USL News Release

Thursday, December 21, 2006

TAMPA, FL – United Soccer Leagues announced the official alignment for the 2007 Premier Development League season. Including six new teams, the alignment is comprised of 63 teams. The league’s playoff format was also announced.

New franchises to the Premier Development League are the Springfield Demize, Mississippi Brilla, Lancaster Rattlers, San Jose Frogs, Fredericksburg Gunners and Ventura County Fusion along with new teams in Baton Rouge (LA), Raleigh (NC) and Spokane (WA) yet to be formally introduced as well as the Long Island Rough Riders and Toronto Lynx, formerly of the USL Second Division and USL First Division, respectively.

The divisional alignment was changed to a consistent two-division format for each of the four conferences for the 2007 season, eliminating the three-division alignment that previously existed in the Eastern and Southern Conferences.

Following the same playoff format as years prior, four teams will meet in a conference playoff tournament in the first week following the season with the top two representing each division. Two semifinal matches will be held the following week with the PDL Championship on the third week of the postseason.

2007 PDL Alignment

CENTRAL CONFERENCE	EASTERN CONFERENCE
Great Lakes Division	Mid Atlantic Division
Chicago Fire Premier	Delaware Dynasty
Cleveland Internationals	Fredericksburg Gunners
Fort Wayne Fever	Northern Virginia Royals
Indiana Invaders	Ocean City Barons
Michigan Bucks	Reading Rage
Toronto Lynx	Richmond Kickers Future
West Michigan Edge	Virginia Beach Submariners
	West Virginia Chaos
Heartland Division	Williamsburg Legacy
Boulder Rapids Reserve
Des Moines Menace	Northeast Division
Kansas City Brass	Albany Admirals
Sioux Falls SpitFire	Brooklyn Knights
Springfield Demize	Cape Cod Crusaders
St Louis Lions	Long Island Rough Riders
Thunder Bay Chill	Ottawa Fury
	Rhode Island Stingrays
	Vermont Voltage
	Westchester Flames
SOUTHERN CONFERENCE	WESTERN CONFERENCE
Mid South Division	Northwest Division
Austin Lightning	Abbotsford Rangers
Baton Rouge	BYU Cougars
DFW Tornados	Cascade Surge
El Paso Patriots	Ogden Outlaws
Laredo Heat	Spokane
Mississippi Brilla	Tacoma FC
New Orleans Shell Shockers	Yakima Reds
Southeast Division	Southwest Division
Atlanta Silverbacks U23s	Bakersfield Brigade
Bradenton Academics	Fresno Fuego
Carolina Dynamo	Lancaster Rattlers
Central Florida Kraze	Los Angeles Storm
Cocoa Expos	Orange County Blue Star
Nashville Metros	San Fernando Valley Quakes
Palm Beach Pumas	San Francisco Seals
Raleigh	San Jose Frogs
	Southern California Seahorses
	Ventura County Fusion