NASL To Launch Canadian League Under NASL Banner

(For some reason, your link LOOKS right, but directs me to a different story. This is the right link, hopefully.)

I'm not sure they'll have to bring more teams into the league, at least not super quickly

Peterson just said they'd like to have 20 teams in the next four years (including Miami, hah!). At the moment, they are going to have 12 teams next year (because Virginia isn't happening in 2015, if at all). Exactly two of them are in Canada. If Edmonton and Ottawa go and join a Canadian-only league (good luck, first off), they'll still have 10 US-based teams, plus the supposed seven in Canada.

While Hartford and somebody else appear to be more solid than others, they are going to be adding teams anyway if even a handful of the rumored cities come to fruition.

As for which cities....those have been debated and listed and arranged into divisions ad nauseum over the years.

 

CSA, CFL and NASL to launch Canadian League

http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/i...-cfl-and-nasl-to-launch-canadian-league-r4701

"CSN has confirmed that the CSA is involved in negotiations with the CFL and NASL to launch an all-Canadian league.

There could be as many as seven teams involved, all affiliated with local CFL teams and playing in CFL stadiums."

If this comes to fruition setup would apparently be similar to MLB with 2 leagues under the NASL banner and the Canadian League playing some games with the American League and champions from both leagues playing in The Championship for Soccer Bowl.

 

Which would mean you could "win" a seven-team league and get the chance to win their Soccer Bowl under their third or fourth different championship format in a handful of years.

 

Didn't you just answer your own question?

Why would it be harder for them to get more US cities in the league if there's a Canadian-only league?

There are several markets that currently have neither an NASL nor USL Pro team.

 

There are 80 markets with 750,000+ population in the 48 states and Canada. Markets are not the issue. Making even more puzzling NASL's consideration of a Miami team with Ft Lauderdale there, Beckham MLS coming and the area's general poor attendance of sports teams LeBron doesn't play for.

 

CFL markets: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, Regina. I imagine the CSA won't care for USSF's 750k rule. Maybe Quebec City gets into this as well. I imagine this league would have teams in the 3 MLS cities and go head to head in those markets.

 

CFL markets: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, Regina. I imagine the CSA won't care for USSF's 750k rule. Maybe Quebec City gets into this as well. I imagine this league would have teams in the 3 MLS cities and go head to head in those markets.

 

Better to have strong committed ownership and good stadium in a unsaturated sports market of 1.2 or 1.3 million than be in a more traditional, saturated major league market without strong ownership or good stadium.

I wouldn't be surprised to see NASL do pro/rel with a NASL2 lower division it creates once it gets past 20 teams. It would create some differentiation. Getting 20 teams may prove hard if the incentives to be in D2 over D3 don't improve.

 

No ********ing way they do that.

They'd get crushed.

 

Sure, they won't outdraw the MLS teams but perhaps they can carve our their own niche in a different part of the metro area and draw 8-10k per match. That's great NASL attendance.

 

"The three MLS markets will likely opt out."

 

Where else in Vancouver's metro area are they going to play and draw 8-10k per match (something very, very few second division clubs have done that aren't competing with an MLS team)? Swangard? It doesn't seat that many.

Where else in GTO are they going to play and draw 8-10k per match with a second division team, exactly?

Where else in Montreal's metro area are they going to play and draw 8-10k per match?

Name for me the lower-level team that has played in "a different part of the metro area" anywhere in American soccer history and drawn great numbers with a well-funded higher division team in their market.

Perhaps they could all play in the eye of a needle and get to the kingdom of heaven, too.

 

You and your READING.

 

Essentially this is a contraction of two NASL teams. Whether they play each other in the "Soccer Bowl" is irrelevant. If the Canadian teams were brought into the NASL as is it would put their status as a USSF DII league in jeopardy.

It will have to be two separate entities meaning NASL loses two teams. IMO this is a huge gamble by NASL that will leave them very vulnerable if one or two of their "big" clubs get poached.

 

Chivas USA?

Joking obviously. I don't have examples but it doesn't seem like it should be an impossible business accomplishment

 

There are currently three top 20 US metro areas without a pro club (San Diego, Detroit, and Baltimore), four if you count the Inland Empire as a separate market from LA.

In metro markets greater than 750K, there is about 30 available (although some of those markets are subsets of larger MSAs). So, yes, I think the NASL can be successful by concentrating on 'minor-major' markets like Birmingham, Hartford, Fresno, Bakersfield, Milwaukee, etc. In fact, their survival is going to depend on it. The good news is that AAA baseball and the AHL both use the same template: lots of second tier markets with a few top tier and third tier markets as well.

I think if Canada is going to have its own D2 league, a league supported by the CFL owners is its best chance for success. Hopefully they will have some inter-league play with the US clubs. I think they went with a Canadian league under the NASL banner for a couple good reasons. First is they can have different player rules, thereby allowing the CSA to call the shots on number of foreigners and what constitutes a foreigner. Second big advantage is that by having two separate leagues, the USSF's 75 percent rule is effectively put to rest permanently and I can be spared the hand wringing of idiots on Big Soccer fearing that the USSF is going to suddenly yank the NASL's sanctioning. The third advantage of the CFL kick starting a Canadian division of the NASL is that it effectively will lock the USL Pro out of all the choice Canadian markets. That of course is a small victory in the chess match being waged between the two leagues, but it's a start.

 

The league is going to be set up like MLB. They are not putting themselves at risk. No more likely than the National League choosing to opt out of the World Series. Read the other thread and I detail three very good reasons for this type of setup.

 

What makes you think the NASL has the clout or brings enough to the table for US Soccer to look the other way? Essentially this is a contraction of two NASL clubs to the CSL. If MLS poaches Minn U, Indy or San Antonio in the next few years NASL could be on life support.

 

Peterson is gunning for a 20 team single table league?

http://www.empireofsoccer.com/expansion-target-hartford-27323/

So, the Canadian clubs would be fully integrated into the league play I take it. Essentially this might just be a way to navigate through the red tape of the CSA and USSF.

 

This is a HUGE gamble by NASL...MLS essentially can kill the league in the US if it chooses to. Although it does make sense for them to invest in Canada for that very reason though.

 

Why would the USSF need to 'look the other way'? I don't get you guys who think that the USSF is sitting there up in Chicago, dagger in hand, just waiting to pounce on the NASL. News flash, the folks in Soccer House really are pulling for the NASL to succeed and have proven very supportive of what they are doing. Get that through your heads.

Also, the clubs are not being contracted. The league is going to be one league, but the clubs will essentially be governed by the rules of their respective associations. That is a win win for all involved.