This year the league was able to add three teams to overcome the two they lost. Can they do the same next year if the Canadian teams jump ship? Assuming for the second the Canadian league happens, does the NASL have a viable plan to move forward or do they fold back into the USL?
Well reports are Edmonton is committed to the NASL. So they won't be leaving any time soon. Iff it was starting up next year, we most likely would have heard something by now saying it is starting next season. Finally the core of the league is not in Canada. Losing Canada is not going to kill the league.
I'd have to agree with this, IF Ottawa and Edmonton leave its not going to do that much harm for the NASL. I'd be sad to see Ottawa go as I think they're a well run and well supported team, Edmonton not so much. If Fath decides to leave no one could begrudge him as he's thrown a lot of money at that team with little to show for it.
At this rate Edmonton leaving might be better for the NASL. With zero travel partners their mostly a drain. Ottawa would sting a bit.
Yep, which is why I think they should consider joining the Canadian league. It would reduce cost and if they have a TV deal they'd even get a little bit more money coming in, Ottawa could conceivably stay in the NASL but I think the ownership (CFL team) would want them in the Canadian league as well.
It might be that Fath would like to join the new Canadian League, but nobody is willing to buy his NASL shares at a decent price. Maybe they're stuck with NASL until then.
He could conceivably keep the shares and move the team anyway. Unless there's a contract that ties the team to the shares I don't see a reason for him to not move if it's what is best for the club.
While it may not be the core, they are still teams. And a league needs teams to operate. The three additions this year are seen by some as desperation moves. Will the additions next year be better? My understanding is that this kind of constant churn is part of the reason the TOA broke off from the USL originally. If the NASL can't reach some kind of stability, how long can it last?
Yes, having teams is important, and it has teams with more expansion planned. You have SF as well as work going on in Chicago and Las Vegas to get teams there. Stability is important, but it is still a young league. Most young leagues are unstable, and take a while to become stable. The NASL has actually been a rather stable league for how young it is.
Totally agree with that sir, plus who's to say Rayo OKC not gonna work out, they signed a champion Head coach and a core of some damn good players, so to say that the subtraction of two teams(one bearly making it and we'd be better off without) is gonna kill the league is a false statement
I wouldn't say the league would be better off without Edmonton at this point, but I do think at some point the rest of the league would out grow them.
@ the original premise. It really shouldn't effect the NASL all that much, sure they might lose some of the North American aspect but not much else. Yet, the official announcement for the CPL start date has not been made. Ottawa is on board, yes, but that does not mean they will jump ship immediately. Edmonton is supposedly sticking around for a bit longer; Fath's shares give him more of the expansion fees than anyone else in the league. Good position to be in if you know more expansion is coming. Rumoured 3-4 west coast teams + Chicago possibly before the CPL even starts in 2018. Notions of what Edmonton should do, probably need to take this into account. Fath is in a good position right now, maybe better than most might realize. EDIT: Also being the sole team in the NASL could benefit his chances for the CC, depends on what the CSA does to the format. It could also possibly put him out of the cup.
As far as market value goes in the NASL, Ottawa would be a far bigger loss than Edmonton. Ottawa is at least close to the northeast/Midwest region for travel while Edmonton is basically in Siberia for all we care given NASL's geography. Also, Ottawa is a well-run team, while FC Edmonton seems more slapdashish to me.
