NASL Files Federal Antitrust Lawsuit Against US Soccer

Discussion in 'MLS: News & Analysis' started by Knave, Sep 19, 2017.

  1. BalanceUT

    BalanceUT RSL and THFC!

    Oct 8, 2006
    Appalachia
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Love Nancy Griffith!
     
    Bill Archer repped this.
  2. don gagliardi

    don gagliardi Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    Feb 28, 2004
    san jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    I, for one, would never have come back, so from my vantage point it's not the same at all. Of course, from Foxboro you're much more able to keep your finger on the pulse of the typical San Jose fan.
     
    Goodsport repped this.
  3. FoxBoro 143

    FoxBoro 143 Member+

    Jan 18, 2004
    MA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    • Out of line
    Ok thanks for the response asshat. Sorry for expressing an opinion on a discussion topic. But since you personally supposedly would not have come back, that must mean nobody else would have either and that 18k seat stadium would be empty. Thanks.

    Everyone stop posting, only Dan's opinion is acceptable itt.

    Your a prick
     
    jaykoz3, Egbert Sousé and TheJoeGreene repped this.
  4. Len

    Len Member+

    Club: Dallas Tornado
    Jan 18, 1999
    Everywhere and Nowhere.....I'm the wind, baby.
    #1529 Len, Feb 17, 2018
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2018
    Oh! We're all about that anti-Nashville around here.

    btw let's not leave Dale Watson of that list. Quality.
     
    Bill Archer repped this.
  5. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    No, it actually does not appear that way.

    Unless you live in Soccer Twitter Conspiracy Land, where Occam's Razor is some new monthly box subscription service.

    The Cosmos and the NASL were kerput. The intellectual property has some value, as does the video library. SUM made an offer for both.

    I am always intrigued by the human phenomenon (maybe it's just Americans, I don't know) where the idea of shadowy forces aligning against us all is far easier to believe than the simpler explanation.

    Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar; sometimes the stated reason is the actual reason.

    The Cosmos are not a ********ing threat to the order. They are not a threat to MLS. Their brand is not all-powerful. They are outdrawn by 4-1 by Cincinnati, despite having America's most amazing soccer brand, nostalgia and the country's biggest city to play in.

    They're not a threat you pay off to neutralize. They do have parts of the carcass that may be worth paying for as salvage.

    That's it. That's the list.
     
    Ismitje, Kejsare, JasonMa and 11 others repped this.
  6. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States


    The last Cosmos fan with actual meaningful recollections of the original (whose heyday pretty much ended in 1982), that is. Unfortunately, the Neo-Cosmos fans will be whining about how they could have been part of most glorious revolution had the cartel not squashed them until, I'm guessing, 2073.

    Because they discovered America had soccer about an hour and a half ago. And they wanted to ( a ) put their soccer bona fides in a microwave to bring themselves up to more-or-less the present day by posing as people who understood the ethos of the original Cosmos and ( b ) be part of the clique that eschews everything about the established order (that's actually been kind of successful) because indie bands are way cooler, man.
     
    JasonMa, billf, profiled and 1 other person repped this.
  7. xtomx

    xtomx Member+

    Chicago Fire
    Sep 6, 2001
    Northern Wisconsin, but not far from civilization
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    I think you mean, "You're a prick."

    Thank you, carry on with your rant. ;)
     
  8. xtomx

    xtomx Member+

    Chicago Fire
    Sep 6, 2001
    Northern Wisconsin, but not far from civilization
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Sounds like you won the bet.
    Losing a bet would mean you had to spend time in Houston or Dallas.

    I spent an awful week in Houston one afternoon.
     
    Bill Archer repped this.
  9. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    And I think we probably overstate the importance in the public mindshare of the Cosmos and the NASL. I also think we understate it's importance (impact) it had on youth leagues and the grass roots that have helped (in concert with other factors - USWNT success, MLS) in the long run. I'm in my early 50s. I was alive and around when the KC Spurs won the NASL. I have absolutely no memory of them. I also have no memory of the Chiefs Super Bowl win, though I do remember seeing Royals (and maybe A's) games pre-Royals/Kauffman Stadium. I was in junior high the year the NASL had games on ABC. I do remember it vaguely, but I actually remember "Soccer Made In Germany" on PBS better. When my family moved to Charlotte (both parents were in the banking industry) in 1981, my dad got tickets to the professional soccer league championship. The expansion Charlotte Lightnin' beat the team from New York. It was not the Cosmos. That really didn't register at the time. The following year I was in school in Durham and paid no further attention to the Lightnin'.

    I actually played soccer. It was an interest of mine. I have whatever gene there is that predisposes people to athletic tribalism. Professional soccer was an absolute shitshow in the 70s/80s. The Cosmos did catch fire, and in-market some of the other NASL teams had an impact. But I think most of that direct impact (though not all) was mostly very limited and personal - not civic or societal.

    If Steve Ross hadn't bought the Cosmos and brought in Pele would anyone really remember the league? The league was an expensive version of today's PDL/NPSL. Last year someone gave me a book detailing the 1976 expansion Portland Timbers. The lasting impression was not one of what was lost, but more of, thank god we have MLS. The team had 16 players total. Not all of them played. Think about that for a moment. That was the team's entire roster for a season - and they made the play-offs - which led to another point. How short the NASL season was. It was designed to fit in the summer break of the European/South American seasons. Just like the PDL/NPSL are designed around the near identical summer college break. They had to fight to keep on-loan players from being recalled by their teams in England so that they could field a team for the playoffs.

