What If? A Tale Of An Organized Pyramid

If you follow US Soccer at all, you'll know it's a train wreck right now. Lawsuits, leagues and teams facing the threat of going out of business, all kinds of shady money. Enough to make you go crazy. But it does make me wonder: What if we had an organized pyramid in the US? Not one with a bunch of made up teams, but one made up only of the teams that exist. Would there even be enough teams to create a functioning top three levels of the pyramid? That was my first big question.

Here's how many pro teams there are right now, per league. We aren't counting NISA teams, or the three expansion teams NASL mentioned in the lawsuit: Atlanta, Detroit, and New Orleans. Or the Chicago NASL group. This is only for teams that actually exist, either with a team on the field now, or announced plans to put a team on the field by 2019 at the latest.

MLS: 23
NASL: 10
USL: 35

Total: 68

68 pro teams! First off, I'd say that's awesome to see. 68 pro teams planning to take the field next year. Hopefully USSF can sort things out, and we'll see a few more take the field in 2018.

Now, what if you stacked it up to have three leagues at the top of the pyramid? It would actually be quite easy.

MLS: 20
NASL: 24
USL: 24

Pretty cool looking, no? What teams would be in these leagues? Easy! I took current standings of all the leagues and organized things. Bottom two MLS teams and LAFC join NASL. Top thirteen non MLS 2 sides join NASL.

MLS
Toronto, NYFC, Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, NYRB, Montreal, New England, Philadelphia, Orlando, Vancouver, Portland, Kansas City, Seattle, Salt Lake, San Jose, Houston, Dallas, Minnesota, LA

NASL
Miami, North Carolina, San Francisco, Edmonton, Puerto Rico, New York, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, LAFC, Cal United, San Diego, Louisville, Reno, San Antonio, Charlotte, Charleston, Phoenix, Tulsa, Tampa Bay, Rochester, Cincinnati, Bethlehem, Sacramento, Oklahoma City

USL
Orlando B, Saint Louis, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Harrisburg, Richmond, Toronto 2, Real Monarchs, Swope Park, Orange County, Colorado Springs, Rio Grande, Seattle 2, LA 2, Vancouver 2, Portland 2, Fresno, Las Vegas, Nashville, Austin, Birmingham

I know this is crazy, but it's Monday, and I wondered what something like this might look like. Just a fun exercise and something that was on my mind.