And in other soccer news...

More Republic FC alumni news: Aaron Long, who was here on loan from Portland in 2014, has moved up to the New York Red Bulls first team for the rest of the 2016 season.

 

And let's remember, South Florida is where MLS wants to put a team. Whether they like it or not! Meanwhile in Sacramento....

 

The article failed to answer the question we're all asking: "What about the Cosmos?!?!?????"

 

NASL will probably grimly cling to life for another year with seven or eight teams, assuming SF even makes it through its first season, which is doubtful at this time.

You never like to speak ill of the dead and dying, but when the Scorpions made the switch and nevertheless survived, a blueprint was provided for teams like Rowdies and Fury to follow along.

NASL is dying. What their commish is saying in that article was almost word for word what was said by leadership in the early 80's when the original NASL died.

Too bad for Indy XI and Railhawks. Both orgs deserve better based on what they've done so far.

 

This business with the NASL was a long time coming. Hopefully the USL can rise to the occasion and attain D2 status, and we can move toward a more integrated soccer "pyramid" (for lack of a better term). It's unfortunate to the fans of certain teams that their respective FOs don't have their crap together, but if the league fails, I do hope most of the teams can land on their feet within the USL. I doubt that Cosmos will swallow their pride, and I'd be shocked if RayOK lasts the season.

Having said that, should the NASL fold, I'll be glad not to have to listen to all the league's fanboys and apologists ever again.

 

I almost fell out of my chair laughing at the Commissioner's comment that they need the right owners in the right market.

Umm, isn't that what you should have been doing the last eight years? This is a "new"'strategy?

Jeez, what have they been focusing on the last few years - it certainly wasn't corporate recruitment or marketing......I guess it wasn't Open Cup wins against USL teams either.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I'm guessing both are among the "three other unnamed NASL teams" thinking about jumping ship.

 

Some greatest hits:

“In 10 or 15 years, we see soccer as bigger than football in this country.”
New England Tea Men president Derek Carroll, 1979

“Soccer is going to be the number one sport in this country very soon.”
New York Cosmos president Steve Ross, 1979

“In six or eight years our franchises will be worth more than those in the National Football League.”
The late NASL Commissioner Phil Woosnam in 1973

“This sport will take off. There is absolutely no way that it will not bypass everything else. This country will be the center of world soccer. In the 80s there will be a mania for the game here. The NASL will be the world’s number one soccer league. And it will be the biggest sports league in the USA.”
Woosnam, in 1977

“In five years we’re going to be as popular as the NFL is today. And in 10 years we’re going to be the number one sport in America and the biggest league in the world.”
Woosnam, August 29, 1977.

“We’re still going to be the sport of the ’80s. Don’t forget, the ’80s are just one year old. We’ve still got nine years to go.”
Woosnam, quoted in the Washington Post on May 18, 1981. As it turned out, the NASL had fewer than four years to go.

“Losing those teams is not a setback. The credibility will come back next year. We had an average attendance of 14,000 this year. If we can come back to 17,000 or 18,000 next year, that’s instant credibility.”
Woosnam, on September 21, 1981 after five NASL teams folded. Attendance actually dropped slightly the following year and continued to slide until the league folded in 1985.

“The league is in no danger of disappearing. We have a strong foundation in Tampa Bay, New York, Chicago, Montreal, San Diego, Vancouver and Fort Lauderdale.”
Woosnam, on the eve of the 1982 NASL season.

“I still say there is no way soccer cannot become a major sport in this country. We will be third behind football and baseball by the end of the ’80s.”
Woosnam, June 16, 1982.

 

If they had set up their league in a closed system like MLS is today, they could have made inroads. But the way they structured their league it was doomed to failure by unsustainable spending and lack of smart growth. So many critics of MLS now don't understand they're deliberately trying to avoid the mistakes that did soccer in.

Those old NASL guys were right, it's just they needed to expand their timeline to 50 years instead.

 

Do you mean "single entity?"

Because when you write "a closed system," it makes me think it's a pro/rel reference.

 

yes.

 

Had they thought of a system where everybody had a real, vested interest in the success of all the other clubs, that would have been a help. But the flow chart of the original NASL's demise is quite complicated. Expanding willy-nilly to unprepared and non-committed ownership groups who expected the investment to pay off very quickly, and who didn't do any sort of infrastructure, surely did not help.

And if you were in Tampa or New York or Minnesota (places where they had successful clubs, for varying lengths of time), you might very well say, "Well, if Edmonton folds, no skin off my neck, I'm doing okay." And there'd be something to that, right up to the point where there were nine teams left and then seven of them went away.

While hindsight is great, and single entity wasn't a thing, there was the concept of LeagueThink, which was (if you read David Harris' The League: The Rise and Decline of the NFL) one of the key components of pro football's success during the very same decade.

Given all the things from the NFL that the NASL tried to emulate, it's unfortunate they didn't try to emulate that. (Then again, there was only one Pete Rozelle.) Given the NFL owners who had stakes in the NASL, you'd think they could have said, "Hey, wait a minute."

The current NASL's problems are many and varied, too.

 

Deltas Host Bubble Soccer This Saturday
The San Francisco Deltas are hosting their last free bubble soccer event of the year this Saturday at Street Soccer USA Park, which is adjacent to The Yard at AT&T Park.
Fans can play bubble soccer, and meet with team representatives to learn about the Deltas inaugural season at Kezar Stadium in 2017.

BUBBLE SOCCER WITH THE SAN FRANCISCO DELTAS
Saturday, October 22, 2016 – 2PM
Street Soccer USA Park (200 Terry A Francois Boulevard, San Francisco)

 

Hah, yes, .I'm sure it will survive as D2 with 4 teams next year. They can play each other 12 times for seeding and all teams automatically qualify for the semifinals.

 

USL has D2.

USSF is working to get all the viable NASL teams moved over. Its taking some negotiating. This is probably a delay to get through the USL BofG meeting this week (and get approval)

 

shouldn't this post be put into the San Jose Earthquakes forum?