It's the biggest issue hardcore fans have mentally. That purity, or self imposed fairness, moral righteousness they place on the game. It's what makes dedicated fans, but they place these mental blinders on themselves. It's a game...it's entertainment. If it isn't up to snuff for you then why watch? I love the show Alone. The finale was tonight. In my world what those people do makes sport a joke.....Super Bowl, World Cup...you name it. Soccer.....it's a game and taking it to seriously is silly and selling my own mental abilities short IMO. It's a fun game, I love watching it grow here, but I sure as hell don't understand what "getting it right" means.
Did the Cosmos ever find a place to play? I'm going to be honest here but I'm not too confident NASL is going to have a 2018 season. You've got 8 teams, one is league owned, and I'm not confident that the Cosmos are going to get back on their feet. If Indy and North Carolina decided to pull the plug and go to USL while they wait on their MLS dreams to come true this league is toast. Despite being one of the better on field teams Edmonton can't draw. Puerto Rico has a history of failed D2 and D3 leagues. SF Deltas are a total unknown and could either be a Cincinnati or n utter failure. Miami can only spend like they are for so long. These Club 9 folks who are supposedly trying to bring in 4 clubs in markets that MLS and USL are either in or looking to add seem super shady. I think D2 soccer would be better served under one USL league.
Cosmos are going to play at the NY-Penn League ballpark on Coney Island. Supposedly it is a good location. San Francisco might be a decent barometer. If they are like Cincinnati, that bodes well. If they fail, I would not say "game over" for them by any means. But their next three expansion teams are critical.
Coney Island is an improvement not a solution. It's about 7K seats, about 1k of which are behind a baseball screen in a corner that is angled away from the field due to the baseball orientation of the seats. It is an improvement because it's in the city, in a great location, in a good facility that's easy to get to [and most of the seats will provide a good view of the game]. The new owner has worked a miracle to rescue the team but the Cosmos franchise will not be secured until they have their own stadium for all reasons that are true for all professional teams in our country. I expect attendance will reverse the downward trend at Hofstra. Short term that's good; long term?
What worries me about the New Cosmos setup is that it sounds suspiciously like the Jacksonville Armada setup where switching the field between soccer and baseball configurations cost the team $70,000 per game. Is that sustainable in the long run?
They honestly don't have much of a choice. They needed to get away from Hofstra and there simply aren't many places in NYC that you could grow the fanbase, MCU is really the only place they could play in that would give them a chance to reverse their downward spiral. I'm hoping for the best but if they don't sell out the home opener I'd be concerned about the Cosmos long term health. Rocco seems like a good guy but he strikes me as someone that is overvaluing the Cosmos name and I honestly think they've not done enough to get the word out. We'll see soon enough but I do have my concerns.
The Spring schedule starts this week. Home team first, times are EDT. Week 1 Saturday, March 25 North Carolina FC v. Miami FC 7:30 pm Puerto Rico FC v. NY Cosmos 7:30 pm San Francisco Deltas v. Indy Eleven 10:00 pm BYES: Jacksonville, Edmonton The national tv coverage is still not clear to me. It looks like the Puerto Rico/Cosmos game will be on BeIN Sports but that is not confirmed.
UPDATED with TV coverage. Home team first, times are EDT. Week 1 Saturday, March 25 North Carolina FC v. Miami FC 7:30 pm ESPN3 Puerto Rico FC v. NY Cosmos 7:30 pm BeIN Sports San Francisco Deltas v. Indy Eleven 10:00 pm Twitter BYES: Jacksonville, Edmonton
