CARY - Selby Wellman, owner of the Carolina RailHawks, is adamant about forming a new professional soccer league, one that would consist of other seceding franchises from the United Soccer League's top division.

He and owners of several other USL teams said that much last week, confirming tired rumors of a rebel minor league.

The question now shifts from creation to survival.

The RailHawks, Cary's only professional sports team, would join teams in Minnesota, Vancouver, Montreal, Miami, Atlanta and St. Louis in its new league. Most of them are former USL teams.

The move -- made formal by a league-creation application submitted to the U.S. Soccer Federation --comes with sizable risk.

If the USSF denies the request, some teams may have nowhere to go.

It will be the USL's discretion to which teams will be welcomed back into the league.

The USL has already taken down Web sites for the RailHawks and the teams in Minnesota and Miami.

And it probably wasn't pleased about losing so many teams.

Beyond that, there are factors that put the defecting teams in the crosshairs of a risky business ploy.

Better branding and more ownership-power was at the crux of the owners association's decision to remove themselves from the USL.

Ming Li, a professor in the School of Recreation and Sport Sciences at Ohio University, said that branding a new league will be a challenge against a more established one like the USL.

"The USL has been in existence for some 25 years," he said. "So it certainly has some stronger recognition among fans and sponsors. ... The USL has a much broader appearance than the new league."

So the new league will have to differentiate. And if the leagues end up being too similar, they could also become too expensive, Li said.

The leagues may end up trying to outbid one another for marquee players. And when prices get too high, the league that is stronger financially would likely live on through a merger or by the rival league folding, he said.

"The new league, at this point, does not have a development system and the USL does," Li added.

"They can draw players from different levels to them. But on the other hand, if the new league wants to attract better players then they have to compete against the USL which will no doubt lead to salary battles."

Li said that it's in the USL's best interest to try to win back and keep as many franchises from defecting as possible.

Still, Wellman said that several USL franchises were "on the fence" waiting to hear of the federation's ruling regarding the new league's bid.

The owners of the seceding teams stress that, unlike other upstart professional sports leagues, this one includes already-existing franchises and not expansion teams. Indeed, Wellman recognizes that there are risks ahead.

"No denying that," he said last week. "But any time you have high risk, you're looking for high reward.

"The reward is more people come to watch RailHawks games because it's been branded around the country and Canada as high-profile, highly professional soccer."