Sacramento and Nashville’s bids for MLS expansion teams now include established USL teams. That’s because the ownership groups backing both bids have bought teams in the second division with the hope of it helping them land teams in the top flight.
In Sacramento’s case, that means buying the Republic. The team has been arguably the most successful team in USL, drawing huge crowds and building a very strong brand in the city. Now, Nagle owns the team, which aligns the city’s current team and their prospective MLS team. It also makes Sacramento Republic the identity that the expansion bid will carry, which is appealing considering how established that brand already is.