So the League of Independent Teams actually owns the brands of their Indeendent Teams. These Independent Teams would also have to pay the League a fee to leave? So what exactly makes these teams Independent again?
Doesn’t surprise me. The league was buying old NASL brands a few years ago. They played it off as buying them for merchandise purposes, but I didn’t believe them. I think they also prevented San Antonio FC from using the Scorpions name as well because they own the rights to the name. It’s obvious the teams where never truly independent from the start. They knew their audience and pandered to them.
Yep, they looked for ripe saps and suckered them, just like most of their now former owner base. NASL has been an exercise in misdirection and bullshit since the day it was founded.
You forgot to add "rent seeking" to the list. An entire league whose primary business model was to try and get some judge, any judge, to rule in their favor in one thing or another. thereby raising the value of their investments. It's pathetic.
I have a feeling, the death of the league would NOT prevent the surviving legal entity from attempting to extort fees from teams going to other leagues... get the popcorn going because it will be part of the drama to watch.
And the clock ticks down to oblivion. I think the NASL will ultimately triumph in the end, but it will take so long for that to happen that all the remaining NASL teams will have already folded or moved on to the USL that it will be a Pyrrhic victory.
Not even sure that is true. I mean there’s no one stopping someone from starting a competing group to USSF. No one says you have to belong to FIFA to play soccer...
Sure they can form their own soccer ruling board or league but they just won't have access to USSF referees and international talents. No world cup for the players or any other international tournamnet, and no over seas careers for the players.
So what? To take it to the logical conclusion, there’s no one stopping them from starting competing international cups either. And they can always have access to talent, they just need to be willing to pay.
One problem its unsanctioned by USSF and by FIFA thus any player who plays in an unsanctioned league is banned. No international player would even want to play in such a league and risk being banned by fifa. It has nothing to do with money it has to do with sanction status. Sure groups can form their own leagues own ruling board but they are not going to be recongized by fifa cause of its won't be a recongized league, there will be no international tournments, no tranfers no nothing cause its not a sanctioned league/ruling board.
From FIFA sure... but there’s nothing stopping them from creating an international alternative. That’s the point I’m making. FiFA is only a monopoly in so much that no one has bothered to challenge them.
Personally I would table this suit until after the USSF elections if I were them. Several of the current candidates are already more inclined to be more inclusive towards rival leagues in an effort to grow the game rather than cater to business interests and might work more with them to help them survive. Continuing the suit now that Gulati is no longer seeking reelection would only serve to create animosity with an incoming president who might have otherwise been willing to work with them.
There's a reason why FIFA doesn't ban every player, coach, referee - and so on - that participates in NCAA soccer - despite the fact that the NCAA doesn't remotely follow the LOTG or respect ITCs and so on. The NCAA is too big, and doesn't give a shit what FIFA thinks. And FIFA knows it would never really have access to the American market and dollars if it banned every player that ever played NCAA soccer.
NCAA is ametuer not professional. I was talking about a professional soccer league. If a group wants to run a professional soccer league that isn't sanctioend by USSF or FIFA, then they have to train their own refs and basically have zero access to over seas players. Over seas players won't join an unsanctioend pro league at the risk of being banned by fifa.