Photo credit: Kevin Dooley
Sources inform Soc Takes that AS Roma will be part of an ownership group that brings a professional soccer team to Riverside, California.
This currently unnamed team will be playing in USL Division III in 2019. USL Division III will be rebranded as USL League One at the end of this year, a story reported by Soc Takes.
The city of Riverside has a population of just over 300,000. The surrounding county, called Riverside County, has a reported population of 2.39 million of which a significant percentage is of immigrant and/or Hispanic descent — demographics associated with a proclivity for soccer consumption.
The city of Riverside has a current NPSL team called Riverside Coras USA that has played in the NPSL since 2014. Riverside Coras president Rob-Lopez Guardado denied being a part of the Riverside-USL D3 partnership, stating, “We are not interested in USL D3.”
Meanwhile, Cal United FC president Michael Collins confirmed to Soc Takes via email that the team is still exploring its options has not committed to any league as of yet.
Why is AS Roma, one of the world’s best-recognized European teams planning on investing in a team in the third division of US Soccer?
Well, for one, AS Roma does have an American connection. The majority ownership group of AS Roma, NEEP Roma Holding, is 60 percent owned by an American group, which includes James Pallotta, Thomas R. DiBenedetto and others. Both Pallotta and DiBenedetto have served as presidents of AS Roma.
Other reasons could be a belief that lower-division soccer is a model with the potential for great growth. Certainly, at the second-division level, USL has proved to be a league of great fecundity. Though, questions remain about the financial stability of individual clubs.
Soc Takes reached out to an AS Roma media spokesperson, and did not receive a comment at the time of publishing.
Lower-division soccer’s flirtation with European club ownership has previously produced unfavorable results. The failures and dissolution of Crystal Palace Baltimore and Rayo OKC are two data points. Another data point has been the topsy-turvy story of 1904 FC, which is part-owned by Demba Ba, Eden Hazard, Yohan Cabaye and Moussa Sow. The club has has now found a home in NISA. but was initially supposed to join the NASL and then USL. Additionally, there has been much speculation about Celtic and Dundee United ownership being interested in American soccer.
Soc Takes understands that the application of this AS Roma-Riverside team was a part of the USL’s application to the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) application for divisional sanctioning. Soc Takes reached out to the USSF for comment.
As Soc Takes previously reported, the USL was not in compliance with active franchisor requirements in the state of California. However, the USL filed a new application with the state of California on Aug. 6, possibly to facilitate this expansion move. This new franchisor application was filed on the same day that Soc Takes published its article.
The announced teams for USL D3 are FC Tucson, the Chattanooga Red Wolves, Greenville Triumph SC, Madison Pro Soccer, Orlando City B, Richmond Kickers, South Georgia Tormenta FC and Toronto FC II, with the Rochester Rhinos scheduled to join in 2020.
The expansion fee for USL D3 teams is $500,000, and teams are expected to spend between $2.4 million and $5.1 million during their first season of play.
USL spokesperson Ryan Madden declined to comment on the story, citing the league’s policy of not commenting on expansion speculation.
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