League One Updater's Week in Review

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Round one of the USL League One Playoffs didn't disappoint. Plus updates on clubs in trouble and potential Championship self-relegation.

Charlotte's Domination

Any questions about Charlotte's 4-1 loss at Portland to close out the season were answered with their 5-1 drubbing of FC Naples to open their playoff run.

With the A-Team back in action, the Jacks were dominant from start to finish, breaking down Naples' defense and finding goals from its strong cast of characters often overshadowed by the likes of Golden Boot winner Souaibou Marou and Golden Playmaker Jon Bakero.

Midfielder Christopher Jaime was the undisputed man of the match, with a goal and two assists (and technically an assist on the Naples own goal to open the scoring). This presents an additional challenge for Madison next week, as no opponent can rely entirely on shutting down chance creation by Bakero with the likes of Jamie, along with veterans Joey Skinner and Prince Saydee also able to go on the attack.

Jaime is also making his case for league Young Player of the Year, something already awarded by his fellow players via the USLPA awards. With Head Coach Mike Jeffries a favorite for Coach of the Year, Marou and Bakero favorites for MVP, and Goaltender Matt Levy certainly up for a nomination for his position's award, could we see a near sweep of the end of season awards for Charlotte? And how many Jacks are too many Jacks on the all-league teams?

As for Naples, the squad and fans should be proud of its incredible run to even get to this point, considering they went as low as 14th in the table only a few months ago. We look forward to what sporting director Sean Howe puts together this off-season, and to the team's decision on interim coach Zak Gordon. We expect he's top-of-list for the permanent role moving forward.

No Chance for Knoxville's Attempt to Repeat

Last year's Player's Shield and Playoff winners One Knoxville traveled to Boise, one of the toughest environments in the league. However, they went in having not lost to Boise this season, including a 2-1 win at AC Boise Stadium in July.

But this time the Knoxville squad looked overwhelmed by a hyped up, ready-for-this-moment AC Boise. From the start, the hosts dominated possession and shots, making the first half look like a top-vs-bottom seed affair. Knoxville is lucky (and by lucky I mean Knoxville goalkeeper Johan Garibay stood on his head) to get out of the half with just a 1-0 deficit.

The second half eased a bit, and Knoxville did start to generate some more chances. But unable to fully crack the Boise defending and goaltending, their fate was sealed with a stoppage time goal from Boise's Jesús Barea.

One other fascinating point of this match: Boise broke Knoxville's all-time USL League One attendance record by adding more standing-room tickets. And they'll get a chance to do it again next week, hosting the Chattanooga Red Wolves for the semi-final.

With off-season here a few weeks earlier than last year, Knoxville has some decisions to make regarding a prominent list of free-agents and player options. Heading into year five, it will be the club's second two-year cycle, and we expect a much different looking squad in 2027.

Madison Advances, Spokane Fizzles Out

Speaking of repeat attempts, Spokane Velocity will not make an historic third straight trip to the league finals after falling 2-1 in Madison on Friday night. And while there remain questions about the club even returning to the league next year, at the very least, there will be a lot roster movement should they be back. Look for the club to skew younger next season, with a good number of older veterans hitting free agency and there being a need to shed what has been reported to be one of the higher payrolls in the league.

But let's not dwell on that (there are more details at the end of this article), and instead focus on a Madison side that has already achieved the now-modest goal of hosting a playoff match in 2026 after a dismal 2025.

The hosts struck first on Friday night, with 21 year old DC United loanee Hakim Karamoko getting things started less than eight minutes into the match. He's been a key part of Madison's secondary scoring threats, with six goals on the season, easing pressure on Golden Boot contender Ryan Carmichael.

And while Spokane struck back minutes later with a beauty of a header by Lucky Opara, clinically supplied by Nil Vinyals, Madison scored what would be the match winner almost immediately after. Carmichael picked up his second assist of the match, feeding Josh Bolma.

Like Karamoko, Bolma is yet another example of this Madison squad going stealthily deep, along with an example of Carmichael's unselfish play. He may not have ended up winning the Golden Boot, but winning as a team will carry this squad further.

Madison will travel to Charlotte for a Sunday night matchup with yet another team known for its insane depth.

Chattanooga: Agents of Chaos

We'll wait until after the season to pose the question to Scott MacKenzie, but it really seems like this squad planned for the exact scenario in which they found themselves on Friday night.

Score early, hold on, drag it to penalty kicks.

The 5-4-1 formation to start the match, backed by long-time professional veteran Ricardo Jérez in goal backs up the assertion.

