To be fair the new NASL commissioner has toned down the rhetoric and has said he wants to work with the USSF and other soccer leagues. What has me really worried is this rhetoric from the Cosmos, the owner is definitely overvaluing the brand and I'm concerned when he see's the actual value of it that he'll just pull the plug. He's been none committal about a long term plan for the club and I think he doesn't really have that much skin in the game and could bail easily if he chose to. I hope I'm wrong but the Cosmos and Delta's have me worried.
I some times wonder if the Cosmos brand has more cachet outside the US then it does inside. So much so that people outside the US seem to think the name means something to Americans. Reality is, most people in the US, particularly those under about 45, couldn't tell you much about the Cosmos other than they had big crowds and Pele played for them if even that. It's got very little cachet left. And much of what it had left got used up by the last abortion of an ownership group.
Indy getting in the multi jersey sponsor game too. https://www.soctakes.com/2017/03/22/turkish-airlines-and-honda-to-sponsor-indy-elevens-kits/
I'm not from the area, but I must be missing something here. Looking at the list of people involved with the Deltas...it's loaded with locals who seem to think they know how to make this work. And it looks like there's some money there too. I get the history of soccer in San Francisco (it's been repeated here ad nauseum) but past failure doesn't necessarily equate to future failure. Miami seems to have it's stuff together after a lot of posters here said they wouldn't last a season. We also don't know how patient - or committed - this group of people is. What are they expecting for crowds? Is it 3,000 a game? 5,000? Bottom line...if it's ever going to happen in the city, this seems to be the group to do it. Can we at least let them play a home game or two before kicking dirt on their grave?
Maybe NASL would be perfectly fine being a D2 league but they are in desperate need of new teams and investors to survive. NASL's problem is that there is no reason why those who are interested in investing in a D2 franchise would chose NASL over USL. USL has more teams, shorter travel, strong connections with MLS, well all together it is a much more stable league. So, what is left for NASL? Megalomaniacs whose fantasy end game is to force a merger with MLS, rich foreigners with no clue how the American sports market works, lower level Euro teams who think they have a chance to find a niche in an untapped market. I can not see a happy future for this league and frankly If NASL should fold after this season I think it would make minor league soccer in US stronger.
On the basis of that article alone I wish the Cosmos had just died and stayed buried. It would have been better for everyone IMO. The "brand" really attracts the most delusional and downright ....ummm, mentally challenged....from what I see. If one of these idiots could just shut up, be positive/promotional, and try and make it work for the long haul I would be happy. This guy couldn't even make a propaganda interview even remotely coherent.....when folks want to believe. Ugh. They better grab a whole new set of fans from this Coney move, because any old ones who are left must be feeling deja vu right now. If they even care.
It does. Especially the 50 and older crowd in Europe. NASL did briefly rock the boat over there and they are the ones who remember the impact most. They are also the ones with the most influence and money right now due to their age, and nostalgia and memories always resonate to some degree. Unfortunately, while they may be willing to reminisce, concoct vapid schemes and theories, and write a few articles here and there about old times, with old greats, they don't put the money or time in here...never have. They always know better...but do jack and s**t. There always seems to be someone who bites on the nostalgia and fantasy. I know PT Barnum didn't say "there is a sucker born every minute", even though he is often credited with it, but I can't help but think that his circus is now defunct, how long until the Cosmos circus is? Probably when that 50 year old crowd are all sipping meals through straws. Unless Commisio was grossly, misquoted, slurring or a little tipsy all I keep thinking is... ....this won't end well. Again.
Re: the Deltas I'm in San Francisco right now, have been for a couple of days. I've seen about a dozen ads for the Monet exhibit at the Legion of Honor, and I have seen exactly nothing about the Deltas opener this weekend.
To be fair, I think you'll find the megalomaniacs vision was to build NASL to be a rival to MLS or even eclipse MLS as the top league in the USA. I don't think merger was ever their agenda since the MLS single entity model was unacceptable to them. Their problem is that number of megalomaniacs with sufficient money to seriously attempt that appears to have been a small number close to zero.
It's actually not really loaded with long time locals. It's got some locals, but it's also got a ton of foreign investment, east coast investment and tech bros. Frankly to me the whole outfit reeks of a bad marketing ploy. I mean their reasoning behind the name for example "Delta means change". Actually Delta means del·ta1 ˈdeltə/ noun noun: delta; plural noun: deltas 1. the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet ( Δ, δ ), transliterated as ‘d.’. the fourth in a series of items, categories, etc. modifier noun: delta "delta hepatitis" Astronomy the fourth (usually fourth-brightest) star in a constellation. noun: Delta "Delta Cephei" 2. a code word representing the letter D, used in radio communication. symbol symbol: δ; symbol: Δ; symbol: delta 1. Mathematics variation of a variable or function. 2. Mathematics a finite increment. 3. Astronomy declination. As for Miami having its stuff together, they barely answered the bell this season. They're not exactly setting the world on fire. And yes past failure doesn't guarantee future failure, but it's a damn good indicator. Especially with such a large sample size as the failed minor league teams in SF are. Particularly when the Deltas are making all the same mistakes all over again.
Considering the prevalence of people in the ownership group that are involved in investment, they are probably using the finance definition: http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Delta
It's like somebody crossed Ted Westervelt with Charlie Sheen during his drug-addled "Winning!" period.
Good catch... Doesn't really make me feel any better about these guys though. That they'd name their team after ratio of the change in the theoretical value of stock options...
In physics, delta, especially the triangle symbol, means a change. You would commonly see it as delta-v for a change in velocity. You could see it as Δy/ Δx which would be the change in Y over the change in X on a grid indicating slope. Rocket scientists talk about delta-vee all the time in describing launches or maneuvers of spacecraft. Delta definitely means "change" in those contexts.
Given most of the investors backgrounds though... I'm betting it's the financial term they based it on.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/03/23/nasl-aims-take-drama-boardroom-pitch/ A few highlights.
I actually thought they named it after the Sacramento-San Joaquin rivers delta, thought it was clever....I guess not.