Results: Week 1 Saturday, March 25 North Carolina FC 1-1 Miami FC Puerto Rico FC 0-0 NY Cosmos San Francisco Deltas 1-1 Indy Eleven Standings: 1. IND 1 g.p. 1 pts +0 ------------------------------ 2. MIA 1 g.p. 1 pts +0 3. NCA 1 g.p. 1 pts +0 4. SFO 1 g.p. 1 pts +0 5. COS 1 g.p. 1 pts +0 6. PUR 1 g.p. 1 pts +0 7. EDM 0 g.p. 0 pts +0 8. JAX 0 g.p. 0 pts +0
SPRING Week 2 Saturday, April 1 Indy Eleven v. Puerto Rico FC 3:00 pm ESPN3 NY Cosmos v. Miami FC 7:00 pm BeIN Sports Sunday, April 2 Jacksonville Armada v. FC Edmonton 4:00 pm ESPN3 BYES: North Carolina, San Francisco
SPRING Week 2 Results: Saturday, April 1 Indy Eleven 3-3 Puerto Rico FC NY Cosmos 0-3 Miami FC Sunday, April 2 Jacksonville Armada 1-0 FC Edmonton Standings: 1. MIA 2 g.p. 4 pts +3 ------------------------------ 2. JAX 1 g.p. 3 pts +1 3. IND 2 g.p. 2 pts +0 4. PUR 2 g.p. 2 pts +0 5. NCA 1 g.p. 1 pts +0 6. SFO 1 g.p. 1 pts +0 7. COS 2 g.p. 1 pts -3 8. EDM 1 g.p. 0 pts -1
SPRING Week 3 Saturday, April 8 Puerto Rico FC v. Indy Eleven 7:30 pm BeIN Sports Miami FC v. NY Cosmos 7:30 pm ESPN3 FC Edmonton v. Jacksonville Armada 9:00 pm ESPN3 San Francisco Deltas v. North Carolina FC 10:00 pm Twitter
SPRING Week 3 results: Saturday, April 8 Puerto Rico FC 1-1 Indy Eleven Miami FC 0-2 NY Cosmos FC Edmonton 0-1 Jacksonville Armada San Francisco Deltas 3-1 North Carolina FC Standings: 1. JAX 2 g.p. 6 pts +2 ------------------------------ 2. SFO 2 g.p. 4 pts +2 3. MIA 3 g.p. 4 pts +1 4. COS 3 g.p. 4 pts -1 5. IND 3 g.p. 3 pts +0 6. PUR 3 g.p. 3 pts +0 7. NCA 2 g.p. 1 pts -2 8. EDM 2 g.p. 0 pts -2
SPRING Week 4 Saturday, April 15 Jacksonville Armada v. San Francisco Deltas 7:00 pm BeIN Sports North Carolina FC v. FC Edmonton 7:30 pm ESPN3 BYES: Indy Eleven, Miami FC, NY Cosmos, Puerto Rico FC
SPRING Week 4 results: Saturday, April 15 Jacksonville Armada 0-0 San Francisco Deltas North Carolina FC 3-1 FC Edmonton Standings: 1. JAX 3 g.p. 7 pts +2 ------------------------------ 2. SFO 3 g.p. 5 pts +2 3. MIA 3 g.p. 4 pts +1 4. NCA 3 g.p. 4 pts +0 5. COS 3 g.p. 4 pts -1 6. IND 3 g.p. 3 pts +0 7. PUR 3 g.p. 3 pts +0 8. EDM 3 g.p. 0 pts -4
SPRING Week 5: Saturday, April 22 Indy Eleven v. San Francisco Deltas 3:00 pm ESPN3 NY Cosmos v. Jacksonville Armada 7:00 pm BeIN Sports Miami FC v. North Carolina FC 7:30 pm ESPN3 FC Edmonton v. Puerto Rico FC 9:00 pm ESPN3
SPRING Week 5 results: Saturday, April 22 Indy Eleven 0-0 San Francisco Deltas NY Cosmos 1-1 Jacksonville Armada Miami FC 1-1 North Carolina FC FC Edmonton 2-1 Puerto Rico FC Standings: 1. JAX 4 g.p. 8 pts +2 ------------------------------ 2. SFO 4 g.p. 6 pts +2 3. MIA 4 g.p. 5 pts +1 4. NCA 4 g.p. 5 pts +0 5. COS 4 g.p. 5 pts -1 6. IND 4 g.p. 4 pts +0 7. PUR 4 g.p. 3 pts -1 8. EDM 4 g.p. 3 pts -3 So out of 16 games played so far in the league this year there have been 9 ties.
SPRING Week 6: Saturday, April 29 Jacksonville Armada v. Indy Eleven 7:00 pm BeIN Sports Puerto Rico FC v. North Carolina FC 7:30 m ESPN3 Miami FC v. FC Edmonton 7:30 pm ESPN3 San Francisco Deltas v. NY Cosmos 10:00 pm Twitter
It is a small league, if all of them are spending about the same amount on their roster there should be a good amount of parity..
Sure. And the odd schedule probably doesn't help. Indy has 4 of the 9 ties but they have only played a total of 2 opponents (PUR 2x and SFO 2x). North Carolina has 3 of the ties but two of those were against Miami. So 6 of the 9 involve those five teams. I know I have harped on this aspect of the schedule but it is just weird.
Yeah, but that is just the reality of having a small league where not all teams have total control over their venue.
SPRING Week 6 results: Saturday, April 29 Jacksonville Armada 1-1 Indy Eleven Puerto Rico FC 0-1 North Carolina FC Miami FC 2-0 FC Edmonton San Francisco Deltas 0-1 NY Cosmos Standings: 1. JAX 5 g.p. 9 pts +2 ------------------------------ 2. MIA 5 g.p. 8 pts +3 3. NCA 5 g.p. 8 pts +1 4. COS 5 g.p. 8 pts +0 5. SFO 4 g.p. 6 pts +2 6. IND 5 g.p. 5 pts +0 7. PUR 5 g.p. 3 pts -2 8. EDM 5 g.p. 3 pts -5
SPRING Week 7: Wednesday, May 3 CAN: Ottawa Fury (USL) v. FC Edmonton (NASL) 7:00 pm Saturday, May 6 Jacksonville Armada v. NY Cosmos 7:00 pm ESPN3 Puerto Rico FC v. Miami FC 7:30 pm ESPN3 Indy Eleven v. FC Edmonton 7:30 pm ESPN3 North Carolina FC v. San Francisco Deltas 7:30 pm BeIN Sports