While we await the final release of the MLS schedule, third-division USL Pro announced their schedule and division alignments on Friday, emphasizing the league’s accessibility and stability. The press release from USL Pro emphasizes that six of their franchises have more than ten years of operational experience.

The league will feature 15 teams in three divisions: American, National, and International.  The National Division will include the Dayton Dutch Lions, Harrisburg City Islanders, FC New York, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds, and the Rochester Rhinos.  The American will include the Charleston Battery, the Charlotte Eagles, Orlando City, the Richmond Kickers, and the Wilmington Hammerheads.  The International is comprised of Barracuda FC, the Los Angeles Blues, Puerto Rico United, River Plate of Puerto Rico, and Sevilla FC Puerto Rico.

Each team will play 24 games with a home-and-away with every team in their division.  The games kick-off April 2nd with a Puerto Rico derby when River Plate and Sevilla FC face-off, followed by Orlando City visiting the Richmond Kickers.  The four clubs in their first year of competitive play include the relocated Orlando City at Richmond April 2, Los Angeles at Sevilla FC on April 15, FC New York at Orlando City April 9, and Barracuda hosting LA on April 17.  The schedule runs April through August, and the league will announce the playoff format at a later date.  You can see the entire schedule here.

My first thought seeing the announcement was good luck to poor LA, who we knew would struggle with travel but will definitely rack up the frequent flier miles.  At least their players can enjoy the beach four times this season.  Otherwise the divisions make sense.  It will be tough to do a playoff with three divisions, but if my suggestion would be take the three division winners and have two “wild cards”.  The wild cards would be the two best non-division winners who would have a “play-in” match, where the winner advances to the USL Pro final four playoff.

What are your thoughts on how USL Pro is developing, and is their structure so far sustainable?

Yesterday the Rochester Rhinos announced they would leave the USL in favor of the new NASL for the 2010 season. This more-or-less leaves the USL First Division dead in the water for next year, although you should fully expect their lawyers to be on the case. This is a sign of the times though, just a month ago Rochester seemed to be firmly in the pro-USL camp.

One has to wonder what this means for Austin and Puerto Rico. It’s pretty much assumed that Cleveland will join Charleston in the Second Division next season, if they field a team at all, and 2010 is Portland’s last season in the USL before joining MLS as an expansion team for the 2011 season. FC New York is a bit of a mystery, and there are even some rumors floating about that they won’t even be prepared for their announced start date. It certainly looks like USL-2 will become the main professional division of the USL structure next year, but we still have to see what teams will be part of it.

The other announcement concerned the slot currently occupied by the Vancouver Whitecaps who, like Portland, will join MLS in 2011. That spot will transfer to Edmonton as the Drillers name will be revived. I’m not exactly sure about Edmonton, but it does have some soccer history. I just hope this team does a lot better than the Aviators did. In truth I was hoping for Victoria. Interesting though as the USL recently announced that they might expand to Edmonton. The hair-pulling and name-calling will continue, I guess.