Whitecaps form breakaway league

So they've done it. Vancouver, Montreal and a few other teams that make up the Team Owners' Association (TOA) have split from the USL-1 and have formed a new league to play at Div. II level in the US and Div. I in Canada. Read the Sun story on it here. I wonder why the Caps have bothered with this, given that they'll only play in the league for one year, and it may have serious consequences for their women's and youth teams that play in the USL.

This will seriously damage the USL. Two of the best teams, and half of all their teams, have just left. Portland is gone soon, and Seattle left last year. I think this leaves them with 8 teams in total, meaning they'll have to promote some developmental teams if they want to have a full league next year. The same goes for the TOA, though. With only 8 teams committed, how are they going to maintain any semblance of a decent league? Especially if a few teams dominate the first year.

This is odd, and I don't like it, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.