NPSL Commish is meeting with the NASL...

One tweet is worth starting a new thread?

And cross-posting it?

One innocuous tweet? About one of several meetings?

You know soccer executives sometimes meet, right?

Jesucristo, you still have no idea how this community works.

 

Well, for me the "@NPSLSoccer expansion prospects/teams..." quote (or tweet) is the more interesting aspect. I would love to see Bavarian SC Milwaukee enter NASL. Good organization, good soccer culture there, and a good market for NASL to be in.

I'd also like to think they are working on a relationship with NPSL the way MLS and USL have recently done. It would be a benefit for both leagues.

 

I used to be with the Bavarian SC in early 2000's.

My thoughts as well, without really knowing much about any prior discussions between them..

 

I know we can't tell anything by the tweet, but it would be interesting to see some sort of interaction between NASL and NPSL. Not sure what that will look like, though. Interesting times, my friends

 

It is going to be interesting to see how all of this plays out. Would it be safe to read something into this meeting or mark it off as routine?

MLS is penetrating the USL-Pro for developmental purposes and it wouldn't suprise me if the NASL makes some kind of agreement with some of NPSL franchises for the same.

 

If there's anybody who'd be a go-to guy to affiliate NPSL with the NASL in any serious way, it'd probably be former San Antonio GM and current NPSL Commish Michael Hitchcock.
Pro/Rel within NPSL might be fun to talk about... anything else is hogwash.
In honor of this tweet, I shall now design a scarf...

 

OK, siiiiiggghhh.... Pro/Rel. Well.....it'd sure be swell. BUT, even between NPSL and NASL (for argument's sake) it would be so thorny that I don't see it ever happening. Because, just like MLS, NASL owners (as far as i can tell) have paid an entry fee to get into the league. Any NPSL team that won their league would probably have to pay a hefty expansion fee to get in. Could some do it? Maybe. But what if THAT team didn't win the league? Do you start making calls down the line to the 2nd place team? The 3rd place team? etc...?
Or would you simply say, "Nope, nobody gets in this year."?
And what if that NPSL team DIDN'T play in, or have access to, a Div 2-approved stadium?
I just came up with these off the top of my head. I'm sure there are a gajillion other reasons that it Just.Won't.Happen.

 

/sarcasm

 

Yeah, I got it. I was actually directing this to the poster above who said we should "connect the dots..."

 

http://www.nationalpremiersoccerleague.com/home/732736.html
4. You created a lot of buzz with your comments on promotion/relegation. Do you think that could work for the NPSL? How far are we away from seeing it? We’re going to spend time this offseason in studying the different options and scenarios of how this could work. I have a number of ideas that I will share with the Board of Directors at our NPSL Board Retreat in August. We’re going to do a lot of work on this to see what makes sense and when. That said, we know that fans would love to see a system of promotion & relegation in the U.S. and it would be great if the NPSL could be the league to bring promotion/relegation to the U.S. The NPSL is a league for the fans so we owe it to our fans to explore this.

 

So does that mean Pro/Rel WITHIN NPSL? Will NPSL stratify?

 

Since NPSL is an "owner-run" league, I predict that Mr. Hitchcock will show the owners a plan, come up with an estimate in how it might affect travel costs... then the owners vote it down... or owners in one region decide it makes sense to try it out... unlikely, but possible...
https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/you-be-the-hitch.1988939/page-2#post-28136155

 

Like I said before, maybe in some regions with lots of teams close by this could work (at least to try it) but as we go west of the country this will not work IMO. (Talking with-in NPSL)

 

Aren't most NPSL/PDL players amateurs, many of them still in college? I cannot see how a good NPSL team with mostly collegiate players can suddenly play a March thru Oct schedule in the following year as professionals. So, you would have to get a bunch of new professional players thereby making the team really a new team with no guarantee of quality. This defeats the purpose of promotion...along with several other problems.

I can see however a NPSL-NASL players development agreement similar to USL Pro & MLS.

Also, what are the thoughts on the MLS leaving open the 24th team slot for a USL team to get promoted each season, without "relegating" an existing MLS team down to the USL. So each year, if the promoted USL team finishes above the #23 spot, they stay in the MLS. If they are #24, they move back down and #1 from USL goes up in their place. That way and MLS team never comes down, but the USL teams have some incentive to win and move up....

This solves the "well we paid 40million" for our franchise and we are not moving down to another league" issue.

