Holdings in August of 2009. Holt served on the US Soccer Federation (USSF) Board of Directors from 2003-06, is currently the Men’s Professional Representative on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Board of Directors and has been co-chair of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Committee the past two years after previously serving on the USSF Disciplinary Committee.
Holt graduated from Penn State University in 1994 with a BS in Management and earned his Masters Degree in Sport Administration at Florida State University in 1998. A native of Philadelphia, Holt is a member of the Radnor High School Soccer Hall of Fame and still ranks amongst the school’s all-time top leading scorers.
Readers can follow Tim Holt on twitter @USLPrez.
Interview with Tim Holt, president United Soccer Leagues
Part 1: MLS and USL affiliation and the new MISL
Quotes of note:
“It’s still a possibility that we’ll add [USL PRO] teams for the 2012 season. By 2014 we expect to have largely self-contained regions in the East, in the Central, and in the West.” - Holt
LE: Do you see more of these PDL and USL PRO affiliations with MLS coming in 2012?
Holt: We do, actually. There are few that are being worked on as we speak.
Part 2: Changes coming for US Open Cup
Quotes of note:
“One of things the tournament will need to address going forward is the manner in which teams are selected to host in each of the individual rounds, and de-emphasize the economics of hosting each round and emphasize competitive balance.
In many cup competitions around the world there’s a draw for each round, home or away, and mathematically, you’ve a fifty percent chance of hosting and fifty percent chance of traveling.” - Holt
“We’re working internally to make changes to improve the tournament next year and the way things are going there will be a lot of positive changes in the tournament next year in a number of different areas.” - Holt
Part 3: W-League/MLS affiliation and WPS
Quotes of note:
“The W-League continues to evolve, and we’ve got some really ambitious ownership groups and clubs that would like to do more programming, potentially even have professional teams. You want to do that in a way that supports WPS, so we continue to explore how to grow the W-League in a way that could fill that void.” - Holt
“I don’t look at it as a conflict that D.C. United would have their brand involved with a W-League team in any way in conflict with WPS. I don’t feel like we’re competing with WPS." - Holt
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