You are also being too literal. The Deltas are asking their fans to bring others to the game. Then they are imagining those others will bring yet more others around. So it's you bring 2 friends, and if those 2 friends bring 2 more friends the next game, and so on. This is the same shape as a pyramid scheme. I should not need to explain this.
The answer is that without the Deltas the league will carry on. Honestly if I'm another owner I'm thinking that's what's going to happen. They're adding three teams next year so 8+3-1=10. As for the second question...I hope not. That would be a step down. Because the USL teams that I've seen are just bad. And as you can see by my name my team is IN the USL. It took all of two Rowdies home matches for me to figure that out. And nothing I've seen has changed my opinion.
Who is the third incoming team? As for the quality of USL, right now it might be slightly worse, but give them time. This is just their first season at D2.
I don't think they are sharp enough to pull off a pyramid scheme.....like much of the letter it reeks of simple desperation.
I wish I could rep this 100 times. I'm all for transparency but lay off the "we're teetering on the edge" talk The team has a PR person. What they need is some duct tape and the ability to keep the electronic devices away from Mr. Helmick. Ironic that he blames the president. (jokingly I think). He seems to have a similar problem...just let your people do their jobs and stop talking.
I disagree. The Deltas folding would be a big hit. Not only would it show that the NASL is not vetting these expansion cities the way the should (perhaps out of desperation), but it'd be a big hit among the NASL faithful too. All I've bee hearing from NASL die-hards is that Helmick and the Deltas are really doing things right. So why aren't people showing up, and why are the Deltas on the verge of failure? The Deltas folding would be a big hit to the credibility of the league both to potential investors and to fans.
The talk is that it will be the NPSL team in New Orleans (the Jesters) or the Atlanta group. The western teams in the USL are more even it seems to me. Having lived in Colorado Springs for three years as they were starting up I still follow the Switchbacks pretty closely. But both home and away, the teams that the Rowdies play are well below what I saw last year...the exception being Charleston. They're pretty good.
By the way, if the Deltas fold, does the OC group have second thoughts? I think they do. San Diego too.
@oneeyedfool has already mentioned this but it bears repeating.... The Deltas were admitted under the old regime...in October 2015. The current vetting standards date to early this year. As a fan, I admit I would be a little bummed. As you know I wanted it to work. Maybe it still can...but it doesn't look good when the main guy is saying stuff like this.
Who? Anyone in San Francisco or familiar with the Bay Area has been saying they've been a total shit show since the day they announced they were bringing a team to SF.
I don't think either does. OC have no choice, USL already has a double presence in LA so it was NASL or nothing. And they clearly have the Deltas style hubris down with their choice of name, stadium, dropping a 5th team into the LA area, etc... I don't see them walking away from that even if it's a bad idea (and has been since they announced their effort to put a team in OC). The San Diego guys also have little choice. They approached both MLS and USL and were told, no thanks by the former (due to the existing MLS bid group in SD) and no thanks by USL (because of the MLS bid and USL not wanting to step on MLS's toes). If the SD group wants a team for now it's NASL or bust. They've even admitted that publicly that NASL was not their first or second choice. They already know NASL is a consolation alternative for people who can't get into the two better situated leagues for one reason or another. And heck I wish they would wait and re-approach USL in a few months when MLS skips over SD rather than wasting their time and money with NASL. But it is what it is for now. If NASL goes belly up hopefully USL accepts them with open arms.
Tell me about it. But a lot of NASL fans across the country were really taken by Helmick's attitude and approach.
So NASL cheerleaders got suckered by yet another fly by night operation that talked a big game but had no substance behind it... color me shocked... SHOCKED I SAY!
This is a cop out. USL has been angling for D2 status for several years. They've had time to "raise their game" and again based on what I've seen on the field haven't done it for the most part.
