Soccer leagues compromise

CARY -- The standoff threatening to keep the Carolina RailHawks sidelined this summer ended Thursday when the U.S. Soccer Federation announced plans for a 12-team league encompassing teams from the RailHawks' old league and the new one it hoped to join.

The Division 2 professional league, set up for this year only, will be divided into two six-team conferences, with Carolina playing in the NASL Conference.

The announcement ends a nearly four-month struggle between Division 2 franchises, as owners of the RailHawks and eight other franchises attempted to break away from the United Soccer Leagues, which were sold by Nike last fall, to create the proposed North American Soccer League. The RailHawks were at the forefront of that movement, as the nine teams tried to apply for USSF sanctioning under the NASL name.

On Dec. 29, however, the USSF declined to sanction the recently proposed NASL, as well as the USL - which had been reduced to only three Division 2 teams. Both leagues were deemed unable by the USSF to survive on their own this upcoming season and were given seven days to work out an interim solution with hopes of forming a single league for the time being.

Under the terms of the agreement, the USSF will oversee the league in 2010.

"The most important thing is long-term stability," USSF president Sunil Gulati said in a teleconference Thursday. "What we've achieved here today gives us a short-term solution for the 2010 season."

RailHawks owner Selby Wellman said the compromise works best for the short term, adding that his group still plans on submitting an application for a separate NASL next year.