Why will MLS teams remove their second teams from the USL Championship?
Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers and Orlando City announced that they will not present their No. 2 teams in the 2021 USL Championship season.
The USL Championship could lose many important teams heading into next season as rumors grow that the MLS Reserve League would be created. In this new league, MLS teams will be able to have players who are not yet ready for MLS and use them at any time, as in the rest of the world.
Most MLS teams have another in the USL Championship. They use this space to empower future MLS players without having to make them hang out with professional MLS teams. It is extremely important for the emergence of new players that MLS teams have a competitive place to train them.
The USL Championship disagrees with this measure as they believe it will devalue their league greatly. So far the USL is the second major soccer league in the United States and they have several teams with former major MLS players. Landon Donovan owns the San Diego Loyals who rightly plays in the USL Championship.
It will be a matter of waiting to see what happens with this decision, but for now the only teams that said they will not participate in the tournament are the Philadelphia Union, Portland Timbers and Orlando City. It is expected that in the next few days, more MLS teams will join this initiative in order to announce the creation of the MLS Reserve League.
