And....there it is. The signal that NASL lost their appeal. Given NASL's logic here, entities like the NCAA and high school athletic associations are running afoul given that they also structure divisions according to arbitrary factors.
Actually, we were going to as part of the EPPP but the lower league teams balked at the idea. The EPL2 teams in the EFL Cup was the compromise... it was of course, a rare concession in a process where the EPL basically told the rest of England to fall in line or risk losing payments...
Here's the full lawsuit if you are so inclined https://www.scribd.com/mobile/document/359361983/Anti-Trust
The USSF has shown they have competent lawyers. May not like all of their strategies, but legally they have gotten the job done. I'm sure they have their whole case laid out already, and counter arguments answered. This is another one that will get done. Yawn.
On the flip side the goofballs who run the Deltas will have someone else to blame for their own incompetence. I mean, they have blamed the president, their own fans, and everybody/everything in between. They must be celebrating in SF right now. Anything to take the spotlight off of their stupidity.
It begins? More like goodbye NASL. They'll have no teams left by the end of the week. And even if they win (which is doubtful) it'll be a Pyrrhic victory at best.
Yep, its telling that Rocco is now the BOG president of the NASL. I think that's probably by default as Malik and the others are too busy making moves to take the job. I expect NCFC to go to the USL and maybe Indy. I think Indy more likely goes to the NISA and Edmonton goes to the CPL. Either way the NASL will either fold or lose to many teams to continue and go on "hiatus" until the lawsuit has run its course which of course just means they've folded and the chances of them coming out of said hiatus is slim to none and slim just left the building.
Hope they’re prepared to fight USSF. New Orleans have signed a letter of intent to join @naslofficial per the lawsuit filing pic.twitter.com/oOQgYLnWhH— Chris Kivlehan (@kivlehan) September 19, 2017
A "letter of intent" is very flimsy. It can mean almost anything. Sounds like a PR/legal move that allows them to say that others want to join, but the USSF has hindered them, and have thus harmed a league that was moving toward fullfilling D2 status. New Orleans could have been promised a cut of any payout they recieved if they said they would join now. No different then that small club team Silva got to file the FIFA grievance. Posturing....an NASL specialty. I just signed a non binding letter of intent to start a new NFL team here in Boston proper. I like my chances.....I intend to do it.
An open letter that asks everyone to come to the next game and bring a lawyer is being drafted as we speak.
Just looking at the original teams listed and the what we have now, the upheaval over 7 years is astounding. So many teams flamed out so fast (Rayo, St Louis, even the Cosmos). If only there were some kind of regulator to keep minor league soccer from being seen as a joke and scaring off sponsors, fans and investors...
-------------- Agree with this totally. MLS reserves to USL 3, let USL 2 have a solid core of owners who care about their markets, want to put good teams on the field , etc. USL 2 at this time has too many teams. USL3 could be built up rather easiliy with USL 2 teams that didn't meet the requirements, MLS 2 teams, some of the new USL3 markets talked about and even some PDL teams who want to step up. -- All in all, a weird set up where you have true independent ownership groups in USL2, some hybrid ownership groups and then the MLS2 teams. - Do we want to follow an example of say Germany with 2 pro divisions and then Div 3 reserves OR Do we go a more American model and follow the baseball style set up AAA-AA-A ? -
There were rumors that the NPSL New Orleans Jesters (definitely one of the cooler names in American soccer) were going to join the NASL for months now. The owner has talked about moving up and easily meets the D2 ownership net worth standards. Both Mr. Watkins and Mr. Palmer alluded to other teams joining for 2018. We knew about Atlanta and Detroit, apparently New Orleans was the third. Was there incentive to do so in 2018 rather than 2019? Barring a settlement of the suit I guess we'll find out.
