How far could a well-managed NASL go?

I personally feel that if they make all of the right moves, from choosing correct markets and being willing to spend, etc etc, the league could eventually average between 7-10k (at least) and be sustainable if not profitable for the long term. Some markets could eventually draw more and really stand out as solid show pieces for the game in the U.S.

Portland did it, Rochester has flirted with those kinds of numbers. It's doable, but will take a shit ton of work and dedication to really making the sport grow. Something I'm not sure anyone involved really is prepared to offer.

 

I agree, weedcake. A ton of work, dedication, and endurance don't seem to be available right now. If you add in the possibility of another very key ingredient, money, probably being in very short supply you really can't be all that optimistic about the NASL surviving.

All we can do is hope that TPTB continue to try and eventually get the right combination together. Even then, I only see a minor league surviving, not flourishing....

As ever, we'll see. Let's hope for the best, because the road trips are fun....

 

Well, at least the PR stink

Their AGM ended yesterday and still no news out

 

To the moooooooon!!

 

About 30 yards, if you throw it hard enough.

Thanks, you're a great crowd; I'll be here all week.

 

The real question is 'How far could a well-FUNDED NASL go?'

 

Money doesn't mean shit without people who know what to do with it.

Gotta have both. Good people and ownership willing to spend and who are able to sustain that spending until the league itself is sustainable.

 

so you are saying if some Dubai billionaires bought NASL clubs and started dumping 100s of millions into them,it wouldn't mean shit? It would be a huge game changer.

 

Do I really need to repeat myself? Money is only as effective as the people who are spending it.

Also, your silly hypothetical situation isn't ever going to happen so why even use it as an example? Using crazy scenarios in an attempt to prove a point isn't very useful.

And lastly, if you insist, think original NASL. I win.

 

It's not a fair question. I mean the USL has survived all these years with a variety of mismanged and questionable teams. Yet they are still around in one form or another.

As much as I dislike the USL, feeling they have harmed the sport in some cases and helped it in others, I will give them their dues. They have been around 26 years now, and that is a sign of a well-managed company.

In theory the NASL could go on forever. In theory they could shut their doors next week.

 

A well-managed NASL would still be operating at a loss, but a sustainable loss. It would expand to the point where every city vying for an MLS spot would have a club and perhaps a two-conference structure would be needed to keep the travel costs down or hopefully just to keep from the single table from becoming too big.

I would say a well-managed NASL would have an average attendance of around 5k to 8k, with the attendance outliers being considered for MLS entry (notice I didn't say being a potential MLS team meant having to be an attendance leader). While MLS stadiums and NASL stadiums may charge vastly different rents, it is crucial for as many teams as possible to pursue a SSS not only for the revenue but for the exposure to the community. This is possibly the most important part of making a fan base. The Aztex proved that by getting involved in the community a club can be successful quickly. Here's hoping they do the same in Orlando (and that the Aztex come back one day of course).

As for relations with MLS, I would hope they stayed away from the baseball-minor-leagues type of relations. I am definitely in favor of taking players on loan, but MLS teams have a reserve league coming for that. These teams have to show their independence from MLS early on while maintaining good relations with them.

As for USL, one would hope their drama cooled off, but I don't see many PRO teams moving up other than those that moved down to cut costs. PRO is quickly showing that they have the potential for success in D3 with the number of teams they are attracting already (which goes back to my earlier point about conferences).

Now I'm kind of rambling but there's my two cents.

 

Why doesn't NASL try something different from MLS, for example single table and no play-offs. Will that bring attention to the league?

 

I'd be less interested in that kind of format. Typical American playoff system gets people excited and I don't have a problem with having it for our soccer leagues.

 

Well MLS basically has a single table(for now) and so will NASL, at least until a bunch of west coast teams pop up(if ever). Playoffs is important though. You want to keep as many teams in the hunt for as long as possible to keep people interested, especially for minor league soccer.

 

I can see the NASL going quite far, if they are okay with operating at a loss for at least the first five years in nearly every market. That means, of course, that the more profitable teams will need to be very interested in sharing their funding with less profitable teams. If well-to-do owners realize that what's best for their team in the long term is to play against stable and long-standing opponents, NASL could go far indeed.

However, if they choose to expand into markets with owners who expect to immediately turn a profit or break even (see Dean Johnson of the MN Thunder, NSC Minnesota, Phil Rawlins of Austin Aztex, and Jeff Cooper of AC STL), there will be big trouble. If the Hunts and AEG have shown us anything positive, it's that soccer owners in the US have got to take the long view if they ever want to see a return on their considerable investments.

If the league doesn't push this sort of model, this ethos, for the future of the league, they'll end up nowhere. They won't even reach the mediocre heights USL has aspired to be fleecing ownership group after ownership group for their yearly franchising fees.

