Sporting Kansas City adds Oklahoma City Energy FC as USL Pro Affiliate

In order to prepare for Orlando City's 2015 move to the MLS, Sporting Kansas City has decided to add USL Pro expansion team Oklahoma City Energy FC as a new affiliate.

In addition, Jimmy Nielsen will be the first coach of the new OKCFC club as was reported yesterday by Danish media. This means that Sporting will have a good connection with the coach for their new affiliate.

The agreement states that there will be a minimum of two players sent to both Oklahoma City and to Orlando City, as opposed to the minimum of four that were sent to Orlando City last year.

I would imagine that Jon Kempin is a sure-fire member of the new Energy franchise given his need to keep developing as a professional goalkeeper. The opportunity to work directly with Jimmy Nielsen will be good for the young keeper.

The USL-Pro schedule has not been released yet for 2014 but play for the new Oklahoma City franchise will begin in April 2014 and run through August, unless they make the championship.

This is a good move for Sporting KC. The OKCFC team is coming in with a fair amount of hype and the location makes it easier to shuffle players back and forth unlike the hassle that was Orlando City last year. Let's just hope we don't meet them in the US Open Cup.