By Paul Nicholson
August 28 – The United Soccer League (USL) the third tier of the US professional game has won over two teams from the second tier of US soccer, the NASL, for the 2017 season. Tampa Bay Rowdies and the Ottawa Fury will join Reno 1868 as expansion sides.
The three new teams will push the USL to 32 teams, six teams were added for the 2016 season. Tampa Bay and Ottawa will join the Eastern Conference with the number of regular season games for the league increasing from 30 to 32.
With the NASL also losing Minnesota United – they are moving to becoming an MLS franchise – the future for the US’s oldest professional soccer league (at least in name) which still houses the New York Cosmos, arguably the most famous club brand in US football, looks under threat, though the league says it is in conversation with potentially six new franchises.
The Tampa Bay Rowdies is a name associated with US soccer since the 1970s when it boasted names like England’s mercurial forward Rodney Marsh, Oscar Fabbiani (Chile), Steve Wegerle (South Africa) and Clyde Best (Bermuda), the first black player to play in the English First Division (look at for his autobiography to be published this Christmas and ghost written by Insideworldfootball chief correspondent Andrew Warshaw).
The team won the US Soccer Bowl in its inaugural season in 1975, and again in 2012, though it had been through a few iterations and different leagues inbetween times. They competed in the old NASL until it folded in 1984when they continued to play in other leagues until 1993 before being revived in 2008 as FC Tampa Bay. Rowdies Chairman and CEO Bill Edwards renamed them the Rowdies in 2011
“We are excited to join the United Soccer League in 2017,” said Rowdies Chairman and CEO Bill Edwards. “I have said from the day I acquired controlling interest in this club that I wanted to make it one of the most successful teams in North America. The Rowdies’ move to the USL is a positive step toward reaching the long-term goals of the club.”
The Ottawa Fury FC ownership group also owns a Canadian Football League franchise, the Ottawa REDBLACKS, and manages the 24,000-seat TD Place stadium, which is home to both teams.
“We’re excited to be joining the fastest growing soccer league in the world,” Fury FC President John Pugh said. “The USL’s goal is to be the top second division league in the world and we are thrilled to be part of it. Our growing and loyal fan base deserves and can expect a very high caliber of play and tremendous competition.”
That ambition of being the best second division league in the world looks increasingly likely to put an end to the second coming of the NASL. Already the USL has Nashville SC lined up to begin play in 2018, and the league says “additional expansion is on the horizon.”
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