USL owners issue threats after league purchase

The wording and phrasing of this release could stand to be a whole lot better, but United Soccer Leagues team owners upset at the surprise sale of the USL system last week to Atlanta-based NuRock Soccer Holdings are not any happier now.

In fact, they’ve essentially threatened to leave the USL and form a breakaway league. Even the Atlanta Silverbacks — on hiatus from fielding a USL First Division team in 2009 — have been included in an official statement released Monday afternoon by some USL-1 owners. Read for yourself and see how you would interpret this language:

“Following extensive negotiations with USISL, Inc., the parent company of the United Soccer Leagues (USL), to restructure the USL First Division (USL-1) into a league owned and controlled by its teams, the Team Owners Association (TOA) today announced that it has accelerated its pursuit of all league options for the 2010 season and beyond. The TOA, led by the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, St. Louis Soccer United, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Vancouver Whitecaps, reached this decision following the announcement by Nike, Inc., the parent company of USISL, Inc., that it had concluded the sale of USL to a third-party (NuRock Soccer Holdings) which does not own a team in USL-1.”

NuRock, as was reported on Friday, holds the rights to a USL First Division franchise in Atlanta (the level at which the Silverbacks played), as well as Birmingham. I’ve been told that a team in the Alabama city is more likely to come online for a franchise before Atlanta. NuRock has not indicated when it or if it might field a USL-1 team in Atlanta.

I’ve been trying to reach NuRock officials for comment but they have not yet responded. A number of hearty bloggers who have covered USL innerworkings very deeply have quite a bit of coverage as it relates to the structure of minor league soccer in North America.

NuRock is the owner of the Atlanta Blackhawks, which played in the USL’s Professional Developmental League (essentially the third division of North American Soccer) this past season. Leading NuRock are former Atlanta Chiefs defender Alec Papadakis and CEO Rob Hoskins. Both were were appointed to positions as top executives in USL on Monday, with founder Francisco Marcos moving into an emeritus role.

After Major League Soccer passed on an offer to purchase USL, the leading bidder was thought to be Traffic Sports, a soccer events management firm that owns USL-1 team Miami FC. Traffic immediately threatened to shut down the franchise after it lost out to NuRock, a move that caught many in the league and North American soccer circles by surprise.

While the shock of the USL sale to NuRock is fresh, this is just the latest twist in a lengthy period of turmoil between Marcos and some USL owners, including those who formerly ran the Silverbacks organization. These disputes have been threatening to boil over for quite a while, and they could lead to the disenchanted owners attempting to form a league of their own:

“It’s about the professionalizing of USL-1. There’s been discussion for a year-and-a-half now with regards to the team owners having more of a stake – and say – in how the league is run.”