League Info
2025 Season
Clubs
Who are the people involved with TLfC? The visionaries of the League for Clubs are Sean Jones of the WPSL, with the five founders, Dennis Crowley (Kingston Stockade), Adam Lewin (FC Davis), Andrew Weigus(sp?) (Atlantic City FC), Sonny Dalesandro (Tulsa Athletic) and Arik Housley (Napa Valley 1839 FC). Those were also supported by many within their team of people around them and their organizations.
A National format amateur league intended to bridge the gap between MLS Next Pro/USL 1 and the fourth division of American soccer. We purposefully offer flexibility of season, the west coast due to weather ability begins in March and ends with everyone in time for national playoffs. North East begins in May and also ends at the same time for national playoffs.(Other note***) The misunderstanding of many outside the loop is the levels. Division 3 (professional) annual budgets are 1.5M to 3M/year on average. Amateur soccer average $60K/year that is an immense separation and unsustainable if promotion and relegation ever were to be instated.
We are in the Gulf Coast, NorthEast, Central (Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas), Texas and Northern California at this time.
We purposefully offer flexibility of season, the west coast due to weather ability begins in March and ends with everyone in time for national playoffs. North East begins in May and also ends at the same time for national playoffs. Pockets of the country also offer a fall season. Example in the west coast the intent is to offer amateur soccer to showcase players and organizations from March through middle November. Yet most of the country plays our spring summer season culminating at the National Final last weekend of July. We ended the season before August for those college players committed to their teams for fall.
TLfC partnered first if the GCPL (Gulf Coast Premier League). They run a great organization and communicate very professionally with their teams. GCPL used to have GCPL and GCL1. They now have GCL1 and GCL2 within their regional system, and they partnered to administrate the Gulf Coast Conference for the League for Clubs. The intention is to have relegation after year 1 into their GCL1 and promotion from their GCL2. Much of the work is based on regional travel is less than national travel due to cost and allowing teams to incubate and see if they can make the jump long term to a national level.We also have partnerships forming with other regions around the country, in order to allow a pathway for teams to grow and flourish if they desire.
Every member team of TLfC is a stakeholder. Twenty percent of the net proceeds annually will go back to the stakeholders. We as stakeholders have 51%. We are not owners, so there is no K1 or tax scenario, we are stakeholders. That said, if there is ever a buyout longterm, we the teams would get 51%.
There are other leagues that many of us have already been a part of. Yet our vision is to help incubate teams to not only survive but to also thrive. Most teams in the US collapse within three years. The cost for travel, stadiums and so many other expenses add up and this becomes an expensive hobby. Imagine a food network show on failing restaurants, nearly all the owners say, “I always wanted to have a restaurant and my friends said I was a good cook.” Well after Robert Irvine and his team would go in, some still failed, yet many also figured out the formula and became successful. The League for Clubs believes we can help grow the game by helping teams become successful. That said, it starts with communication. We must be able to communicate with our partner teams. Past leagues we were in wouldn’t share other contacts, so if we saw some outstanding social media ideas, why not contact them and ask how to replicate. Fundraising, we have zooms to help other teams understand the fundamentals of how to get sponsorship or raise money. Many teams fail because they are losing $10K/year, our job is to help them understand the fundamentals to raise that money so then they can sustain longer off field. The on-field piece is up to them to compete.
The pro/rel debate is important for our country and the growth of the game and we believe in the concept, yet it is not an easy answer as some believe. In order for promotion and relegation to work, it needs to be regionalized. Example: Take either USL C and USL 1 or MLS NP as individual setups. If MLS NP got to 48 teams they could have 24 teams in D2 and 24 in D3, one team would promote and one relegate per region annually thus keeping travel mainly within the region. Our country is immense, so to compare it to the Netherlands, England or Spain is not realistic. For USL it is the same, USL1 needs more teams across the nation, as there are very few in the western US. A large budget expense is travel.When it comes to our level of promotion and relegation, yes, we intend to have pro/rel yet there are many factors in play. First we intend to pilot it in Northern California and the Gulf Coast.In California, the intent is to have a second division in 2026. We already have 12 additional teams wanting into our league. We have 13 in the first division now. Unfortunately, sometimes with logistics it’s not black and white like 2 go up and 2 go down. Example, if Team X promotes yet can’t meet standards or doesn’t have intent to play nationally as they can’t afford the travel if they do make it far, then we will provide them the opportunity to waive their promotion.
Expansion fee ($4000) and annual dues of $4500 as well as $1000 for playoff travel pool. So year one would be $4000 + $5500 and after year one it would be $5500 for the spring/fall season. Parts of the country that have a fall season as well like Northern California would have a separate additional fee, yet that will be a regional or conference level of play, so no additional playoff fee for that season on top of the fall fee which will be determined at a later time.
We believe it is pretty awesome that maybe for the first time a successful women’s league was the catalyst to help start a men’s league. The successes of the WPSL nationwide as well as the leadership, proves they are not only good business people, yet they are also just good people that want to grow the game we all love.
