Historic news: Promotion-relegation is coming to the US

Tom Weber

Updated: 19 Mar 2025 10:14 CDT
4 min read

The United Soccer League (USL) has announced plans to officially implement a promotion-relegation system.

It is a historic day in the history of football - or soccer - in the United States. The USL has announced the implementation of a promotion and relegation system, thus becoming the first professional US sports league to adopt this model.

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The USL is a footballing organisation that boasts the USL Championship (second division), USL League One (third division) and USL League Two (regionally divided fourth division). Major League Soccer (MLS) will not be affected by this announcement.

The USL has been around since 1986, but over the past decade or so, the organisation has grown massively and set about building a coherent footballing ecosystem, laying the foundation for the implementation of promotion and relegation.

Women's football was added over the past couple of years and USL already made headlines last month when it announced plans to create a new Division 1 league in 2027/28, which if sanctioned by the US Soccer Federation would be on par with MLS in the footballing pyramid.

© IMAGO - USL has experienced steady growth over the past decade

USL announces Pro/Rel

The topic of Pro/Rel has, of course, been hotly debated in the US for decades. MLS' closed system has drawn criticism from football purists, and social media hashtags like #ProRel4USA are frequent sights in US football circles.

An official USL statement read: "The United Soccer League (USL) announced today that a supermajority of club owners voted to implement a promotion and relegation system, marking a groundbreaking decision that will reshape the future of professional soccer in the United States.

"The USL becomes the first professional sports league in the U.S. to adopt this global model, creating an interconnected three-tiered men’s professional soccer system, where teams earn promotion to a higher division or face relegation to a lower division based on their performance during the season."

USL states that the promotion-relegation system will encompass the new top flight, the Championship and League One. All three divisions are fully professional whereas League Two exclusively features amateur or semi-pro sides and will not be affected.

Why is there no Pro/Rel in MLS?

USL's announcement has naturally given rise to questions as to why there is no promotion and relegation in MLS. The official statement already provides a part of the answer.

USL mentioned that 'a supermajority of club owners' agreed to implement the changes. MLS ownership and the costs associated with it make it much harder to get club owners to buy into a system that could see their sizeable investment demoted to a lower, less attractive division.

For example, MLS' newest club, San Diego FC, commanded an expansion fee of $500 million. This is in no way comparable to the expansion fees required to enter USL, although they too have significantly grown in recent years.

It is also worth mentioning that USL and MLS are two completely different organisations that are no longer in any way associated. The two previously had a cooperation agreement that saw MLS affiliate clubs participate in USL, but those days are long gone.

While it is unlikely that USL will be able to actively compete with MLS in terms of attractiveness, the adoption of promotion and relegation is a historic event in US football.

In recent years, USL's stature has massively grown. The standard of football has improved and the infrastructure has been expanded with clubs increasingly able to develop talent and sell to European clubs. Promotion and relegation will only boost USL's upward trajectory.