Will the NASL Ever Compete head to head with MLS?

yes Randy Horton, plus maybe a nice bloke from England as player - coach

 

If you look at J2 though, only 5 of 22 clubs have SSS's (Avispa Fukuoka, JEF United, Yokohama FC, Tochigi SC and Matsumoto Yamaga), and all the remaining teams are playing in crappy athletic venues.

J. League really needs a lot of soccer-specific stadiums to be built, but in their economy it is more a wet dream subject.

 

I did not know J2 had 22 teams, I guess this is the first year they do.

They have also reduced their pro/rel format for both J1 and J2.

To go to J1, 2 Automatic and 1 4-team playoff (like the Championship league)
To get to J2 only the winner of the JFL (if they meet requirements) will be promoted. The second place in the JFL (if they meet requirements) will play a pro/rel game vs. the 21st team in the J2.

 

From Wynalda: 37:05

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/soccersupportersradionetwork/2012/07/24/ultras-alive-58

 

"You really need to fuckus!"

That was funny.

 

Random Idea, what if NASL were to be sanctioned as a D1 League by the Canada Soccer Association?

You know after Ottowa comes into the League. Maybe with the understanding that the NASL would allow other Canadian teams in the league at a discounted fee?

Canada has a very high ranking in the CCL (not that Concacaf cares about any of that) but what if NASL were the Canadian D1 and Concacaf were to allow another CSA team in the Concacaf Championship.

Canada could give that spot to the NASL champion (Canada#2) with the understanding that eventually that spot would be reserved for only the best Canadian team in the NASL (similar to the USA Spots that can only go to American teams) after NASL has a minimum of 4 Canada teams in the league?

I have been "drinking" so this maybe this is not a great idea.

I may post this in the Canada Forum.

 

The old A-League was sanctioned as Division I in Canada.

 

Good article by someone who lived thru the glory days of old NASL:
http://www.prostamerika.com/2012/09...timbers-whitecaps-and-quakes-were-saved/71346

 

You've posted that article other places, but it has nothing to do with this version of the NASL competing with MLS.

And I'd love to hear how the old NASL was better for American players than MLS.

 

To be fair, he doesn't realize how the world around him works. But if something dovetails with his worldview (Prost Amerika? Child, please.), he has to post it.

I love Clive, but he's completely insane on that. "More attention to American players?" What?

Most of the time, about 20% of NASL players were Americans, and it was even lower in terms of minutes played and a lot of that was because of the North American quota.

Part of that was because we couldn't play back then. We didn't have more than a handful of players who could play at a high level. We weren't producing them. But the NASL begat the youth soccer boom which begat our current player pool.

So, yeah, fail. Which is not unexpected, either considering the original source or the advocate for said source.

 

Back when Prost posted on BigSoccer blogs, he "ignored" me so I couldn't reply to his blog entries.

Not a big fan of fact checking.

 

Does this mean they will get good transfers?

http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/teams/cosmos2.php?article_id=31610

 

What is your definition of good?

 

Well we shall see...they keep on saying "evolution" and can't wait for transfer window.

 

Don't get your hopes too high.. I'm afraid you'll be disappointed.

 

how much money do the cosmos have to spend on players??

 

That's the thing they said they would rather invest $100M in NASL then pay for a expansion fee in MLS for now.

 

yeah but that doesn't necessarily mean they are going to be spending 100 million on players. They have to be able to pay their contracts and keep generating a profit (or set themselves up to make a profit in the years following). It will be interesting to see what they decide to do though.

 

No. Because at the end of the day, you are still talking about a team that always be a second division squad. There is no promotion/relegation in the US, nor will there be any time soon - if ever. Any "big name" players that sign with the Cosmos will do so knowing that they are destined to play in a second division league held together by spit and duct tape. How many quality guys can you think of that would take that offer?
The difference between signing for an MLS, A-League, Chinese, or Middle Eastern squad versus the Cosmos (or any NASL team) is that the former provide an opportunity to at least appear to be doing something other than simply getting a paycheck. The Cosmos are only offering a paycheck in a minor league. Sure money is extremely important to star athletes, but so are pride and ego. Quality players have plenty of both. Moving to MLS to help "improve" soccer in the US can be publicly justified; moving to a permanent D2 squad really cannot, in the court of public opinion.
If the Cosmos are the group chosen by MLS for NY2, then they will have to abide by the salary cap like everybody else. They will also have to shed players, like every other "promoted" expansion franchise. This means that "high quality" signings are in danger of not remaining with the team as it transitions from NASL to MLS. Effectively, MLS Cosmos would be a new team with historical connections to the NASL squad, like Seattle, Portland, Montreal, and Vancouver.

 

You're right.

Sincerely,
Seattle Sounders
Portland Timbers
Vancouver Whitecaps
Montreal Impact

There is promotion (and there is self-relegation). It's just not based on something as ethereal as one winning season.

Highly unlikely they would as long as it's a second division team. If they were really going to invest $100M, ( a ) that would be pretty dumb because they'd be unlikely to generate that revenue back and ( b ) they'd end up overpaying in a really silly way. If San Antonio's really spending $400,000 on players and they won the regular-season in the second division, why would you need to spend 250 times that?

But...it's THE COSMOS! It's MAGIC! Everybody WANTS TO PLAY FOR A TEAM THAT HASN'T PLAYED OUTDOORS SINCE 1985!

You are correct. I think it would be unlikely that you'd get really high-quality (on the order of magnitude the supposed investment would imply) players to come play for a second-division team in America playing on Long Island and making trips to Edmonton and St. Petersburg just because they saw Once in a Lifetime.

IF (big IF, but one they appear to be gambling on) they actually become NYC2, then it's a different story.

Starting in the second division doesn't guarantee they'll always be a second-division club, as we've seen. But if you're a high-quality, international-level player, while America is a much better potential destination than it once was, I'm sorry, Hofstra ain't making it for now.

 

I noticed that you didn't quote the section that addresses this...

But at least you understood my point.
If the NASL Cosmos do manage to get a handful of true superstars relatively close to their prime, then I'll concede that WSW may not be a delusional troll. I'll probably lose all respect for those players as athletes as well...

 

"Big name players" would not go to a D2 team, especially not one in Concacaf.

But some "no name decent players" may not even realize that there is no pro/rel in the USA. I remember some dude coming to MLS and talking about helping his team avoid relegation.

 

you are making me curious, who was that sucker ?

 

No, I was going chronologically, oddly enough. And quoted the part where you said the Cosmos "(will) always be a second division squad." Words have meaning.

I don't believe that will happen.

 

I remember it being a thread here in BS, some dude going to Vancouver if I remember correctly.