USL League One Expansion Report: Four Clubs Submitted for 2027
On Monday evening, USL released its four planned expansion clubs for the 2027 season, along with one for USL Championship.
To clarify, these are the expansions the league submitted to U.S. Soccer for sanctioning. Even if approved, it does not mean they will field a team in 2027.
From USL Championship, the league submitted Atlético Dallas, set to begin play at the Cotton Bowl alongside Gainbridge Super League women's club Dallas Trinity. The clubs do not share ownership or operations.
Notably absent from the application is the long-delayed Santa Barbara Sky. Originally set for USL League One in 2024, the club delayed, then announced the acquisition of USL Championship franchise rights from Memphis 901, followed by another delay to 2027. Now, it appears the club may be waiting until 2028 if it moves forward at all.
For USL League One, the application included Sporting Cascades, Fort Lauderdale United, Port St. Lucie, and an unnamed project in Thousand Oaks, CA.
Sporting Cascades was set to join in 2026, but after a slow start, investor issues and the tragic loss of a co-founder after a battle with cancer, decided to delay until 2027. In the meantime, the club appears to have the investment situation straightened out and is moving ahead. The club has its own facility, Civic Stadium along with a multi-use indoor field house and is already embedded into the community from its time in USL League Two and with the 15,000 children the facility serves each year.
Fort Lauderdale United was also set to join in 2026, and for unknown reasons decided to delay until 2027. The club already operates a Gainbridge Super League team under the same branding, and maintains its own facility, the 7,000 capacity Beyond Bancard Field. While the Super League team struggled with attendance, the addition of a men's side would see the facility used year-round, similar to that of Lexington SC.
In addition to the women's pro side, the club also operates a USL-W team and both men's and women's USL Academy programs. Should the men's pro side join in 2027, it would make this one of the most complete soccer clubs in the USL ecosystem.
Port St. Lucie was a previously announced 2027 expansion club, set to play at the planned Walton & One Stadium. The facility is currently set for groundbreaking in the Fall, with plans to be open by Spring 2027. It's an ambitious timeline, and as we've seen with other new stadiums in the league (Fort Wayne, Greenville), we should expect this to be delayed a bit. That doesn't mean we won't see the club field a team in 2027, as it's always possible to backload the home schedule or open the stadium at a reduced capacity while completing the work.
Like Fort Lauderdale, Port St. Lucie already operates USL Academy programs.
Finally, in a bit of a surprise, it appears the group currently operating Ventura County FC as the MLS NextPro affiliate of LA Galaxy is ending that relationship and moving to USL League One. The stadium situation is questionable, with the club currently playing at William Roland Stadium at California Lutheran University. However, the movement of an ownership group (Oak Sports Holding) from MLS NextPro to USL League One would be a first, and certainly a symbolic shot in the ongoing soccer wars.
Details are still trickling out about this one, and we'll keep a close eye on any developments around a stadium and any branding changes.
USL League One Competition Format Updates for 2027
USL's release also touched on what we might expect for a competition format in 2027 and beyond, and reiterated plans for an "interconnected three-tier men’s structure" of USL Premier, USL Championship and USL League One, along with the "future implementation" of a promotion and relegation system.
The league also indicated that we might finally see divisional play in USL League One, a long-desired format that would help cut travel expenses for the currently nationwide setup.
Should all current teams survive, and four new ones join in 2027, USL League One would see 21 clubs. While it's still geographically tilted towards the east, the addition of two west coast clubs would be welcome for the existing teams on that side of the country.
USL League One 2027 Expansion: Who is Missing?
Rodeo SC, a north Texas professional club that rose out of the ashes of the failed. Texoma SC experiment already announced a delay until 2028. The ownership group cited a need for more time to get things right, a respectable decision given the recent history of false starts by other expansions in the league.
South Georgia Tormenta was notably missing from the USL release, indicating we may not see the club return in 2027. The team abruptly withdrew from competition just two weeks before the 2026 season started, leaving signed players and staff without jobs and causing quite the embarrassment for the league. There have been no signs yet that the club plans to return, despite stating the plans to do so as part of the withdrawal announcement. The club had issues coming up with expected operating capital, forcing the suspension of professional operations.
Beyond that, there's a fluid list of potential expansions still in various stages of development. However, many of the projects we mentioned last summer appear to be failed or stalled, and others are still in the exploratory process.
As always, we'll keep a close eye on expansion developments and keep you updated. Sign up below to receive our stories and stay up to date.
