Where are you getting that? If you believe the tweet, he says "geographically diffuse" which means "spread around the country".
"Mostly West Coast"? Doesn't say anything about being basically a California league. Then again, it is Kartik...
Sure. This is also why I don't put a lot of stock in "competing with NPSL Pro", either. If NISA is applying for sanctioning, they're serving different purposes.
Mostly a guess, but I know most of the previous West teams they where look at where in Cali. So it wouldn’t surprise me if a bulk of the league is based in California.
NISA supposedly is filing Sept 1st. https://www.soctakes.com/2018/08/15/nisa-to-submit-application-for-d3-sanctioning-on-september-1st/
Philly, Connecticut, & Charlotte have all been announced to be joining. The Philly teams looks to be Matt Driver moving the Fury from ASL.
I suppose "New England" sounds better than Norwich, Connecticut. I guess we are about to find out how many soccer fans are willing to pay to watch "pro" soccer outside in a New England winter.
It seems like San Diego will be at a distinct advantage over the rest of the league with a Fall -> Spring schedule.
I don't know. Norwich City famously knocked Bayern Munich out of the UEFA Cup winning the first leg 2-1 in the Olympic Stadium.
Oakland might be the next team to be announced. Their crest is something. Pro soccer is coming to Oakland. #OaklandFirstAlways pic.twitter.com/9aLHuGeBD0— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) October 29, 2018
Charlotte's D2 team has played to crickets, and that's with people who (ostensibly) had run a professional sports team before. Connecticut, I presume, is Hartford (?), which won't be able to play in the most reasonable stadium in town and will be competing against a seemingly well-organized USL team. And if Philadelphia is the Fury, it has no chance.
Norwich, allegedly. Charlotte is kind of a strange case: I'm not sure what the Independence or Eagles lack of popularity is indicative of. My guess is that it's an ownership/marketing issue more than Charlotte being a bad market. That said, if a third team flounders there, maybe it's time to write it off as "not a soccer city".
I did not know that. The Eagles have never had the budget necessary to do the sales and marketing required of a pro team. (Even a pro team back in the day, to say nothing of today.) I don't judge the market by that team (which always had a non-traditional pro sports franchise agenda). I don't even really judge it by the Independence. I don't think they know what they're doing, either. They've never been able to get it right. My sense is you could put a well-financed club with experienced sports marketing and operations folks in Charlotte and do fine. (Most well-financed and serious clubs seem to do fine these days.) I just don't think that describes anyone lining up with this lot. Charlotte will end up with two subsistence farming teams.
I wondered about that as well, before realizing that I really don't care all that much. That said, I seem to recall some weirdness around the announcement of the new US Premiership with the ASL being associated in some capacity. Maybe Matt Driver ceded control over to this other group.
I was told this more than a year ago (but Nipun and one of the more annoying HCFC fans confirmed it) that they will begin play in a former Aa-baseball stadium, then move to a to-be-announced stadium near Mohegan Sun. I'll be surprised if they ever kick a ball.