On Jan. 27, the United Soccer League announced the name of its new Division I men’s league, USL Premier, and unveiled a multitier pyramid incorporating promotion and relegation (pro-rel). With this decision, USL is not merely restructuring its competitive format — it is challenging one of the pillars of North American sports business: the closed-league model.

In 2025, USL club owners voted to adopt promotion and relegation across its professional men’s tiers. That vote marked a decisive break from American sports tradition, where franchise exclusivity, territorial rights and asset protection have traditionally outweighed sporting merit. By embracing pro-rel, USL is aligning itself with the norm seen in England, Spain and Germany — and signaling that American soccer’s long-standing exceptionalism needs to evolve to become competitive in the global market.

To understand the significance of this moment, it is necessary to revisit the legal battle that failed to impose this change, examine MSL’s strategic response, and look across the aisle to the NWSL, where labor reform is quietly globalizing the sport from within.

The legal ceiling: Miami FC and Kingston Stockade FC (claimants) v. FIFA, Concacaf and USSF (respondents)

The road to an open system in the U.S. was paved not by regulation, but by failed litigation. The most prominent attempt to mandate promotion and relegation came in 2017, when Miami FC and Kingston Stockade FC brought a claim before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The claimants argued that the respondents’ operation of MLS as a closed league effectively blocked clubs from lower divisions from advancing based on sporting merit. As a result, the claimants did not have a pathway to enter MLS or to qualify for international club competitions. They maintained that........

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