I agree on this point. US National team has done a lot to increase soccer awareness. I don't completely agree on this point yet. I still think pro soccer awareness in the US (We aren't talking about rec leagues) has increased much more in the last 15 years then it ever did during NASL years. I just don't think the fact that people in the US had heard of Pele by the time NASL folded is much of an accomplishment.
Was the future MLS being created a stipulation of getting the 94 WC? We would not have got the WC if they failed to agree to create the MLS? the 90' and 94' WC were major turning points in terms of soccer awarness...I remember not know what the WC was but rooting for Germany to win!
To whomever changed my title for this thread, thanks, its much better. Thx for the comments, been interesting reading. Another question though. If the old NASL clubs continued in some form like sounders/whitecaps/timbers did in lower divisions etc would they be enjoying much bigger support in their home towns now? I could have imagined some cities keeping that "hard core base" then once joining MLS they would get much better support. I think it will be the same with Montreal when they enter MLS shortly. They will get great support. But seeing as many cities lost 10 to 15 years of a recognizable team it was surely a blow. Saying that, i think MLS is on its way to becoming a great soccer league.
I would guess the Bosman ruling would have been a turning point for it one way or the other, when the wages started booming in Europe and more freedom of player movement, something would have come to a head.
Now, that is something to ponder. OK, some of the teams may even have had to play regional soccer for a while if the money wasn't there to continue a national league. But I'd expect that support of the teams would have continued down the generations, just like over here, where I like many kids was taken by my dad to watch a game and caught the bug. 42 years on I'm still going. I guess losing the team for so many years means a modern MLS franchise has to build up a fanbase from the word go. So, maybe the crowds would be bigger in a lot of the markets.
Yeah, that's right. The U.S. was awarded the WC94 with the condition that it create a Division I professional soccer league, which is MLS today. There were several factions seeking to be that league at the time, though many were never truly capable financially. The decision came down to between three proposals: Alan Rothenberg's MLS group, the APSL, and Jim Paglia's League One America (is that the right name?). The USSF decided in December 1993 in favor of Rothenberg's group, and the rest is history. Here's more on it at the American Soccer Archives: http://homepages.sover.net/~spectrum/year/1993.html
League One America is a much classier name than MLS IMHO. Of course could Canadian teams have existed in League One America?
If you want to get semantic about it Canada is just as much a part of America as the United States of America so I'll go with "yes." And, while I agree with your general point about League One America being vastly preferable to Major League Soccer as a name I'm sure, notwithstanding the actual proposal, it was hurt by sounding too "Euro" for the powers that be at the time. Hell, I expect DCUdiplomat96 in the thread by the end of this page to tell us why it'd be such a terrible name for an American league! And can you even imagine how many "When does League Two America launch?" threads there'd be every week? Not that I would be against that of course.