I disagree. I think the lawsuit is expressly to allow the NASL to play at the "D2" level in 2018. Get a judge to slap an injunction on USSF to stop any decisions on sanctioning, get the clubs to agree to soldier on and you play the season. Sure you're in limbo, but how is that different than what the NASL is going through now? Keeping "D2" status also keeps your exit fee intact. It makes it much less likely that NCFC will make the jump unless the USL reduces the expansion fee, something they seem unwilling to do. If there is a hearing it probably won't even happen until sometime in 2018. If you lose keep appealing as necessary until a final verdict comes down. While I'm not surprised at this suit (because in this country there are lawyers for every occasion), I was a little surprised by how quickly it was filed. That tells me that the NASL knew the final hammer blow (read: sanctioning as a D3 league) was coming. One last thing: the suit gives Wilt and the CSA time to get NISA and CanPL going for 2019. Lose it and some (probably most) of the teams will wind up there anyway. Of course, there could be a settlement...
From 9/15: That's a "Comments That Have Aged Badly" nominee... 9/18: 909797328969781250 is not a valid tweet id 9/19 http://www.nasl.com/news/2017/09/19...suit-against-united-states-soccer-federation- Rocco B. Commisso, Chairman of the NASL’s Board of Governors and the principal owner of the New York Cosmos, which plays its home games in Brooklyn, stated: "The USSF left the NASL no choice except to file this lawsuit."
I appreciate your optimistim but this lawsuit pretty much means game over for the NASL. Even if this lawsuit is successful you're telling me any potential future expansion team owners will see this league that's only playing because of an injunction/lawsuit and want to hitch their wagon to it? Come on man they don't play in a vacuum here the USL is the healther league right now and will only continue to grow. Also this year is the last year NCFC and Indy have a higher penalty for the leaving if I remember correctly. So leaving at the end of this season is still a on the cards potentially for both teams and we all know Edmonton is going to to the CPL once its up and running so I really can't see anything positive coming from this with regards to the NASL.
Unless that iceberg has a few million fans who go to NASL games and passionately care about "change" it really doesn't matter, since there aren't enough to force change in any tangible way. I realized you think its more but views and likes on Twitter don't equate to much in US soccer since those people by an large don't do anything to act aside from hitting a like button.
Actually, I'm not really that optimistic. The league MUST win this lawsuit...or at the very least get a "status quo" outcome...or it is game over. I think this is the ONLY choice left. If the NASL does get dropped to D3, then all of the teams are free to leave without penalty. In addition, it seems like Rocco is basically saying "if we're dropped, I'm done." There is no NISA in his future, unless that league can be a D2 league. If the NASL loses the suit, certainly NCFC is gone. We can assume that San Francisco and (as discussed above) the Cosmos are probably done too. Edmonton probably sits out a year and joins the Canadian Premier League in 2019. Do the 6 remaining teams (the four survivors from this year plus Orange County and San Diego) soldier on as a D3 league? Even if you get New Orleans, Detroit and Atlanta you're only at nine teams. If the NASL maintains the status quo there is a bit of irony here. If the league can keep everyone upright, no one jumps and they add the three mentioned in the suit, then it would actually meet ALL of the D2 requirements with NO WAIVERS...in fact it's still true even if San Francisco folds OR if NCFC jumps to the USL. I would guess that's why the league mentioned those three groups. I agree that the USL IS more stable than the NASL right now (what isn't?) but it's not as stable as the folks in Tampa would have you believe. We know there's a growing issue involving the MLS 2 teams - it's mentioned a few posts above ours. In addition, at least two USL teams (and possibly four) will be making the jump to MLS in a few years, while Ottawa goes to the Canadian league. All of them are among the leaders in attendance. A few of the independents will likely be dropping to the new USL D3 in 2019, as they've found the costs of running a D2 team are a little more than they can bear. And finally, I wouldn't be surprised if the USL didn't lose at least one team this winter and possibly more...remember the league has lost at least one team every year since 2011. As for potential ownership groups, I know that some people prefer the independent model for running their teams - Mr. Fath said it just the other day. If the NASL survives they MIGHT still be attracted to the league...for whatever reason. The NASL's biggest problem is that there aren't enough of them right now.