matt-valentine

[matt-valentine]

USL Dallas Expanding Professional Soccer Pathways in Texas

Amid the rapid growth of American soccer, USL Dallas has emerged as a key addition to Texas’s soccer landscape. The club provides structured development pathways for players transitioning from amateur to professional competition, strengthening the region’s role in advancing talent.

As part of the United Soccer League (USL) system, USL Dallas expands competitive opportunities for collegiate, semi-professional, and aspiring professional players. Dallas has long been a major pipeline for soccer talent, and the club builds on this foundation by offering exposure, high-level match experience, and career advancement prospects for players, coaches, and staff.

The club also strengthens connections between local soccer programs, professional organizations, and aspiring athletes, further embedding Dallas within the expanding USL network. Dallas has long played a central role in American soccer development, with institutions such as FC Dallas and the Dallas Cup producing elite players. USL Dallas builds on this legacy by offering additional pathways for youth and college athletes looking to advance.

The USL’s planned introduction of a promotion and relegation system, expected by 2028, could reshape competition across the league. If implemented, the system would alter league dynamics, potentially affecting roster development, training investments, and recruitment strategies. A more structured system could create new pathways for teams to progress within the USL framework, adding another layer of competitiveness to the league.

Furthermore, USL Dallas remains committed to grassroots growth through youth programs, coaching clinics, and community partnerships. These efforts connect aspiring athletes with professional development resources, fostering deeper engagement with the sport across North Texas. The club’s outreach initiatives aim to make high-level training more accessible while strengthening the relationship between the team and its supporters.

With a clear developmental structure, growing influence, and a commitment to competition and community, USL Dallas has positioned itself to play a significant role in Texas soccer. As the club establishes itself, it provides new opportunities for players and professionals to advance while reinforcing Dallas’s reputation as a center for soccer development.

[matt-valentine]

Energy Companies Explore Using DAC to Extract Oil

A February 2025 Verge article reported that energy companies have found an efficient way to extract hard-to-reach oil. They plan to use direct air capture, which captures carbon from the air. In addition, oil experts believe that using DAC to extract oil through enhanced oil recovery (EOR) could produce more oil.

Discussions of carbon capture and storage as part of more sustainable oil production have been part of the industry discourse for some time. According to a November 2021 The Conversation article, this move has rebranded oil as a carbon management industry that promoted a lower carbon future. This future included one where oil companies could produce oil without adding more planet-warming carbon to the atmosphere. The November 2021 article also mentioned oil extraction as a method for mitigating climate change, even if it is more expensive than traditional methods.

DAC methods of oil extraction involve capturing carbon from the air. However, the process does not end there. Professionals store the carbon underground, where the gases do not impact the climate and mitigate rising global temperatures. One of DAC’s benefits is that it can remove vast amounts of carbon from the atmosphere, at least one billion tons or 3 percent of the globe’s total annual carbon emissions. While it can remove a lot of carbon, it exhausts copious amounts of energy. The energy needed is as much electricity as needed to power the US in 2020. Even with this disadvantage, enhanced oil recovery can lengthen the life of oil wells.

Oil giants like Exxon and Occidental Oil continue experimenting with DAC to produce more oil. They use enhanced oil recovery to push oil out of aging wells. Professionals use this method after oil producers have exhausted other options to extract residual oil left over from conventional extraction methods.

Professionals can execute enhanced oil recovery in several ways. Thermal EOR involves injecting steam (or some other heat) to loosen thick oil to facilitate its flow through the production wells. Gas EOR involves injecting gas into a reservoir to dissolve the oil, making it less dense so it can flow toward production wells easily. Finally, chemical EOR relies on polymers, surfactants, or other chemicals to minimize the surface tension or improve water/oil displacement to move oil into wells.

While this discovery is great news for the oil industry, right now might not be the most opportune time for this innovation. The Trump Administration is considering rolling back climate-related spending. Money allocated for carbon sequestration and capture is part of these cuts. This move is significant because companies like Occidental Oil cannot tap into subsidies allocated for this innovation if the Trump Administration follows through with these cuts.

As the world looks toward alternative fuels to mitigate climate change, those in the oil industry view them as a way to keep the oil industry alive. Furthermore, this process could extend the country’s energy independence by more than a decade if it could contribute to producing between 50 and 70 billion barrels of oil. Also, this mode of extracting oil can offset the negative impacts of producing oil barrels.

This production method does come with a few caveats, namely leaks from pipelines, which have sent some workers to the hospital. Additionally, some experts argue that while the process will mitigate the carbon released during the oil production, it could raise carbon emissions in the long run. Introducing new oil to the market might lead to a demand for oil, leading to more emissions.

[matt-valentine]

USL Dallas Plans to Make City of Garland Soccer Hub

An article published on the United Soccer League (USL) Dallas site in November 2024 announced that the City of Garland had partnered with the USL to bring a soccer team to the area. The USL Dallas will join 24 other teams in one of the fastest-growing professional soccer leagues and positively impact Garland.

Professional soccer's history in Texas began in 1967 with the Houston Stars, a team that started with the United Soccer Association (USA) and the North American Soccer League (NASL). Between the late sixties and 2006, several other professional teams played the sport, including the Houston Hurricanes, the Houston Summit, and the Houston Dynamo, established in 2006 and part of the Major League Soccer (MLS) league.

Professional soccer also took off in Dallas. In 1967, the Dallas Tornado, a USA and NASL soccer team, played simultaneously with the Houston teams. In 1984, the indoor soccer team Dallas Sidekicks played in multiple leagues. Later, in 1996, the MLS added the Dallas FC Dallas, a currently existing team.

The USL, founded in 1986, emerged in the 1980s as the Southwest Indoor Soccer League. Since its inception, it has evolved into multiple national leagues, including the USL Championship, USL League One, and USL League Two. The sport has become as central to the state's culture and identity as football.

For founders Matt Valentine, Sam Morton, Luther Ott, and Dan McAlone, the entry of USL Dallas into the league makes their dream come true. In addition to establishing a professional men's team in Garland, the team will build a culture around the sport that will promote youth development and unite the North Texas community.

Garland, with a population of around 250,000 people from diverse backgrounds, has several features that help it support a professional soccer team. The manufacturing industry and business innovation from the Fortune 500s and startups make it an attractive location for a sporting team. Some believe the professional soccer team will help Garland continue its transformation into the future.

According to a January 2025 USL Dallas press release, the city plans to build a professional and youth soccer complex near President George Bush Turnpike and Holford Road. Stakeholders describe it as the crown jewel of the city's Economic Development Strategic Plan, which may become a mixed-use entertainment district.

When completed, the complex will house the USL Dallas practice field and headquarters, community soccer fields, a public plaza, and a stadium with 5,000 to 10,000 seats. The city projects that construction will reach completion in time for the inaugural USL Dallas season in 2027.

Multiple soccer teams in Garland will play at the complex. Garland serves as the home to the Vietnam United Football Club and a club for first responders. Additionally, the city plans to host the Sixth Annual DFW Asian American Soccer Tournament, comprising more than 30 teams from other countries, and the Third Annual First Responders Soccer Tournament, consisting of players from the police and fire departments across North Texas.

Furthermore, many students who make up the Garland Independent School District and participate in its soccer programs will use the complex. Stakeholders believe that the complex can encourage and facilitate young athletes to transition into community leadership roles, with the USL being the only league offering a youth-to-professional pathway for becoming part of soccer leadership.