Pulled from:
http://soccersceneusa.blogspot.com/2008/12/usl-reveals-details-on-2009-pdl-season.html


USL Reveals Details On 2009 PDL Season

68 teams, including the defending champion Thunder Bay Chill, will compete in the 2009 United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League season, according to a league announcement Wednesday in Tampa, FL.

The structure for the upcoming season was discussed during the 2008 Annual General Meeting which took place as part of the recent USL SoccerFest at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Seven expansion teams will join the league -- the Real Colorado Foxes, Rochester Thunder, Forest City London, Portland Timbers U23s, Victoria Highlanders, Rio Grande Valley Bravos and Midland, TX -- and three other franchises could join for 2009, increasing the total number of teams to 71.

The 2009 PDL season will run May 1 through July 19 with each team playing a 16-game schedule.

The top three teams from each of the league's eight divisions will qualify for the PDL playoffs, which, for the first time since 1998, will begin with a Divisional Championship round the weekend of July 24-26.

The top team in each division earns a first-round bye with the second and third seeded teams playing one another with the winner facing the top seed for the divisional title.

Division champions will advance to the PDL Elite Elight Weekend July 31-August 2 for the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds with the Eastern and Central Conference champions in one half of the tournament bracket at an outside location and the Southern and Western champions in the other half of the bracket in a different city.

Semifinalist winners move on to the PDL Championship August 8 to be televised by Fox Soccer Channel.

Here is the official alignment for the 2009 USL PDL Conferences and Divisions:

CENTRAL CONFERENCE
Great Lakes Division: Chicago Fire, Cincinnati Kings, Cleveland Internationals, Forest City London, Fort Wayne Fever, Indiana Invaders, Kalamazoo Outrage, Michigan Bucks, Toronto Lynx
Heartland Division: Des Moines Menace, Kansas City Brass, Real Colorado Foxes, Rochester Thunder, Springfield Demize, St. Lions Lions, Thunder Bay Chill

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Mid-Atlantic Division: Carolina Dynamo, Cary Clarets, Fredericksburg Gunners, Hampton Roads Piranhas, Northern Virginia Royals, Reading Rage, Virginia Legacy, West Virginia Chaos
Northeast Division: Brooklyn Knights, Long Island Rough Riders, New Hampshire Phantoms, New Jersey Rangers, Newark Ironbound Exoress, Ocean City Barons, Ottawa Fury, Rhode Island Stingrays, Westchester Flames

SOUTHERN CONFERENCE
Mid-South Division: Austin Aztex, DFW Tornados, El Paso Patriots, Houston Leones, Laredo Heat, Rio Grande Valley Bravos, Midland (TBA)
Southeast Division: Atlanta (TBA), Baton Rouge Capitals, Bradenton Academics, Central Florida Kraze, Mississippi Brilla, Nashville Metros, New Orleans Shell Shockers, Panama City Pirates

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Northwest Division: Abbotsford Mariners, Cascade Surge, Kitsap, WA (TBA), Portland Timbers U23s, Seattle (TBA), Spokane Spiders, Tacoma Tide, Vancouver Whitecaps Residency, Victoria Highlanders, Yakima Reds
Southwest Division: Bakersfield Brigade, BYU Cougars, Fresno Fuego, Lancaster Rattlers, Los Angeles Storm, Ogden Outlaws, Orange County Blue Star, San Fernando Valley Quakes, Southern California Seahorses, Ventura County Fusion