The Carolina Railhawks are in the middle of the most successful season in franchise history; with a record of 14-5-7, they're in second place in the United Soccer League First Division.

Whether they're even playing for the USL next year is up in the air, though. Team owners are talking about possibly pulling their teams out of the league.

"There's a lot of options. The one that's most obvious to anyone is that you form your own league," said Selby Wellman, the Railhawks' majority owner. "So that one's being explored."

The problem stems from last week's sale of the USL by Nike to an Atlanta-based group called NuRock Holdings.

Team owners around the league are expressing disappointment, saying they want more involvement in league decisions.

Wellman said the USL is one of the only leagues in any sport in America that isn't controlled by owners.

"The rules, the FIFA rules, are that the league should be owner-controlled. So we know we're right," said Wellman. "But when you know you're right and you want to stick to it but you can't get there, it gets pretty frustrating."

Wellman said he and other team owners had been negotiating with Nike for two years to get control of the league, and they're not excited about potentially starting from scratch with NuRock.

"We've not heard from them," said Wellman. "We have reached out to them, we've placed some calls, those calls have not been returned."

USL president Tim Holt insists the new ownership will be good for the league, saying "They have a vision, there's an energy and a purpose."

Holt said he couldn't comment on anything the team owners might be saying, though, except that the league is focusing on a successful season in 2010.

Carolina only has two games left in the regular season, both at home, at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.

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