Major League Soccer just made official a new plan to drastically overhaul their third-division development league, MLS Next Pro.
The league is partnering with private-equity firm KKR on a joint venture that will give clubs the option to turn the commercial rights of their Next Pro team over to a new centralized entity, Hometown Soccer Holdings, which in turn will operate the business of the Next Pro team, which would include rebranding and relocating those centrally-controlled teams to other markets away from their MLS parent club.
Word of the agreement between MLS and KKR to bring to Next Pro what is essentially the model followed by professional baseball and MLB teams and their minor-league affiliates was first reported by Sports Business Journal, shortly before the league's official announcement of the venture.
According to SBJ's reporting, the league has been considering this approach since early 2024, and teams will have the choice to opt in or out of the new model involving Hometown Soccer Holdings taking control of their Next Pro side.
This news raises immediate questions about the futures of a bunch of the 30 existing and operating MLS Next Pro teams, though it won't impact any of the three independent Next Pro sides, Chattanooga FC, CT United FC, and Carolina Core FC, nor will it impact the yet-to-debut independent clubs coming soon in Cleveland, OH, Jacksonville, FL, Long Island, NY, and Grand Rapids, MI.
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While this new arrangement would see MLS teams retain control of all soccer decisions and operations, the prospect of tens of Next Pro teams that were formerly just carbon-copies of their MLS parent clubs with "II" or "2" attached to their names now being spun off into new cities with new identities, and while in pursuit of soccer-first playing venues of their own, should provide a major shake-up of the domestic lower-league soccer scene in the years to come.
Locally: Where will NYCFC II go?
One local New York club that seems likely to move under the Hometown Soccer Holdings umbrella for a rebrand and relocation: New York City FC II.
