The USL officially unveiled the branding for its planned three-division pyramid on Tuesday, Oct. 20, posting a one-minute, 33-second video on social media at exactly noon. The clip confirmed details that had previously been rumored or reported: the league will split into three divisions, implement promotion and relegation, and name its top flight "USL Premier." The new logo features sharp edges in blue and white, with a step-ladder motif the league says reflects the promotion-relegation system. The changes are targeted for 2028.
"I am as bullish as I've ever been on it," said Dan Rutstein, President of Orange County SC. "It feels incredibly real, and with Ted Lasso and Wrexham, just the number of people in this country who understand promotion-relegation as a concept, and you speak to sponsors, and they're excited about promotion-relegation, and you know the fact that there could be games of jeopardy and games of consequence that run a lot longer into the season."
A smoother process than 2025
USL first revealed plans to launch a Division 1 men's league on Feb. 13, 2025, when owners and stakeholders were given less than 24 hours' notice of a hastily called meeting. Multiple league sources told GOAL there was skepticism, and in some cases a sense of betrayal, among owners at the time. This brand launch, by contrast, came after clubs were given weeks of notice, multiple sources confirmed, with the league holding extensive conversations with owners and fans and enlisting PR firm SPARK to help shape the positioning before presenting it to owners for discussion.
"You've got some people that have spent some time really looking at how they grow the brand and coming up with conceptual planning and turning that into practical plans. Which, for me, it now creates a pyramid system that is akin to what the rest of the world is used to," said James O'Connor, President of Louisville City.
CBA lays the groundwork
The league's newly ratified Collective Bargaining Agreement, its second ever, includes provisions for USL Premier after negotiations that dragged on for nearly two years, with sources saying uncertainty around a top flight was a sticking point. Standard minimum compensation in USL Premier will start at $67,500 in 2028, compared with $42,000 in the Championship in 2026, with both figures including the value of housing or a housing stipend. Clubs will also be required to provide health insurance separately from those minimums. Player prize money has been agreed for Players' Shield winners in both the Championship and Premier, and the league and Players Association struck a group licensing and commercial rights deal across all four USL professional leagues, meaning players will share revenue from uses such as video games and league-sold merchandise.
"Things are falling into place now. The CBA signed, so that was more of solving a negative problem," Rutstein said.
A revenue-sharing plan will also see national revenues shared among clubs across the pyramid, drawn from franchise sales, betting agreements and media rights, though exact percentages were not made public. "It's a sign of putting ducks in a row ahead of there being some real revenue to share. Because obviously, there's an argument at the moment that a rev share where there's no rev to share isn't really much of a rev share. This is putting foundational pieces in place," Rutstein said.
New leadership, lingering questions
Tony Scholes, previously Chief Football Officer of the English Premier League, has become President of USL Premier, while Paul McDonough remains President and CEO of USL overall. "His experiences and his relationships, having worked at the level he has, can only enhance what the USL is doing," O'Connor said. Rutstein added: "For what it's worth, he's a very nice man who knows his stuff and is really serious and committed about all of this."
Not everyone is fully convinced by the rollout. One owner questioned the timing, noting the launch came just before the playoffs, while a league source pointed out that the USL's own website still displayed the old logo despite the new branding video, calling it a soft rather than hard launch. A league spokesperson said the full brand is set to roll out across the organization in January 2027, citing lead times for jerseys, patches, signage and other materials. "We worked backward from the start of the 2027 season to determine when clubs, partners and vendors would need the new brand assets," the spokesperson said.
Meeting Division 1 standards
U.S. Soccer's current Division 1 requirements call for at least 12 teams spread across the Eastern, Central and Pacific time zones, with at least 75 percent playing in metropolitan markets of at least one million people. Stadiums must be enclosed with a minimum capacity of 15,000, the primary owner must have a net worth of at least $40 million, and the ownership group's combined worth must reach $70 million. Not enough teams have formally announced intent to apply, though The Athletic reported last year that USL claimed 20 applicants.
Pittsburgh Riverhounds would need to triple their stadium's capacity to meet the threshold. The club announced expansion plans on Aug. 19, with renovations hoped to begin in early 2027. "As with any big construction process, there's just making sure funding and permitting, basically dotting all the I's, crossing all the T's... right now there's a lot of administrative things going on behind the scenes, but we're excited that hopefully next year the first phase of the work will begin," said Matt Grubba, Director of Communications for the Riverhounds. Sacramento Republic and Detroit City are both building stadiums that would meet the requirements, but neither club has committed to Division 1.
A USL spokesperson said the league is relying partly on expansion franchises by 2028 to reach the required number of teams. "We're working closely with U.S. Soccer and other stakeholders as we prepare to launch USL Premier and introduce promotion and relegation in 2028. Our conversations remain constructive, and we appreciate their collaboration as American soccer evolves and we look toward the future of the professional game. We're taking a disciplined approach to building Premier, with a focus on strong ownership groups and the long-term success of our clubs and the league," the spokesperson said.
Some club executives framed the pyramid as a safeguard against instability that has hit lower-tier clubs. Championship side North Carolina FC closed with two months' notice at the end of the 2025 season, and League One clubs Westchester SC and Corpus Christi are both reportedly ceasing operations at the end of this year. "As you create that kind of infrastructure in the U.S., it actually mitigates the rest versus the other way around," said Brad Stith, CEO of AC Boise, which moved itself from League One to the Championship after a strong debut season. "We're the first community-promoted team from a football standpoint in U.S. history," Stith said.
"There are two ways of looking at a rebrand. One is, is it a nice logo? The other one is, what are you trying to say as an organization?" Rutstein said.