Indeed, Pedro Hernandez scored within the first minute of the match, forcing Omaha into desperation right away. Chattanooga pulled back, and conceded a whopping 78% possession, 28 shots, six shots on target, 47 touches in the Chattanooga box and 15 corner kicks to Omaha.

Still, the Owls were unable to break through, and Chattanooga overwhelmingly led the match in all defensive categories, mainly because they were simply on defense for a vast majority of the match.

Diego Gutiérrez managed to break the stalemate in the 66th minute with a banger of a goal from the side of the box. But the Wolves dragged the match into extra time and then penalties, where Jérez not only saved two, but also took his side's final shot and put it past a dumbfounded Rashid Nuhu.

After knocking out the second seed, Chattanooga will take its chaos to third-seeded Boise next. Expect a similar formation and plan from the Wolves against a team that plays in a similar style as Omaha.

As for Omaha's off-season? There may be some difficult decisions in goal, with long-time veteran Nuhu's contract ending and his tandem-partner Cole Jensen winning the Golden Glove.

In Other USL League One News

Green Bay Expansion: Making Progress?

Local media reported that outgoing Green Bay mayor Eric Genrich remains optimistic that there could be a USL League One expansion in the city sooner rather than later.

Genrich hinted that the city and the league are "getting closer to an initial announcement" with an ownership group, indicating that there may be news to announce "in the next month or two."

Currently, the city has an expanded agreement with the league through May 2027, with an option to extend six more months.

The league confirmed a shift in expansion operations since the departure of the Papadakis family, focusing more on finding solid ownership groups first, then working on stadium development.

Corpus Christi Ownership: Disregard the Rumors

Corpus Christi FC's ownership issued a statement via KIII Sports denying the now widely-reported news that the club will not be in USL League One next season. However, the statement was not without an underlying admission that there are some major problems. The statement from Dr. Kingsley Okonkwo:

"The information out there are rumors. We are still working to finalize the path forward for the USL1 team. Once we have a formal path forward, I believe in the next week, I will make sure to inform and update you. So disregard the rumors."

Having to say you are finalizing a "path forward" after one season at the professional level does not exactly inspire confidence, but we hope they figure it out.

Meanwhile, there is still no official word from the league on the fate of Corpus Christi FC, or Westchester SC. The latter club has also not issued a statement.

Spokane in Trouble?

To make matters worse, Beyond the 90 reported that Spokane Velocity is also in trouble. After that report, we received a tip of some public information that went unreported back in August regarding the club's issues.

At an August 26th Board of Directors meeting of the Spokane Public Facilities District, it was publicly recorded that club ownership group Aequus Sports was in default over its quarterly stadium rent and match-day settlement payments to the city.

SPFD CEO Stephanie Curran told the board that the club had informed her that a main investor was in the progress of exiting, with a replacement search in progress. The club also shared with Curran that Velocity loses $4 million per year, and has seen a massive drop in actual attendance this season down to an average of "1,200" per match, with some as low as 900.

It should be noted that reported attendance has an average of 1,746, which generally includes all season tickets plus tickets distributed regardless of how many actually scan into the gates.

Related to the uncertainty on all three clubs, league sources tell us that the draft schedule for 2027 has been delayed by a least a month.

Could Some USL Championship Clubs Self-Relegate?

Beyond the 90 also reported that Miami FC could be dropping to USL League One in 2027, something we've also heard from independent sources. However, we don't have any sources close enough to the situation to confirm just yet. With Miami FC still in the USLC playoffs, don't expect any news until late November or early December at the earliest. Keep an eye on developments after the playoffs conclude.

Stadium uncertainty is affecting Miami FC, as well as several others around the league. The New York Times confirmed issues we'd heard about Oakland Roots, a club that has lost vast sums of money using the Oakland Coliseum. There is a plan to construct a modular stadium in Alameda, pending city approval, followed by a long-term pursuit of a marquee stadium at Howard Terminal in Oakland.

But with time running out, and faith in the speed of local California government not exactly strong, 2027 does appear uncertain at best right now.

What does this have to do with USL League One? Nothing at the moment, but it's worth keeping an eye on as we've heard that possibly 3-4 clubs are eying self-relegation. Oakland just happens to be the most public about the issues it faces in the near term.

Of course, given Oakland's level of support and the premier market, we'd also expect the league to do everything it can to keep the club in the second division.

And while there is no confirmation on the future of any of these teams, Jacksonville, Loudoun, Brooklyn and Las Vegas also come to mind as USL Championship clubs that struggled with momentum in 2026.

Along with Miami FC, these four round out the bottom five in average attendance. In addition, Las Vegas is exiting Cashman Field as that facility is slated for demolition, and does not yet have an announced home for 2027.

Again, something to keep an eye on over the next month or two.

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