NASL Files Federal Antitrust Lawsuit Against US Soccer

Discussion in 'MLS: News & Analysis' started by Knave, Sep 19, 2017.

  1. TheJoeGreene

    TheJoeGreene Member+

    Aug 19, 2012
    The Lubbock Texas
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Well, if nothing else I'm now openly rooting against the Earthquakes for no reason other than jackwagon fans.
     
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  2. Fighting Illini

    Fighting Illini Member+

    Feb 6, 2014
    Chicago
    Admittedly it's a vague concept. I guess for me it would be the game being considered in the same breath as football and basketball and baseball by the Average Joe Sports Talk Radio Caller, which in my vision of it would be hand in hand with the USMNT becoming among the best international teams in the world and a regular contender for World Cups.

    That was the dream of me as a little kid who people thought was a nerd for liking soccer back in the dark ages when you couldn't regularly watch the domestic OR the international club game on TV (in English anyway). It was a big enough dream that we've both come amazingly far and still have a huge distance to go.
     
  3. GunnerJacket

    GunnerJacket Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 18, 2003
    Gainesville, GA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    I would consider that notion somewhat disappointing, and/or possibly pretentious. MLS isn't big compared to the Big 4 leagues in the USA, and it's not big compared to the biggest leagues in Europe, but could anyone expect MLS to be that big barely a generation from near insolvency?

    For me it seems like all this talk from folks like Wynalda, Commisso, the P/R brigade... comes from some misguided sense that the US soccer scene deserves to move at warp speed to EPL levels of appeal even though only 5 years ago our top flight still featured salaries that barely warranted full time commitment to the game. That when they complain about MLS it's unfairly based on a comparison of what they want instead of what's truly viable based on the past or in the near term. Could MLS have done things that might have made them bigger? Possibly, but giving the obstacles soccer faces in the US I can't fathom that difference being notable, and certainly not enough for me to be critical of the league in this way. At the least I'll put it this way - I can't think of maybe more than 15 leagues that are better then MLS. Coming from a nation with no soccer league in 1995 and a public seemingly half driven against the concept I don't take that progress for granted.
     
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  4. BalanceUT

    BalanceUT RSL and THFC!

    Oct 8, 2006
    Appalachia
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This weekend may be an all-time high for me <plonking> posters on BS. Wow.
     
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  5. JasonMa

    JasonMa Member+

    Mar 20, 2000
    Arvada, CO
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    And yet I survived! :D
     
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  6. Fighting Illini

    Fighting Illini Member+

    Feb 6, 2014
    Chicago
    You misinterpreted my point, though I can see that I was a bit unclear, my apologies.

    I didn't mean to say that MLS is not currently big enough to suffice for the definition of "breaking big in America". My point was that the two are not strictly related. That the health of the game is broader than the health of the incumbent top-tier professional league.

    Again, I can't stress enough how much I agree with the second paragraph of your post, how impressed I am that we've gotten to this point, and my optimism regarding MLS' ability to continue to progress toward its immediate term goals. I think this is going to be a genuinely nationwide league putting 25,000 butts in seats game after game in venues with great atmospheres featuring a worthy style of play and showcasing a broad base of American talent developed through an in-house system. That's an astonishing accomplishment from where I started as a soccer fan.

    It's when I look into the longer-term future, and thus the bigger, shinier goals, that some of the structural issues with MLS and USSF look like potentially implacable roadblocks, as opposed to the "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" speed bumps on a road everyone is sure points in the right direction.

    And so that's why I wandered into this thread, not as a stan for this particular cluster-f of a league, but just of the mind that all of the Big 4 American sports leagues were challenged and ultimately strengthened by a genuine competitor at times in their development not so totally different from where MLS is now, and leaving aside the specifics of the NASL case, having the regulating body for the sport be intimately financially and personally intertwined with a monopolist entity in the marketplace creates incentives that are not great.
     