 

You see, those kind of issues are completely "irrelevant" to the Pro/Rel crowd that is under the impression that having Pro/Rel will magically fix these things. Now I don't know a lot of NPSL Owners, but I do know a few in my area and they are basically on a Shoe-String budget from year to year. Having to pay "Pros" to play March to October along with the rise in other operating costs will very likely cause a lot of teams to disappear or play in the local Rec League. Unless those Unicorns come by and drop off a bunch of Money Bags and/or Credit Line increases!

 

I don't see this happening simply because if that USL team gets sent down again to USL it would kill that team. Think of all the money they'd have to invest to make it MLS ready. I'm not just talking about them going to a 18k+ stadium, although they would need to increase beyond their normal 3k seater stadium, but all the expenses for media, FO, travel, etc. To invest that larger amount into what might become a one year deal could destroy a D3 club. Remember, they are D3 for a reason and that is usually because of finances.

 

I consider myself part of the pro/rel crowd and I really have no idea what you guys are talking about when you say pro/rel thinks things will magically be fixed. What is broken? I am for pro/rel when the time is right i.e. when there is atleast a stable and strong Division II. My contention is that without pro/rel I have no vested interest in MLS. I have a local team to support in NASL so why bother with MLS. I watch the USMNT when they play because I support my National Team. I watch EPL when it is on TV and I follow the lower English divisions online because it is fun to see who may vie for promotion and who might fall to relegation. What's compelling about MLS for me?

 

There are way too many people that haunt BS that think that US Soccer is inherently broken because it is not a club system, with Pro/Rel, like it is in Europe/Africa/South America/World. The "average" Pro/Rel supporters in BS are so fervent about the issue that they don't consider any of the consequences of implementing the system, because they want to implement it tomorrow. If the USSF made an announcement today stating that Pro/Rel is now enforced between D1, D2, and D3 of the US soccer pyramid you'd see the whole ball of string unravel before your eyes...which, in an anarchist sense, would be fun to see.

I too am a supporter of Pro/Rel...one day. Like in 25 years. Maybe longer if it takes teams in the lower divisions to grow into stable teams, able to handle the expense load inherent with promotion, and the leagues they play in become something more then foundations on sand. There is just a ton of work to be done before we see, or should see, a Pro/Rel system in the US. The major road block is for the average US sports fan to give a crap about soccer. We are getting more interest in the USMNT and USWNT, but beyond that soccer has very little awareness in the average American home. It is worlds better then when MLS started up, for sure. It is just a long road ahead of us before we can expect to see the conditions right to introduce Pro/Rel.

 

Nothing is "broken" per se in the present state. That is because the Teams are playing in the League or Level where they can afford to be at. When you introduce Pro/Rel to the present equation you run into challenges, first and foremost on the financial side. Be it to obtain/maintain Players, Support Staff or Infrastructure etc. the costs and requirements at the next higher level are usually quite a substantial increase from the present level. When those questions are raised to the Pro/Rel NOW crowd they have no real answers which usually leads to "but Pro/Rel" as if that system alone magically will take care of things. At the right point in time we can and should have that system here, what that exact point is I do not now but suspect realistically it's not anytime soon.

1. You should support your local team, no matter what the level they are playing at is.
2. I would hope you support your National Team, no matter what that is.
3. I follow Leagues from around the Planet for various reasons, if you do it solely for Pro/Rel that's your call but if its only the English Leagues you're missing a lot of drama elsewhere.

Compelling about MLS without Pro/Rel for you? Perhaps nothing or perhaps having a local Player that plays for an MLS team or a favorite National Teamer or Foreign Player or whatever. Why does a guy from LA find the NFL compelling or someone from Honolulu any US Sports such as the NBA or MLB?
If there is Pro/Rel and your owner can't afford or is unwilling to spend more than it takes to be a Mid-Table NASL team what's compelling about the next higher or lower level?

 

There is no feasible way to have promotion and relegation between NASL and NPSL as they stand now. The differences in budget and organization are too vast. That said, what might be feasible is for the leagues to work together to create a pipeline for the best financed and organized NPSL teams to move to NASL, if there is sufficient interest. Tulsa Athletics, Detroit City FC, and Chattanooga are three examples that I think have long term potential, although they would need additional financial backing and increasing attendance year-to-year, particularly Tulsa and Detroit since they are both very young organizations. In general, I think it's better to use existing momentum than to create brand new organizations in these cities.

 

Yes.. and that is why pro/rel would be impossible. If the NPSL wants to start a third division with such teams as Detroit, Tulsa, Cleveland, et al. then things could be different.

Probably not with NASL (pro) players being sent down to fill out NPSL (amateur) rosters, but more along the lines of the Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves NPSL team (who stopped playing this year.) CASL in the NPSL Mid-Atlantic has an agreement with the Carolina Railhawks and I would not be surprised to see something like this happen.