 

Absolutely. Without long term vision, and the financial prowess to see that vision through to reality, soccer will go nowhere in the country. It is where it is today because of people like the Hunts and AEGs. People willing and able to take a loss for a good long while for the benefit of the game.

MLS has hopefully taken it's lumps and will continue to grow and become profitable and challenge the "Big 4" sports leagues as a major player in the entertainment game. Let's hope D2, and D3 and D4 for that matter, are also on that same path to stability and prosperity.

 

The problem in St. Louis wasn't the owner wanting profits, it was that Cooper was not the majority owner, and his majority owners pulled out in the middle of the season (they'd had money embezzled by someone from their primary business back in England).

After that, I can understand why the league wants tougher standards to prevent such pullouts, but profits weren't the issue.

 

Sorry to burst the bubble here but >75% of pro socccer teams in the world lose money (operational loss). Most manage to stay in business by selling players. It is a model that clubs in the US are now adopting and I think NASL should too. Also, I believe the pay to play system works well for every other major American sport in the early years through HS. If i were running a minor league soccer team ten I would use the infrastructure to make money through training programs (lot of $$$), sign good players and sell them and maintain a high visibility. Totally doable.

 

Spot on, Railhawks fan. American owners' ignorance of this model is absurd. How do they expect succeed in a field in which they're not familiarized with the dominant business practices?

The pay to play system, while booming in the US, doesn't work all that well though (except for the people who run the programs). Kids play far too many games and see far too few minutes because of the premium on winning tournaments. The youth academies that are most successful now a) are free, b) have relatively fewer kids per roster than their pay to play counterparts, and c) play fewer, more competitive games, which prepare them for higher levels of soccer.

Academies like this are the future, not just because of their training models, but also because they own the rights to their players. That means that if they've got a great young prospect coming through their system, they can sell their rights to make the money you were talking about above. More minor league teams need to embrace this sort of model if they want to stay afloat.

Plus, kids are more likely to grow up and support a team whose youth system they came through.

 

So... what does everybody want to see in the NASL's "extensive marketing campaign" they'll be starting soon?

I always read on here people saying more money needs to be spent on advertising and such but what exactly do you want to see?

 

I think the pay to play system can work well for minor league teams. Use the visibility of the pro-teams to start academies, provide the free option to the most promising players once they are around 12 and develop them. I was thinking along the lines of this famous tennis program now owned by IMG...

http://www.imgacademies.com/nick-bollettieri-tennis-academy/

i believe DC United is working along those lines but for a ig country like ours, there is room at every level to cultivate the model.

And you are absolutely right on cultivating a connection to the club.

 

As with anything, marketing is going to depend on the environment and the market you're trying to attract. For example, downw here in South Florida, let's say for a moment Traffic does indeed go with Ft. Lauderdale Strikers with the rebrand. They need to make something of an effort to appeal to Miami/Dade, but the bulk of their budget should be spent in Broward, and to some degree Palm Beach as well, at least southern Palm Beach including Boca.

The actual advertising itself, you've got options. Print ads don't reach nearly as many people as they used to, but you need at least a little presence everywhere. TV is going to cost you the most money, so you'd have to really target something specific, like MLS games probably for it. Radio is a good outlet, some of the local sports talk shows, and you could even have players, coaches, management come on air and talk about the team. Billboards along the bigger roadways, especially I-95, and especially near Lockhart would be absolutely essential.

All of that costs money of course, but without it, you're going to have only a slight blip in attendance from the putrid numbers of Miami FC if you don't use what you have that is your biggest selling point - the return of the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers in the NASL.

 

Yeah, I can guess vaguely at what some marketing plans could be.

What would you specifically like to see your team do? (is what I meant to ask) I guess another way to ask is what could you possibly see from your team that makes you feel more comfortable about the team/league now than previously.

 

Well, doing even just one of the things I mentioned would be an improvement over last year, so it's kind of a tough thing to forecast. I don't want to just say, well I'd like to see them do a, b, c, and x, y, z, because we need to keep a handle on reality.

But at least in our case down here, the club has something extra to work with in the rebrand to the Strikers. Get Shore to do some interviews, for newspaper and on radio. Get some old Strikers, if you can find any and they are willing, to be a part of the efforts. I think those are more reasonable expectations. Maybe some signage in key spots on the highway, closer to the beginning of the season have some sort of preseason event at Lockhart. All the local pro teams have these types of things prior to their season starting. Get the leg work done early, so you have more time to saturate the market between now and April. That's only six months away, and you're almost starting from scratch considering the rebrand and the fact that there has been ZERO advertising in the past for the club.

Obviously having a presence at youth leagues is a key ingredient. I'd be interested in hearing the ideas of fans of other NASL teams as well.