USL News Release
Thursday, December 6, 2007
TAMPA, FL -- United Soccer Leagues announced Thursday details for the 2008 USL Premier Development League season, which will see an increase in divisions and playoff teams in the upcoming campaign. Among the details finalized recently at the 2007 Annual General Meeting at the Hyatt Regency in Tampa, FL were the alignment, schedule and playoff details for the 2008 competition.
The PDL will consist of 67 teams in 2008, playing in 10 divisions that comprise the four conferences. New to the Central Conference will be the Midwest Division, while the New England Division will join the fray in Eastern Conference. Expansion teams that have been formally announced to date are the Kalamazoo Outrage, Houston Leones, Panama City Pirates, New Jersey Rangers, Austin Stampede and Vancouver Whitecaps Residency. Moving to the PDL from the USL Second Division are the New Hampshire Phantoms and Cincinnati Kings. Another club change among the mix is that Abbotsford has adopted its youth club nickname Mariners. An additional expansion team is yet to be officially announced.
The league will also play a 16-game season for the fifth straight campaign with games based primarily upon their divisional alignment. The season will open April 26 and conclude July 20. The playoffs will begin almost immediately with the expanded Central Conference format in which seven teams will move onto the postseason, marking the first conference equivalent playoff system featuring more than four participants for the first time since the divisional playoffs in 1998. The four Conference Championship Tournaments will be held July 25-27 with the PDL Semifinals August 1-2 and the PDL Championship Saturday, August 9. All playoff hosts are determined via a bid process.
Southern Conference
Mid South Division: Austin Stampede, Baton Rouge Capitals, DFW Tornados, El Paso Patriots, Houston Leones, Laredo Heat, Mississippi Brilla, New Orleans Shell Shockers
Southeast Division: Atlanta Silverbacks U23s, Bradenton Academics, Carolina Dynamo, Cary RailHawks U23s, Central Florida Kraze, Nashville Metros, Palm Beach Pumas, Panama City Pirates
Southern Conference Playoffs: The top two teams in each division advance to the conference championship tournament. The division champions face the second place team from the opposite division in the conference semifinals. The winner of the conference championship advances to the PDL Semifinals.