Listen, I'm not a negative person. When the Rowdies made the move, I was against it. You can look at my comment history and see that. When the season started I said that I would give USL a chance. I watched the matches, I followed the teams and the league. I just found it be not be as good. There are some good teams, but it's just not as good overall. I'm sure @Knave would disagree with me and that's fine. Again maybe it's a west/east thing. Of course, I'll still follow USL because that's where the Rowdies play, but the league itself doesn't live up to the hype.
San Francisco, Orange County, San Diego and Atlanta. This expansion path was always going to be a hard road with a very good chance of failure. On the other hand, the other teams seem to be doing better. Not great, for the most part, but good enough to continue for another year. But I think it's going to be hard to attract new teams once SF bails so then it's just a matter of can they avoid any more attrition, which I don't think will be the case.
And the NASL does? The only American soccer league that's begun to live up to its hype is MLS. And it took them 20 years.
I wonder how the split into USL1 and USL2 will affect things. The USL talks about USL2 as a lower level, but it wouldn't surprise me if the weaker USL teams choose to drop down. The top USL teams can certainly afford and NASL quality roster.
Sooo...where're all the non-local people that tried to talk down to us local folks when we pointed out that this was a shitshow right in the beginning? Where ya at?
The teams that you saw last year proved to be nearly completely unsustainable. Seriously: 1 New York Cosmos - Were basically dead, saved by a last minute fax. 2 Indy Eleven - Cutting budget? Seem to be a shadow of last year's team. 3 Edmonton - Drawing better, but lost home and away to a lower mid-table USL team. 4 Rayo OKC - Dead. 5 Minnesota United - In MLS. 6 Fort Lauderdale Strikers - Dead. 7 Miami - Probably the best lower league team in NA, but spending like maniacs to do it. 8 Carolina RailHawks - Stable, but not exactly playing good soccer. 9 Tampa Bay Rowdies - In USL, probably comparable to most non-Miami upper-NASL. 10 Ottawa Fury - In USL, lower mid-table, but beat Edmonton home and away. 11 Jacksonville Armada - Owner bailed, had to survive under league ownership. 12 Puerto Rico - Among the worst D2 teams, acknowledged attendance problems. So yeah, the upper-part of the NASL has historically been better than the top of USL. And since the USL is a far bigger league, it stands to reason that they'll have many more weak teams. But look at what that did to the NASL. Look at the list of their expansion teams over the last few years, no matter the results on the field. RAYO made the playoffs, you wouldn't get to see them this year either, even if the Rowdies had stayed put! I too have watched more USL this season than I ever have before. Going to games is fun, but the soccer is inarguably rough. But from a game presentation standpoint I'll state that the USL is doing a better job: more stadiums, and Matchcenter is excellent for checking out out-of-market games. You can see that the partnership with MLS is working, and that the USL's current leadership learned the right lessons from MLS's decade of success. I still see very little of that in the NASL.
SF Deltas still tweeking things to cater to SF market, IMHO. NASL Fall Season, with Kezar games now starting at 5:00pm instead of 7:00pm, should help the casual SF person check out the games and still have time to get home or do other things. Everything the Deltas FO have done so far in terms of marketing and building up the team roster has been relatively low budget: local broadcasting from Kezar Stadium using Twitter Periscope; advertising on the SF Muni buses as roving billboard; acquiring the new guy Dagoberto from Brazil for the Fall Season. My guess is the Deltas FO is taking things slowly and with caution so as to not over-extend themselves and risk getting into too much debt. That being said, they will have to ramp it up in the winter off-season in all those phases, and more importantly, get more and more facetime on the traditional media outlets to gain more exposure.
If I'm not mistakened, I think the path that Miami FC took gives the SF Deltas hope. Remember, Miami FC under Silva wasn't doing anything special either last year (their 1st year in NASL); then from the winter off-season forward, Silva ramped things up in all the phases; now look where Miami FC is today....better players on the roster, increased fans at the gate, 2017 Spring Season champs. My guess is that Silva and Hemlick are on the phone, along with Commisso, in mapping things out, as they represent the "big three" (NASL Expansion Committee) -- NY, Miami, SF. I wouldn't write-off SF Deltas just yet.