    The romanticism about the NASL is swell, and I've even taken part. But I think it's all very overstated. If the current Earthquakes had remained the Clash, and the 2008 expansion team had revived the Clash and not the Earthquakes, I'm guessing the attendance at Avaya wouldn't be any different than it is today. And the people that fondly remembered the NASL Quakes would still have those fond memories. It's not the current Cosmos are a threat to either the Red Bulls or NYCFC despite their sell-out corporate franchise ownership.

    On the other hand, I'm guessing that part of my interest in soccer was sparked by the sudden summer of NASL/Cosmos on ABC (and Soccer Made in Germany). A generation of kids my age, and to follow, flocked to youth leagues. By the time the 1994 World Cup came about and people started paying attention to the world conquering WNT (95 WWC and 96 Olympics), then the launch of MLS in 1996, those children of the late 70s and early 80s were adults with disposable income. The NASL died for our sins, as it were. And in retrospect, that was almost certainly for the best.
     
    ToMhIlL, Ismitje, Kejsare and 9 others repped this.
  10. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Nanci is great. Everybody loves her.
     
    BalanceUT repped this.
  11. FoxBoro 143

    FoxBoro 143 Member+

    Jan 18, 2004
    MA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Thank's for add-ing grammar critique to this thread.

    Seriously, people get over grammar. Everyone uses a phone these days and many, including myself typically use talk-to-text which does not always register things properly. I don't bother to check to insure that all things are college ready afterwards because it's not important.

    People who see the need to correct a miner grammatic error need to get over themself's.
     
    NashSC repped this.
  12. The Franchise

    The Franchise Member+

    Nov 13, 2014
    Bakersfield, CA
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Minor spelling or grammar errors usually aren't a big deal in an informal setting like this. Nobody's getting paid to post here. (Except for Don Garber's Macedonian agents!)

    On the other hand, there are a couple posters who make consistent and significant spelling, grammatical, and capitalization errors. In what may not be coincidental, their thinking often shows a similar level of sloppiness.
     
  13. Bill Archer

    Bill Archer BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 19, 2002
    Washington, NC
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don't disagree. I'm not suggesting some conspiracy. I'm aware that the official rationale for the offer was because the carcass had commercial value.

    And it may largely be so but I personally believe that another reason was to make sure the stupid never came back again. Not to kill some threat, it never was that.

    But it was undeniably a distraction and having it go away and stay away would make them happy. Rightly so. It would make me happy too.
     
    billf, jaykoz3 and The Franchise repped this.
  14. PTFC in KCMO

    PTFC in KCMO Member+

    Aug 12, 2012
    Club:
    Portland Timbers
    He threw the ball through the hoop and celebrated his perfect throw.
     
    TheJoeGreene repped this.
  15. Yoshou

    Yoshou Fan of the CCL Champ

    May 12, 2009
    Seattle
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yeah.. Let’s move on from the grammar and spelling critiques. ;)
     
    NashSC repped this.
  16. don gagliardi

    don gagliardi Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    Feb 28, 2004
    san jose
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    You are mistaken. Without the Earthquakes legacy dating to the NASL, including the person of Johnny Moore, there would likely have been no effort to save, and then regain, the team. There would be no San Jose MLS team today, and Avaya Stadium would never have been built.
     
    Goodsport repped this.
  17. MisterJawn_215

    United States
    Feb 17, 2018
    I'm just wondering if anyone has ideas of why the Cosmos didn't start an academy or build a soccer stadium in the 1970's? For the big spending they did on Pele, Chinaglia, Beckenbauer, etc. couldn't they have used it on infrastructure and American player development instead?
     
  18. FoxBoro 143

    FoxBoro 143 Member+

    Jan 18, 2004
    MA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Because Mick Jagger and other big time brits didn't care all that much about academy's.
     
  19. soccermilitant

    soccermilitant Member+

    Jan 14, 2009
    St.paul
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    there wasn't much people playing soccer at that time
     
  20. MisterJawn_215

    United States
    Feb 17, 2018
    I was looking for a serious answer on why NASL didn't try building infrastructure. They should've planned getting replacement talents once the likes of Pele retired.

    Also developing homegrown talents would've been cheaper than the signings the Cosmos made. And they could make money selling Cosmos players to Europe and have a 2-way traffic for players.
     
  21. Pack87Man

    Pack87Man BigSoccer Supporter

    Sep 1, 2001
    Quad Cities
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think that was a serious answer, delivered flippantly. By all accounts, the original NASL had a tendency to be somewhat short-sighted and looking for the next big splash, rather than worrying about mundane things like infrastructure. The league never even thought about building a stadium, much less got to the level that would require an academy. Plus, as bright as it shone, it was never anything more than a rich guys' playground.
     
    AndyMead and The Franchise repped this.
  22. MisterJawn_215

    United States
    Feb 17, 2018
    Maybe when things started to fall apart like around 1980 couldn't they have made changes to stabilize the league and then GROW CAREFULLY?
     
  23. billf

    billf Member+

    May 22, 2001
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Seriously, that thought was absurd then. Few played soccer and there was no long term thinking. The cosmos were owned by time warner too. They weren’t interested in anything more than selling tickets.
     
    TheJoeGreene repped this.
  24. billf

    billf Member+

    May 22, 2001
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That’s funny. It really is.
     
    TheJoeGreene repped this.
  25. MisterJawn_215

    United States
    Feb 17, 2018
    OK, then I wonder why would Cosmos and new NASL hate MLS for doing things the old NASL didn't bother doing. MLS teams built stadiums, training grounds, and academies and the Cosmos are still crying foul against them.
     
    JayRockers! repped this.

Share This Page