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  7. ThreeApples

    ThreeApples Member+

    Jul 28, 1999
    Smurf Village
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The name change was introduced for the 1982-83 indoor season, which the Earthquakes played in the MISL. The official reason was to create a more regional name, since the indoor home games were played in Oakland. It was also pretty stupid, especially since "Golden Bay" was a made-up name that had no meaning in the region.
     
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  8. El Naranja

    El Naranja Member+

    Sep 5, 2006
    Alief
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Are you hoping about the aggregate of soccer in the US being as big as the Big 4 or just the pro American soccer?

    If the former I'd say were either there or damn close. Between American soccer from youth/amateur up to MLS and the NTs, plus Mexico and other foreign leagues sales, that's a **** ton of money and people.

    If the latter, we've a ways to go and you know well be there when the pro game is equal to anything in Europe. When you look at just how much money Baseball teams have, it's comparable to anything over there, if not better than almost all of it.

    Of course that just highlights one of the unique challenges pro soccer has in the US: how divided it is. The pro game has done well to lure some of that crowd over and an amazing job of growing the domestic fan base. Still a ways ro go to equal Europes best however but we have the potential to do so.
     
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  9. Stuart95

    Stuart95 Member+

    Mar 11, 2012
    NoVA
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    A favorite memory from living in the UK is when they listed scores and the announcers said, "they'll be dancing in the streets of Total Network Solutions tonight."
     
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  10. The Franchise

    The Franchise Member+

    Nov 13, 2014
    Bakersfield, CA
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Some were barely making it season to season. Others didn't have the money. Others thought the league would take off any moment and they would need an NFL sized stadium. And others were afraid the league itself may not last the 20+ years it would take for investing in a stadium to pay off. Which turned out to be the case.
     
  11. PhillyMLS

    PhillyMLS Member+

    Oct 24, 2000
    SE PA
    I'll answer this one with the least amount of snark that I can muster. First, you have to assume that the owners actually were in it for the long haul and not the hope of a quick buck. There is nothing that shows that most of the owners had any plans to be in it for the long haul.

    The second thing is that sport specific stadiums were not what municipalities were investing in during the 70's. Between the early 60's (when RFK was built) and early 80's (when NASL folded) I can find at least 11 stadiums that were built with the exact purpose of holding baseball and football. Shea Stadium and Candlestick park weren't specifically built for multiple sports but were used anyway. I'd actually be interested in how many stadiums were open during that time period just for football or baseball. I know Royals Stadium in KC was for baseball and Giants Stadium was for football. Tampa Stadium may count as well but the city built that in hopes of getting a team and the first actual tenant were the Rowdies about 8 years after they built the stadium.

    So what kept them from funding stadiums? Most likely desire to but also that it just wasn't what people/municipalities were doing back then. Most projects during that time were designed to put football and baseball under one roof. Some upstart foreign sport wasn't going to be something municipalities had any desire to get involved with. Plus, you still have people questioning MLS teams when they want to build a stadium as to why they won't fold like NASL teams before them did. What do you think would happen if you told a city that you want them to help fund a stadium for them when the year before 4 or 5 teams moved and another 2 or 3 ceased to exist?
     
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  12. Bluecat82

    Bluecat82 Member+

    Feb 24, 1999
    Minneapolis, MN
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I would submit the argument that that competitor already exists.

    It's called Liga MX.
     
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  13. Fighting Illini

    Fighting Illini Member+

    Feb 6, 2014
    Chicago
    If Liga MX starts putting teams in Texas and California I might agree with you. But for the time being they are not what the ABA or the AFL was.

    The international club game (throwing in Europe as well), is probably more analogous to what college football was to pro football in its early years. More "prestigious" and widely available in the media of the time, but (mostly) not physically located in the major metro areas where the pro game took off.
     
  14. Bluecat82

    Bluecat82 Member+

    Feb 24, 1999
    Minneapolis, MN
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Liga MX doesn't need to have franchises located in Texas and California (though one could make the argument that Xolos at least is "close enough for jazz") because of their matches being available to watch to those wishing to follow them...which is quite a few, judging by the numbers.

