Aug. 27 - Nike sells the USL to NuRock soccer holdings instead of the team of owners. The owners are believed to be considering a new soccer league.

Oct. 3 - The USL releases players from Carolina, Minnesota and Miami, stating that they own the contracts to each team and the team's decision to leave the league makes them null and void. Left out of this was Montreal and Vancouver, which were playing in the USL final and are successful enough to plan for jumps to the MLS. However, the players remained with their teams as the owners maintained the USL did not, in fact, own the contracts.

Nov. 3 - Minnesota, mired in debt, releases its players for real this time. It had previously lost its general manager and coach.

Nov. 10 - Carolina, Minnesota, Miami, Vancouver, Montreal, Atlanta and St. Louis submit an application for a new league to the United States Soccer Federation. This is one team shy of the 8-team minimum the USSF normally requires as Tampa was dropped from the initially rumored list.

Nov. 20 - Tampa and Baltimore are added to the list, which is significant because it gives the new league nine teams — one more than eight should Minnesota fold (more on that on Sunday). However, the USL struck back later that day with a release vowing to pursue all (legal?) actions to keep Tampa and Baltimore in the USL. The USL says it believes the TOA is meddling with current USL teams under contract for the 2010 season.

Q: Just to be clear, you never paid the [USL franchise fee] for this upcoming year right?

A: No, I got out several months ago. 

Q: Was there a team that did pay the fee but is leaving the USL?

A: Not in our group. There's a few others in the league now that still haven't paid the fee. They're kind of sitting on the fence waiting to see what will happen. 

Q: Is there any talk about switching to the FIFA calendar?

A: There’s nothing serious in the time. Now, FIFA likes that, for everyone to be on the same calendar but you’ve got all these objections. We’ve got teams up in Rochester, Minnesota, Montreal and Vancouver. So there’s some objection to it. Now the answer to it is really not all that difficult. The way they do it over in Europe – they have cold weather over there too – so what they do is basically take two seasons. They usually start about August and end around April. But what they’ll do is split it. They’ll play from August till like December. Then they’ll take a big ol’ break during the cold months and maybe do some friendly matches and things like that in between. And then they’ll start the second half of the season late February/March. That’s how we’d do it in the United States to get around the weather problem. To me, that’s probably several years down the road.

(Sorry this is a day late, we've had some issue with the blogs, and apparently it didn't post yesterday)

Not much was decided in last weekend's meeting with ownership groups in the Team Owners' Association, a group that includes the Carolina RailHawks and represents franchises willing to separate from the United Soccer League and form their own league.

It was more of a social gathering than anything else, but that changes today. The USL leadership and TOA will meet again, hoping to change the stagnant state of current negotiations. 

RailHawks president Brian Wellman said meetings called by United States Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati may have "stabilized" a lot of the tension between the new ownership of the United Soccer League (USL) and Team Owners Association (TOA).

Wellman said his father and majority owner Selby Wellman was representing the RailHawks at the meetings in New York City that were scheduled for Tuesday and have continued into today.

It was the first time the USL leaders, Alec Papadakis and Rob Hoskins — the ownership team of NuRock Soccer Holdings that purchased the USL in late August — and USL president Tim Holt had met with all representatives of the TOA under the same roof.

"It seemed like at least a lot of the tension has stabalized because everyone finally got to meet face-to-face and everyone knows what everyone's goals are," Brian Wellman said.

Outside of that, Wellman said most everything else is up in the air.

"Outside of that, there's nothing definitive."

The dispute between the league and the TOA hit a boiling point on Friday when the USL e-mailed players from the RailHawks and other TOA member franchises saying that not only were those respective franchises no longer in the USL, its players had been released from their contracts.

"I think a lot of positives just came out of a face-to-face meeting as opposed to e-mails, phone calls and things that... communication can get out of context when it's done over the internet and not the old-fashioned way." 

If you think it's odd that this is the first time those face-to-face meetings have taken place, Wellman said the TOA requested a face-to-face meeting immediately after NuRock's purchase of the USL. The USL leader group insisted they meet with each individual team instead.

"We definitely wanted to meet with them first and foremost, but they wanted to do it a separate way," Wellman said. "So yesterday was the first time they all got together."

So where does this leave the RailHawks? Are they any closer to forming a separate league with other TOA members or is a return to the USL more promising? Wellman, who has said the RailHawks will play next year in some capacity, said those answers are too far off to determine presently.

"I couldn't give that now. I wouldn't know where to begin with that. There's still a lot of work to be done, but at the same time there's still a time factor so a lot of work is going to have to get done in a short amount of time."

In an interview on Monday, Wellman noted that a decision needs to be reached within the "next 30 days." The fall is when teams must re-sign players (the RailHawks have "6-8" players they are hoping to re-sign according to Wellman) and create next year's schedule, among other things.

With USSF officials due in London within the next 24 hours, Wellman said it may be towards the end of the week before anything resolute is determined. For now, at least cooler heads have prevailed.

"I don't know what the next step is. Again, I haven't gotten enough information from the guys. I'm sure after today and into tomorrow we'll get an idea what the next step is for sure." 

Carolina RailHawks owner Brian Wellman said in an interview yesterday that there was "no chance [the RailHawks] don't play" next season. This after the most recent developments in an ongoing dispute between the United Soccer League and the team.

In what league, however remains unknown. Wellman contends that the team is open to returning to the USL, but USL president Tim Holt said the RailHawks had "notified us several times of their decision to remove themselves from the USL.

The United States Soccer Federation called a meeting for today in New York City that will involve the USL and team owners. Wellman said he will be there.

To read the latest on the situation, click here for the story.

A press release by the United Soccer Leagues yesterday confirmed the league has been sold to NuRock Soccer Holdings, an Atlanta-based group.

Read more about the move here. 

The Carolina RailHawks, through an offseason coaching change and a lot of player shuffling, have put together a club that's amounted more league wins (10) than any other in franchise history -- and we've still got a month and a half to go.

How far can the team, which currently sits in fourth-place, go in their third year of existence? That may be determined by the latest addition, newcomer Gregory Richardson.

RailHawks coach Martin Rennie ended any discussion on whether or not defender Jack Stewart would be cleared to practice this weekend, the eighth week after he broke his right fibula against Miami, saying Stewart is unlikely to return this month, and will be out most of next month as well.

The Carolina RailHawks defeated the Wilmington Hammerheads 3-0 in an exhibition game at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.

How is Jack Stewart rehabbing from a broken leg suffered seven weeks ago? Could the RailHawks have him back in the lineup soon, and if so, what role would he play? What did RailHawks coach Martin Rennie think of his three new trialists on Tuesday? Sports Editor J. Mike Blake answers these questions in the SWakeSports blog.