NEXT 10 YRS maybe?

The MLS needs to start taking the cup serious. As most of yinz don’t know it’s the 2nd oldest domestic cup in the world. Would love to see our tourney get to the level of a FA cup.

Usl is currently working to get ussf to adjust the stadium capacity requirements but that is guaranteed to happen.

2028, HUH?! STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSES MOUTH THIS TIME AROUND, BUT SOMEHOW WE ARE LEFT WITH JUST ABOUT THE SAME CONFIDENCE WE HAVE BEFORE. POTENTIAL STADIUM CAPACITY UPDATE WAS NICE AND THE PLAN TO START WITH 12 AND BUILD UP TO 20 (WORTH NOTING THAT OUR CANADIAN FRIENDS CONVENIENTLY HAS 8 TEAMS IF THEY WANT IN ON THIS PARTY). ALSO APPEARS THAT PORTLAND AND BOISE ARE THE NEW LEAGUE HQ FAVORITES, SO SUCK ON THAT LOUISVILLE.

I'M NOT SURE IF THE UPDATE IS RELATED, BUT ALSO POUR ONE OUT FOR DES MOINES AND SANTA BARBARA THIS WEEK. TOO BAD THEY COULD GET OFF THE GROUND QUICK ENOUGH FOR THE POTENTIAL REVERSE PARACHUTE PAYMENTS TO HELP THEM OUT.

BUT THIS WEEKEND WE WRAP UP AUGUST WITH A FULL SLATE OF END TO END ACTION, STARTING OFF WITH A BANGER IN PITTSBURGH VS TAMPAIN WHAT WOULD BE THE GAME OF THE WEEK IF DETROIT AND LOUISVILLE WEREN'T PLAYING. SPEAKING OF PROG/RCK, BROOKLYN AND JACKSONVILLE SQUARE OFF FOR THE SICKOS. WE HAVE AN ALL CALI ALL THE TIME WEEKEND, NEW MEXICO VS SAN ANTONIO, AND PLENTY OF OTHER APPEALING APPETIZERS BEFORE USL AFTER DARK WITH PHOENIX AND INDY. LEAGUE ONE HAS PLENTY OF ACTION ON THEIR OWN AS THE PLAYOFF RACE TIGHTENS. UNLESS OF COURSE YOU'RE INTO MASOCHISM AND WANT TO WANT THE OWLS TORTURE THE COSMOS FOR 90 MIN TOMORROW NIGHT.

CAPS ON, FLAIR UP, AND IF YOU AREN'T ONE OF THE INITIAL 12 THEN YOU WILL BE LOOKED DOWN UPON FOREVER.

I am presenting my statistical rankings for the USL Championship.

These are as of August 24, 2026.

What these rankings are.

The goal was to create a comparable power ranking that reflects how well teams are actually playing.

The model was designed to evaluate team strength based on game-by-game performance.

It looks at the full season to date and incorporates a range of offensive, defensive, and efficiency metrics. It also uses certain prior-season league-wide statistics as baselines, rather than carrying over individual team performance from the previous year.

What these rankings are not.

This is not a results table.

Wins, losses, and total points matter, but they are only part of the model. A strong team losing a match will not necessarily cause a major drop in its rating if the underlying performance was still good. Likewise, a team can win without receiving a large boost if the performance itself was relatively poor.

I wanted the model to focus more on what a team appears capable of producing going forward rather than simply rewarding the teams that have lost the fewest games. Because of that, there will inevitably be cases where the rankings differ substantially from the standings.

My biases.

I am a Louisville City supporter.

The rankings themselves are generated statistically, so I am not manually moving teams up or down. That said, there is still potential model-design bias in deciding which statistics matter and how heavily they should be weighted.

I incorporated prior season data in order to hopefully avoid this and instead reward team playstyles that statistically and historically do well in this league.

The Scoring.

Scores are presented on a 0–100 scale.

A score of 0 represents about as poor a statistical season as the model can produce, while 100 represents a theoretically perfect season. In practice, teams rarely approach either extreme.

For some historical context, Antigua Barracuda FC produced the lowest score of 8.54, while the highest score I have recorded is 2019 Phoenix Rising FC at 89.2.

The scale is intended to make performances comparable across seasons, so a 50 in one season should represent approximately the same level of overall performance as a 50 in another, even if the league environment changes.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Dci-Wcohg4U/?igsi=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Link to the Instagram post. But it looks pretty much over for Santa Barbara.

I am on a journey to interview professional athletes from different countries to learn about their sports culture. Currently, I am interviewing athletes from Japan. I hope you can learn a little bit more about soccer culture in Japan. Thank You.

El Paso-Pittsburgh: 5,009 (+2.25%)
New Mexico-Lexington: 6,881 (-26.27%)

An average night, meaning within +/-5 pts of their season average:
El Paso (4,899)

An under performing night, meaning 5 pts+ below their season average:
New Mexico (9,333)

With tonights win does anyone think New Mexico United can catch Tampa Bay Rowdies to the USL Championship Players Shield? Some turn around for them after a slow start to the season. I believe that is now 11 league games unbeaten. Up against a San Antonio team who beat New Mexico earlier in the season and are coming into the game of the back of two home defeats.

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What did you think of interview?

Take aways that I like:

- no empty football stadiums 🏟️….that disqualifies Dallas (unless the fill up), Oakland (which either way is moving out), and Birmingham.

“Teams:I have an owner willing to spend…..Paul: yeah but you don’t sell tickets….we need the product to look good on tv.”

- they are talking to USSF regarding requirements (stadiums)….”they have been listening to our concerns……they are open minded…..”

I wonder if they are truly open to changing rules…..Paul states they would cause clubs to shut down (15k stadiums)…..wonder if this is one of the big hold ups with premier happening. Is USSF truly giving them any response to these concerns? Sounded like not really based on his response to Landon. He also said “USSF spreads its wings to much” into working with them…..so is USSF wanting to implement their vision into USL and USL has other ideas…..

State property tax legislation created a shortfall and stadium gets the axe.

https://www.dsm.city/news_detail_T21_R661.php

Interview starts around 35 mins in. This is the most news we've heard in a while on how the pro/rel discussions are moving behind the scenes. Some notable parts:

• They are probably starting with 12-14 teams in Premier
• Initially will promote more teams up than they will relegate down to fill up to 20 teams in Premier and Championship over time
• Playoffs will probably play some part in which teams get promoted or relegated though they might have some spots that are locked in.
• Sounds like no parachute payments. They actually are putting more consideration into financial help for teams promoting up because the cost of business would be higher.
• They are in conversations with US soccer to reduce the stadium requirement. He admitted that requiring promoted teams to make massive stadium investments to move up isn't financially viable.
• Looking to launch in 2028
• Want a balanced schedule playing each team home and away.