An NASL soccer team in LA would be successful if they were able to get a stadium in either Downtown LA or on the East Side of LA. There is a huge soccer fan base in East LA to tap into.
I'm not so sure. Yes there's a soccer fan base, but LA like most big cities roots for top level teams. And they have 2 (and aren't even using the second one yet).
Soccer is different from other American sports. It's more community oriented. You recruit players from your own community. Your academy pulls in players from your own community. The identify of the club is more associated with where the club plays and what part of town they play in. People living in East LA have no connection to a soccer club in the Southbay. It's not like a basketball team where most of your players aren't even from the same state. If you put a NASL club in East LA and marketed it as a community club you could fill a stadium with supporters.
But a large number of the clubs who play in the Fantasy League that must be playing in this parallel world I keep hearing about, where pro/rel solves everything, where there is a huge collection of players in the NASL who are just as good or better than the ones in MLS and where the increased popularity of the game of soccer in this country has happened despite MLS, not at all because of it.
I don't have the data in front of me but I would bet that their support is strongest in the South Bay area and surroundings communities. I live and work in Downtown LA and I've never met an LA Galaxy fan here. Their games aren't on any TV's when you go into a bar. You never see anyone wearing any LA Galaxy gear. They appear to have very little support in this part of the city.
Actually most MLS teams have players on their rosters from their academies. All MLS teams recruit players from their own communities. Not sure what you're talking about. Baseball, NFL, Basketball etc don't do this. They aren't community oriented this way.