The United Soccer League (USL) has secured a strategic investment from BellTower Partners, the investment firm founded by former Carlyle Group CEO Kewsong Lee, as the league prepares to expand into first-division men’s football, according to a report by the Guardian.

BellTower has acquired a minority equity stake in the USL, with Lee joining the organisation’s board as vice-chair. The investment will help fund the league’s new men’s competition, scheduled to launch in 2028, which will introduce promotion and relegation between divisions for the first time in US professional sports.

USL currently operates the second-tier Championship, third-tier League One, and pre-professional League Two, as well as the D1-sanctioned women’s Super League. The expansion would establish it as the second top-flight men’s league in the US alongside Major League Soccer.

Lee, who led Carlyle from 2018 to 2022, founded BellTower after leaving the private equity firm. BellTower has invested in several sports-related ventures, including United Sports Development Partners, the developer behind Rhode Island’s Centreville Bank Stadium, home of USL’s Rhode Island FC. The firm is also behind a $600m stadium and mixed-use project in Albany, New York.

The size of BellTower’s equity stake and the valuation of USL were not disclosed.

The move highlights how private equity and alternative investment leaders are increasingly playing a role in US professional sports expansion, with USL’s growth strategy seen as a direct challenger to MLS’s dominance.

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