It sounds like Ottawa will be in the Canadian League from the start, while Fath/Edmonton may need a year or 2 of convincing. I don't have any doubt the league survives though, if they want to ... the problem is, they're not moving towards their goal of 16-18 teams all that quickly. And if they get there ... it will be because they've got 8-10 teams that are essentially only a couple of years old. They may all pan out, but they're still pretty young. Take into account that the league lost San Antonio (4th in 2015 attendance) before the 2016 season, it's looking like they'll lose Minnesota United (2nd in 2015 attendance) before 2017 ... and now Ottawa (6th in 2015 attendance) either before the 2017 or 2018 seasons ... that's half of the top 6 in attendance gone in a 3 year timespan. Also throwing in the lower attendance departure of Atlanta and the possible (I'd say 2018 or 2019 departure of Edmonton) ... you're looking at going forward with only 6 of the 11 teams that competed in 2015 still being around by the time the league reach's 16-18 teams. The NASL needs 9 more expansion teams announced to get to 18 (if Ottawa and Edmonton join SAS, Atlanta, and Minnesota as recent (or upcoming) departures) teams. So ideally, they get to 18 teams by 2020 (they've never put a date on it, but have been saying 18 is the goal as far back as 2014 or so I'm guessing). Only a third of those teams will be older than 5 years old. I do think that the MLS poaching NASL teams will slow down or come to a stop (Indy and Carolina are the only 2 teams that could be poached IMO). That will help to some degree. I also think the game in the country has got to a point where as long as you put a good product on the field and market correctly there will be fewer teams fail going forward than there has been in the past 10 years ... but I think some of the newer markets aren't set up to put attendance figures to match or exceed the teams leaving (Minnesota & San Antonio especially) which will hurt the overall attendance numbers in 2016 at least. Just my 2 cents.
The title of the thread is ridiculous, as a Canadian league won’t kill the NASL. Losing Ottawa would sting somewhat. Possibly losing Edmonton, not so much. In some ways, the league might actually be better off without them. A Canadian league would eliminate some expansion options (Hamilton and Calgary have been discussed in threads here in the past). It won’t make the North American part of the league name look good, but actual impact would be minimal. As for further expansion, there is none at the moment. I don’t count rumors. Peterson has mentioned a goal of 18 teams by 2020 several times. Getting there will be tough, and if they don’t keep all of the three new expansion teams coming in by then, it’ll be even tougher. The next few seasons are going to be very interesting.
If the two Canadian teams were to pull out, the current geographic center of the NASL based on the remaining teams (not including any rumored team that hasn't been officially announced) would be somewhere around Georgia/South Carolina. Half of the league would be in Florida and Puerto Rico. That's not good.
The NASL should negotiate with the CSA to allow for an interlocking schedule at least for 2017. From what I have seen there will only be 6 to 8 teams in the Canadian League. If there are 8 then everyone could play evreyone else 4 times for a 28 game schedule. If there are only 6, you would have to reduce that schedule, play every other team more often or play teams fro another league.
Just a reminder, some Welsh teams, which have their own National Association, participate in the English leagues. Swansea in the Premiership, Cardiff in the Championship, Newport in League 2 and Wrexham in the National League. Plus there is a 12 club Welsh Premiership.
In addition, FC Vaduz (Liechtenstein) play in the Swiss Super League, Derry City FC (Northern Ireland) play in the Republic of Ireland's league, Wellington Phoenix (New Zealand) play in the Australian League, and teams from Bermuda and Antiqua have played in lower divisions in the US. I'm sure there are other examples.
If I was Ottawa or Edmonton, I would keep paying the yearly fee and go dormant for 1-2 years before joining the Canadian league. They might need a place to play after the inevitable collapse of the Canadian league
If Edmonton and Ottawa go to the Canadian League, and for some reason if that Canadian League doesn't survive, and NASL doesn't allow them back in ... they'll just go to the USL if they want to keep their club going ... it won't be the of the world. I guess all of these things could happen, but that's certainly assuming a worst case scenario with a pretty decent "safety net" with joining the USL. And if you're thinking the CSL doesn't allow Canadian teams (non MLS2 teams anyways) into the USL ... if this happened like what I said above, I think they'd change that, since those clubs took a risk to join the Canadian League itself, and the CSL wouldn't want them to close up shop completely so they'd change their rules I'd imagine.
So they wouldn't be dormant, they would be playing in a different league. The odds of the NASL saying no to them returning are basically 0, especially if Edmonton keeps their ownership shares.