News: USL/NASL discussion thread (continued)

It should be noted that the Minnesota situation may be resolved, but that doesn't mean it has been resolved in a manner that ends up with the Thunders being in the league. I think it is very telling that Wellman refused to say if the Minnesota team was the Thunders and it certainly leaves the door open for the Thunder to fold and for NSC to start up a new team in TOA.

 

You know, the funny thing is, before the Baltimore/Tampa announcement, nearly everyone was writing off the TOA. Now that they're the NASL and got a couple more teams, everyone's writing off the USL1.

A lot has happened in just two weeks. I think this is far from over.

I have a lot of concern that it will end up in court. I sure hope that Gulati can manage to talk some sense into people, but I'm afraid we're well beyond that. I wonder if it'll take threats from CONCACAF and FIFA over the US World Cup bid to knock some sense into people.

The problem is, in this country, I can very easily imagine some of these folks throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Being too stubborn and certain of their rightness to recognize FIFA's power.

 

From what I understand Austin is still planning on playing a USL-1 schedule next year. I don't have the answer for what other teams will be in the mix. There has been no change in Austin to this point. They are still committed to the USL. No hard feelings towards the TOA, but no interest in joining them either.

 

No offense intended to you or the Aztex, but I have one question:

Who are you going to play?

 

I doubt they are still in a wait and see stage.

 

how about 5 team USL-1 league. play other teams 4 times = 16 game season.

top 2 teams playoff/final.

 

This thread has to be some kind of record for longest Big Soccer thread ever.

 

Perhaps they are waiting to see if NASL gets USSF sanctioning? If that happens, you're more than likely going to see most of the remaining USL-1 teams jump ship. For those that have remained "loyal" to USL-1 this long, there isn't a big advantage to jumping ship now. I'm still a little surprised that with all the negative things the Rochester owner has said about TOA and Saputo especially that he hasn't burned that bridge. I would have thought Rochester was the team most likely to get the NASL shaft, but it seems he's had a come to Jesus moment.

 

I remember reading back in the summer, as opposed to Nurock, the MLS wanted to buy the USL. What happened with that situation?

 

Not even close. I've seen some with over 1500 posts.

 

They laughed and said that while there were discussions about buying USL, they were never really serious about it. Basically felt if they owned USL the whining from FIFA HQ for pro/rel would get even louder.

 

Need more games to justify your budgets, or you would need to cut salaries, etc. 8 home games would be pretty rough.

Back in the old days we had threads routinely go over 1,000 and in FFA we had over 26,000 in one of my threads.

 

Wonder who is laughing now?

 

MLS? It could have been them that TOA jumped ship on. It also sounds like they are going to be getting everything they could have wanted from owning USL by partnering with NASL on player development, etc.

 

Therefore, you are saying MLS is going to be partnering with the NASL?

 

If you believe all the rumors swirling around.

 

And who is going to sanction a 5 team league?

 

It's interesting how these things develop over time. At first the TOA needed Minnesota and would probably have gone to great lengths to make sure Minnesota was a part of the league; now with Baltimore and Tampa joining the ranks, Minnesota may be expendable. Not that the TOA is going to turn their backs on Minnesota, but they are likely not going to go out of their way tokeep them especially if they deem the Thunder to be nonviable.

 

Outstanding news. I've been hoping this is the final result no matter how this worked out. Time to formalize some Major/Minor league player dev relationship between D1 and D2 since Pro/Rel won't happen in the US.

 

Just a question, does the USSF have to sanction each league EVERY YEAR?

 

when NASL gets good, FIFA might force pro/rel. who know how it looks like in 20 30 50 years.

 

What about Puerto Rico and NY?

 

I thought PR was going NASL and NY was just smoke and mirrors.

 

I'm not an authority, but I'm pretty sure the answer is 'No.'

As far as I know, the USL is sanctioned. Now they just need to keep enough teams to have a viable season.

I suppose it could get bad enough that the USSF would look askance at them. But I'd think at that point, we'd be past the point of mass defections, so it wouldn't matter.

 

FIFA can't actually force that on MLS/NASL. Pro/Rel isn't a requirement for FIFA sanctioning. It's just something they prefer but many countries haven't have Pro/Rel for decades (Australia, Korea, US, etc...). They also prefer 18 team D1 leagues. That hasn't stopped many countries like England from telling them to stuff it.