With MLS teams looking to establish a developmental system after the MLS Reserve League ends this year, Colorado Rapids ownership is looking at working out a game plan for 2015 and beyond.
The first option, according to Rapid president Tim Hinchey, is to launch an USL Pro team to play at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. But that’s not really an option for 2015, so Hinchey and crew are looking at other options, per the Denver Post:
Rapids president Tim Hinchey said last week that in the long term he would love to have a USL Pro team — and a PDL team, for that matter — playing home games at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. But, he added, that’s a ways off, so the Rapids are actively pursuing a partner in the USL Pro.
“We’ve had conversations with a lot of different clubs. We started that process quite some time ago,” Hinchey said in a phone call on Friday. “I was actually meeting with a prospective club this weekend in New York.”
One option, in case a USL Pro team in Denver doesn’t work out, is an association with the Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, set to begin play in 2015. The team still is working out a stadium deal and ownership seems eager for a Rapids partnership, but apparently that feeling is not mutual:
“We have no relationship with that club,” Hinchey said on Friday.