DALLAS, Texas — FC Dallas announced its long-awaited USL League One team with the reveal of branding for North Texas Soccer Club Thursday night.
It’s been a long time coming for FC Dallas, a team that boasts one of the best academies in Major League Soccer. Teams such as the New York Red Bulls, Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders, and Sporting Kansas City all own USL teams and have seen their returns to investment. Tyler Adams, who was just transferred to Red Bull Leipzig this week, made 29 appearances for Red Bull II before getting promoted to the MLS side.
Both FC Dallas President Dan Hunt and the new general manager for NTSC Matt Denny emphasized the importance of the League One structure, allowing more flexibility for academy players to go up and down the USL team.
“League One is important for us for a couple of different reasons,” Hunt said. “One, it has to do with good player development. We’re going to be playing some younger players in this league. You see our first signing, Ricardo Pepi, is 15 years old and that young man is on an unbelievable career path. What he did with the U.S. national team is impressive. It has to also do with player development from our academy, getting these kids opportunities. In League One, you have different rules that allow academy products; but if you look at what’s going to happen with FC Dallas this summer. Hopefully, Brandon and Paxton will be away and Chris Richards will be away and then you have players on the senior roster who are going to representing their own countries, so we’ll need to be pulling players up from the USL team to help fill out the FC Dallas roster, which is going to open up space for our academy players.”
The branding for the team is North Texas-based. NTSC will play most of its matches in Toyota Stadium, where FC Dallas plays its matches. However, Hunt said the team will play some matches elsewhere in the metroplex. Specifics were not mentioned, but the emphasis on North Texas was evident throughout the presentation, from the new logo to Hunt’s explanation regarding the name.
“We are a North Texas brand,” Hunt said. “So many of these kids and young people come from the North Texas area, so we wanted something that unified the whole community. If you look at the FC Dallas roster and where players come from, it’s all the different communities around. We thought, very much, the name representing North Texas would be a great place to be.
“We wanted something that tied what we are: the greater area together and stars from different areas. These young people represent their communities and we’re proud of what they represent.”
A USL coach will likely not come until after FC Dallas’ first-team coaching vacancy is filled. Denny expects the coach to embrace the youth and be big in development, as the team is expected to be a mix of academy and other players.
“It’s going to be a mix,” Denny said. “We’re going to sign players to independent, USL contracts, just like Pepi. He is a USL contracted player. We’re going to be able to sign international players and you’ll see some of those coming through. Players that we may have been identifying for the first team but we can’t take a gamble on them yet, and it’s a proving ground for them. Academy kids as well. We have so much talent and it’s going to give them that next step of being a professional, competing at that next level.”
Hunt and Denny also announced the team’s first signing, 15-year-old Ricardo Pepi.
Pepi is part of the developmental academy and scored 19 times in eight matches at the U17 level. He has also been played for the United States U17 national team and is the second academy player that FC Dallas has signed to a USL contract. Goalkeeper Carlos Avilez was signed to a USL contract in May of 2017.
“Since I got here to the academy two years ago, I have been having ups and downs,” Pepi said. “But everything and everyone makes me want to work harder and gives me more motivation to be the best I can.”