    The ABA / AFL / WHA were a different ballgame, IMO, because they were the only other viable leagues that could compete not only in the US, but anywhere in the world.
     
  15. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    I miss the old Federal League
     
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  16. Bluecat82

    Bluecat82 Member+

    Feb 24, 1999
    Minneapolis, MN
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Baseball or hockey?
     
  17. Stuart95

    Stuart95 Member+

    Mar 11, 2012
    NoVA
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Wasn't that the league in Slapshot?
     
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  18. Egbert Sousé

    Egbert Sousé Member

    NYCFC
    May 25, 2013
    nyc
    Club:
    New York City FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Apologies for picking nits, but for no other reason than to keep the bookkeeping straight, Shea Stadium was indeed constructed as a multi-purpose sports venue.

    ie: The lower box seat sections along each foul line were set on a rail system, so when the football field was laid out each section could swing out and square things up.

    [​IMG]

    :)
     
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  19. Paul Berry

    Paul Berry Member+

    Notts County and NYCFC
    United States
    Apr 18, 2015
    Nr Kingston NY
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    #1719 Paul Berry, Feb 20, 2018
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2018
    Consider the time period.

    73-74
    • The price of oil more than quadrupled in to $12 in 1973 as US oil production dropped and Arab nations took their revenge for the Yom Kippur war, which led to gas rationing.
    • New York City went bankrupt and many other municipalities were on the brink.
    • The stock market dropped 45%
    • Inflation was 10%.
    • Probably most importantly Fed interest rates were 8 per cent which means that anyone taking out a loan, to say build a stadium, may end up paying double that in interest.
    78-79
    • Crude oil prices rose from $16-$50. The price of gas rose almost daily and some states rationed it again.
    • Inflation reached 14%
    • Fed interest rates hit 9%, mortgage rates hit 13%.
    • Unemployment was 9%.
    • Many baseball teams, including the Braves and the Mets, were averaging less than 10k.
     
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  20. PhillyMLS

    PhillyMLS Member+

    Oct 24, 2000
    SE PA
    I'll be honest, I didn't spend a whole lot of time researching it. I knew it was used by the Jets eventually but that when it was built it only had one tenant, the Mets. I did see that once they Jets moved in they were f'd with in ways that make the complaints about the Yankees seem frivolous by comparison. Shea is also an example of how not to do multi-sport stadiums at a time since it was apparently a hassle to change the configuration back and forth.
     
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  21. Bluecat82

    Bluecat82 Member+

    Feb 24, 1999
    Minneapolis, MN
    Club:
    Minnesota United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The lease deal that, among other things, killed the Minnesota Kicks:

    https://www.twincities.com/2012/06/...mike-lynn-made-the-metrodome-his-sugar-daddy/
     
  22. AndyMead

    AndyMead Homo Sapien

    Nov 2, 1999
    Seat 12A
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Just to clarify, Kansas City simultaneously built two stadiums side by side. Arrowhead Stadium for the Chiefs (and Spurs*) and Kauffman (nee Royals) Stadium for the Royals at the Harry S Truman Sports Complex.

    *I've seen a captioned photo (but I can't find it anymore) that shows Lamar Hunt, Ewing Kauffman, and the owner of the NASL KC Spurs at the ceremonial groundbreaking for the site. Obviously the Spurs were long gone by the time that Arrowhead opened. I'm also guessing they were really only there because Lamar Hunt also owned the Dallas Tornado and was a fellow NASL team owner.
     
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  23. Green and BLue

    Green and BLue Member+

    Seattle Sounders FC
    Nov 3, 2003
    Republic of Cascadia
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Who's this Reg guy and why is the NASL not interested in him?

    (Maybe I should relegate people who use this nonsensical abbreviation scheme to my ignore list?)
     
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  24. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  25. DanGerman

    DanGerman Member+

    Aug 28, 2014
    New York City
    Club:
    New York City FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Do as you wish, its a free country but if you wish to discard a valid and truthful statement because of a spelling quirk then you may have to put most posters here on said list.
     

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