Midwest teams join growing UPSL
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Sep 6, 2017
The Midwest Conference will launch
with teams in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin for the 2018 spring season.
UPSL Midwest Conference:
Milwaukee
Bavarian SC
Madison 56ers SC
Croatian Eagles SC
RWB Adria
Oakland County FC
Carpathia FC
Aurora Borealis SC
Cedar Rapids Rampage United
Elgin Pumas
SC
Muskegon Risers SC
Toledo Villa SC
Fall-spring model. Unlike the PDL or NPSL, the UPSL plays in the fall and
spring. It has expanded to conferences in Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Desert Mountain (Idaho and Nevada), and now Florida, Southeast (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia) and
Northeast (Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey).
Promotion/relegation phased in. It has adopted upper and lower
divisions in California and Colorado as it moves to implement a promotion/relegation system
This is a legitimately cool grassroots movement. Seems they have gotten some organization over the last couple of years, and now it is actually becoming something. Could this be the set up that fills out something like divisions 4-8 in the pyramid? Could this be the model that drives promotion and relegation from the bottom up in the next couple of decades? Our culture is growing at a staggering rate, and it is because lots of people are doing a great job at the different levels: MLS and USL at the top, these guys at the lower divisions, and the DA with youth clubs. For once, it actually seems like these pieces could all fit together nicely rather than having a bunch of competing and entities. Still many years away, but it seems to almost be coming into view.
Sounds great. Seems like every league except NASL is growing rapidly.
Maybe but NASL itself is shrinking and is likely to lose D2 status next year. No great loss.
NASL has already lost D2 status. Their provisional is expiring and was not granted again for this upcoming year. Expect more dubious lawsuits to follow. NASL and NISL are examples of how NOT to build a soccer league. T - Not a rhetorical question because I have no idea what their relationship is: How is NASL "working closely with NPSL?" Sincerely curious on that.