NASL adopts Spring/Fall seasons for 2013

There is an "ignore" button. Maybe try using it?

 

Everyone wants to avoid blame or point the finger elsewhere instead of using functions built right into the discussion forum.

Grow up and hit ignore instead of making excuses for name calling or posting altruistic explanations for doing anything other than.

 

I wonder how many people here even know who sekrah was

IMO the most epic of Bigsoccer mouth breathers that ever was. It's a shame his best stuff has likely been lost in the digital forum reformatting wasteland.

 

I've come close, but if I ignored him, I wouldn't be able to see this thread would I ? Would I know about the new NASL season format ?

He does post news and start a useful thread every so often. Enthusiasm like his is what the lower level forums need to keep going.If he kept his posts to NASL, or NASL teams, or soccer in Florida, etc, it wouldn't be so bad.

These aren't my forums but I like to keep up with what's going on at all levels of soccer. WSW's litter posts should be more moderated. Have a thread where any time he posts a link to whatever the USL is doing, it could be dumped there, whatever a blog says MLS is doing or should do, it gets dumped there. Force his posting style to stay more on message, less on the rivalries level.

 

There's the reality that due to the sheer volume of his posts, that hitting ignore would make threads nearly impossible to follow. Remove him completely and you don't have to sift through dozens of responses to his asinine tripe to find meaningful discussion between people.

 

Keller sure as heck isn't hoisting a beer mug...

 

Seriously the Spring/Fall season is absolutely hated among most fans in Latin america. Soccer is a summer sport in the US, whether some people like it or not and it is becoming part of the culture as well. There's Soccer and baseball in the summer and Football, hockey and basketball in the winter that's how it is.

I hope NASL succeeds and it becomes a great league but going Spring/Fall i think won't help much.

 

The NASL is still playing the same schedule as MLS. Begins in the spring, continues through the summer and ends in the late fall. The NASL is just going to have a split format next season. Will just have to wait and see how that works out. Some crazies want a Fall-Winter-Spring season which, like you correctly point out, flies counter to American soccer culture that has been growing since the early seventies.

I do like the lengthening of the season. Starting earlier and ending later not only give more soccer to watch, but also helps American soccer players develop. And yes, there will be some weather issues at times (I was tuned in the night of the Red Bulls snowstorm) which impact the quality of play and spectator comfort. I just think that is offset by having less games jammed together in such a tight time frame. That really effects quality and gets players hurt playing games on a short turnaround repeatedly during the season. MLS and the NASL have done American soccer a big favor by stretching out the season. Not perfect by any means yet, but worlds away from USL Pro and the PDL.

 

as shown by the quote, he wasn't referring to the apetura/clausura neccesarily being winter, he was saying some people want it to be a fall-winter-spring season.

Personally american soccer would be better off focusing on spring and summer, with football (pro and college), basketball (pro and college) and hockey being around during the fall/winter.

 

Having two mini seasons it's what most people hate about this format, the NASL will only have one champion a year from what I understand which is good but it is still bad for the players as they have to stop playing and resume after a couple of months, many lose rhythm as well. Anyways I hope this works so the league and the sport grow. I personally don't like this idea and I'd rather have each team play each other 4 times 2 home/2 away for a total of 32 games and keep playoffs the same. Easy to understand for the casual fans and the media too.

 

The break is only a month long, not a couple of months. Four weeks during which teams can schedule friendlies, work with the transfer window and get a month to push ticket sales for the "2nd home opener".

Who knows if any of that will really happen, but its still just a month off and not 2 or more.

 

Domestically, the MLS gets free bees from NCAA college soccer.

 

Whitestar: There is no domestic transfer window. The whole system is out of whack. No pro/ rel
is only the start why there is no domestic transfer system. They prefer to get players for free from NCAA soccer and use social media to promote this type of player. The proof is in the pudding, but some of our friends believe that the NCAA college system is a great way to produce players. And than they sang, oh when the Saints come marching in.

 

Unfortunately he gave you bad info, WSW.. US doesn't have a "domestic transfer window". US teams can sign and transfer players that are registered with USSF throughout a majority of the year. I'm not sure when NASL's roster freeze is, but MLS's is in September, I believe. Then it "unfreezes" once the team's season ends. I'd imagine NASL's is fairly similar.

 

I would say they do.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Soccer_transfers_2012

You don't need any transfer window to get players like Takuya Yamada, Carl Cort, and Evans Frimpong. Who are the type of players that will ply their trade in a league like the NASL. Journeymen free agents who bounce around from low level club to low level club around the world, foreign players who couldn't hang in MLS, and low level American talent. You are not going to see NASL clubs pay money for up and coming CONCACAF talent. Nor will you seem them pay transfer fees to European teams.

The best players NASL clubs have access to are MLS players on loan. And loan deals can be worked out at pretty much any point. And hopefully MLS and the NASL announce something after MLS Cup about a working relationship and expanding player development.

The whole idea of a transfer window is pointless to the NASL since there isn't any international demand for their players. Nor will they be throwing out cash in transfer fees. MLS doesn't want to pay transfer fees and NASL players sign short term contracts usually with a team option. NASL players who are good enough for MLS will end up in MLS. NASL clubs will continue to be built in the same way. And the month break isn't going to change anything.

The idea that the month break is also to allow for friendlies doesn't make any sense either. There was nothing stopping NASL teams from scheduling friendlies this year. Other than that pesky money thing which is the major deciding factor on getting a friendly. Not that you have four weeks open on the calender.

I have a feeling that most NASL teams will be sitting around doing very little during the month break. Which will likely force the NASL to tweak the rules in 2014. And yes, I see playoffs coming back. Actually I should say extended playoffs since the championship is already decided by one playoff game. This entire thing is an experiment. Which is what D2 should be about anyway. So MLS and the USSF can learn from it.

 

I don't think there will be many friendlies, either. The current schedule doesn't leave much room for friendlies, either. That on top of the amount of money alot of recognizable teams charge are big inhibitors.

But if you have a month long break that you know about well ahead of time and you schedule a friendly vs a team that can draw well, and you schedule it well enough ahead of time to sell alot of tickets, the financial problem can at least be diminished.

Some teams could probably at least break even if not profit while others probably will still lose money on any big friendlies, so ya what would be the point in that case?

Depends on which team you bring in and which NASL team is playing them, I guess.

 

I could see maybe the New York Cosmos and the San Antonio Scorpions having a friendly possibly, and maybe the new owner of the Minnesota Stars in the Metrodome, but not the other teams.

 

Right. No reason to think the Rowdies wouldn't be capable of putting on a friendly without losing their shirts. /sarcasm

They didn't execute the last big friendly well at all, scheduling it last minute and holding it on a week day did nothing for ticket sales but even so there were over 4k in the house.

With months of lead time and an open Saturday night in July, they should be able to do much better.