With Stoke on the brink of reaching the Premiership, the board have decided it’s time that they started acting like one! They have affiliated with a new football (soccer if you’re American) team in the United Soccer League.
The Austin Aztec are a Texas based franchise (if i kept using brackets thats all you’ll see, so read the glossary at the bottom!) bought by SCFC director Phil Rawlins. Mushy Peas and Gravy went along to the reasonably well attended evening at the Britannia to see what the link will mean for Stoke.
Now you have watched that here is a glossary of terms that the Yanks use when talking about socc….I mean football.
Soccer – Quite simply, the Americans already had a game they call Football by the time Association Football reached the US so they called it Soccer.
Franchise – How US teams are referred to. They cost between $25,000 – $350,000 (£12,500 – £175,000) to buy. Buyers have to guarantee operating budgets of up to $1,500,000 (£750,000) a year for the franchise. For their money, they get support from the league on such areas such as media and branding. Most importantly though, they own the right to build the only USL team with a large geographical area.
USL – In it’s third decade of operation, the USL stretches throughout the US, Canada and even into the Caribbean. Whereas the MLS (Major Soccer League) is all about big business and having the best, well-known players. The USL is much more about nurturing home-grown talent from the region. There are leagues for both Men and Women, Boys and Girls. It’s ever expanding and in a few years could rival the MLS.
