Super start: New women's USL Super League to include Jacksonville's JAXUSL franchise
Add one more club to the First Coast's professional soccer scene.
The United Soccer League announced Jacksonville among 13 initial markets Tuesday for the launch of the USL Super League, a professional women's soccer league scheduled to begin competition next summer.
The JAXUSL ownership group, headed by Ricky Caplin, Tony Allegretti, Steve Livingstone and former Heisman Trophy quarterback Tim Tebow, would operate the new club. The group last August received a franchise in the USL, the second tier of American men's professional soccer, for a team slated for kickoff in the spring of 2025.
The USL Super League intends to launch in August 2024 with 10 to 12 teams, and is seeking first-division status under the U.S. Soccer Federation's standards. Jacksonville would join the league at a later season to be determined, contingent upon the completion of its soccer stadium project.
In a Tuesday interview with the Times-Union, Livingstone said JAXUSL is targeting a fall 2025 women's soccer debut, although that timetable could shift based on the stadium's progress. For now, he said, the club is "well within that time scale at the moment."
Still to be announced are the name and venue for JAXUSL's teams in both the USL Championship and USL Super League. Livingstone said the club is exploring the possibility of using a single brand for both teams.
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LINING UP A LEAGUE
Cities planned for the initial USL Super League launch are Charlotte, N.C.; Dallas; Lexington, Ky.; Phoenix; Spokane, Wash.; Tampa; Tucson, Ariz.; and Washington, D.C. The USL said all eight have ownership groups in place, although only Charlotte has specifically designated a current completed stadium.
Jacksonville occupies a second tier of cities that would join once its stadium arrangements are complete. That group also includes Chattanooga, Tenn.; Indianapolis; Madison, Wisc.; and Oakland, Calif.
"Our aim is to make the USL Super League globally recognized and admired for its financial stability, operational excellence, community building and high-level competition," USL chief executive officer Alec Papadakis said in a statement.
Seeking Division I status, which would require approval from the U.S. Soccer Federation, would potentially place the USL Super League in direct competition with the established but embattled National Women's Soccer League. The 12-team NWSL, which kicked off in 2013, fields many of the world's leading players in women's soccer, but has been rocked by multiple findings of misconduct among coaches and executives.
Unlike the NWSL, the USL Super League plans to compete on the fall-to-spring calendar embraced by most of the world, while developing a direct pathway from youth soccer to the professional game.
It's unclear whether or not U.S. Soccer would approve a second Division I league, which would directly challenge the NWSL.
U.S. Soccer's professional league standards as of March 17 stipulate various requirements for a Division I women's league:
At least eight teams, growing to at least 10 teams by its fourth year, spanning at least two time zones.
At least 75 percent of its markets must contain at least 750,000 people.
A minimum seating capacity of 5,000 for each stadium.
Teams must have a lease of at least one year for their stadium at least 120 days before the season's start.
Additional provisions govern matters like financial requirements, transparency and player health and safety.
The advantages of Division I classification, if approved, would range from additional broadcast and sponsorship opportunities to the city's status as a major league team in the world's most popular sport.
"When we went to add it all up and took into account the professional league standards, it seemed appropriate that what we're developing was a Division I stage league," Livingstone said.
STADIUM SEARCH CONTINUES
The big piece of the puzzle still to move into place is the stadium, which would hold both JAXUSL's USL Championship men's team and USL Super League women's team.
After researching possibilities in Duval, Clay and St. Johns counties, Livingstone said, three sites currently appear to be in the lead. He expects a final decision to come later in 2023.
He estimated that upon acquiring a site, the construction process for a 15,000-seat venue would likely take from 18 to 24 months. By building with a size of 15,000, the stadium could also receive consideration as a host for U.S. women's national team matches.
The U.S. women have previously played at Jacksonville's TIAA Bank Field in 1996, 2013, 2018 and 2019, drawing 18,656 for a 2013 match against Scotland.
Any stadium development would come amid turbulent times in Jacksonville sports projects. Those include the $120 million practice facility for the NFL's Jaguars, an expenditure divided between the Jaguars and the city; $25 million for upgrades over a three-year period at 121 Financial Ballpark, used by Triple-A baseball's Jumbo Shrimp; and the prospect of a large-scale renovation of TIAA Bank Field in the coming years.
In addition to the professional teams, JAXUSL's venue as proposed would also include facilities for community use and would be accessible to people with special needs. Livingstone said JAXUSL is also considering possibilities for commercial development around the site.
"We're trying to put those three key things [professional, community and commercial] together," he said. "We think there's an opportunity to create something that's transformational."
A FIRST COAST FIRST
A first-division professional women's soccer team would be a first for the Jacksonville area, although area women's clubs have competed at non-professional levels. For example, Florida Elite Soccer Academy has fielded a club in the USL W-League, an amateur level often described unofficially as a fourth division, for the past two years.
Crowds for women's soccer have continued to grow, although they generally trail the men's game. In the NWSL, as calculated by the independent Minnesota-based Soccer Stadium Digest, clubs averaged 7,894 fans during the 2022 regular season, ranging from 4,385 for the Orlando Pride to 19,105 for Angel City FC in Los Angeles.
The next steps for Jacksonville's USL Super League effort will largely parallel the course for the men's team, including the process of building community connections to avoid the dwindling interest that ultimately sank the Jacksonville Tea Men of the old North American Soccer League in the early 1980s and the Jacksonville Cyclones of the second-tier A-League from 1997 to 1999.
Remaining active is the Jacksonville Armada, which played in the second NASL from 2015 to 2017 and has continued to operate outside the professional league pyramid since 2019. The Armada purchased land in January toward a proposed Eastside stadium less than a mile north of 121 Financial Ballpark.
In a region that regularly produces much of Florida's premier talent in women's soccer — Bartram Trail ended the high school season ranked No. 1 nationwide by the United Soccer Coaches, while St. Johns Country Day and Ponte Vedra both spent stretches of the season in the U.S. top 10 — JAXUSL's potential local talent pool could be significant.
Livingstone said any major steps toward JAXUSL's on-field team, including the hiring of its first USL Super League coach, would likely wait until 2024.
"There's a huge opportunity, I think, for the development of women's soccer here," Livingstone said. "We just need to give it a focus."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: USL Super League: Jacksonville awarded club in women's soccer startup
