California United FC expansion thread

Ok you've convinced me. It's no better or worse than anywhere else.

 

IF they go that direction then why limit themselves to just Chicanos. Why not go "Latin" and try an appeal to everyone from Mexico south?

 

We really need to get away from this idea that if only we could get the Hispanics into the stadium that everything would work. It needs to be a far broader coalition that that.

In my view, it's really this simple. Right now, the USL has momentum. They've gone from the gang that can't shoot straight to boomtown. One consistency in lower division soccer is that booms don't last forever. If the NASL can get a Pacific team, a potential crisis is avoided. Then they just have to get back to steady growth. If the reserve teams draw poorly, how long before the USL is the crisis league?

 

I don't think that MLS franchises will care much about the attendances of their reserves in USL

 

Maybe not but what about independents? What if the crowds don't turn out when Los Dos are in town. There are enough of them around to create a significant dent in average attendances.

 

Let's clarify something: the MLS II teams won't all care that much about their home attendance.

That's not true of all MLS II sides, however. Some (maybe the majority, in fact) will put effort into building a II fanbase. RSL certainly will. I expect the same for the Cascadia teams. Last year the Galaxy put zero effort into building a Los Dos fanbase, but even that is changing a bit this year.

As for the independents, will MLS II sides draw at away games? Anecdotally, I think it depends. I don't expect it to be a negative. Indeed, at worst I'd expect it to be a small positive because at least the MLS II sides have name recognition and a bit of cachet. At best, however, you'll end up with an SRFC vs Los Dos situation: those games are the biggest games of the year for SRFC because the fan considers Los Dos our most hated rival.

 

Yes, I highly doubt that MLS II opponents will keep fans away from independent team home matches. At the D3 level, the vast majority of fans are there to support the home team, and don't really care who the opponent is. There are some exceptions to every rule of course.

Will MLS II opponents help draw at independents? Eh. Maybe a little.

Why are we discussing this in a NASL expansion thread anyway?

 

Because being a league 100% made up of independent clubs has an appeal to it that could possibly give the NASL an advantage in recruiting new owners to join the NASL over the USL.

 

MLS2 teams started joining USL in 2014 (LA Galaxy 2), let's see how the two leagues have done since then...

USL 2014: 14 teams
USL 2015: 24 teams (with the USL president talking about getting above 40)

NASL 2014: 10 teams
NASL 2015: 11 teams (with the recent announcement that one is leaving for MLS, and two planned expansion teams, OKC and Virginia, having been removed from the NASL website just yesterday)

So one team vs possibly the most rapid expansion of any sports league ever?

 

It comes down to dollars and cents, and it would appear as though USL is a far better prospect for a new owner to join. The only reason Jax joined NASL imo is because they had the regional opponents in TB, FTL, and ATL. For NASL to compete, they need to find a way to position themselves as the more viable league. In order to have any shot at drawing an LA/OC expansion club, they will need that club to be joined by multiple other west coast clubs, no way any team will join if they are left out of the map. I've seen people suggest moving ATL to the west coast in order to partner them with an expansion club or two. While that would be extremely expensive for the league, it may be necessary at this point.

 

Yup when you merge two leagues together there tends to be a big jump in the number of teams in the new league relative to the previous leagues. Now how many of those new teams are not MLS2 teams?

 

What two leagues merged?

 

He's suggesting the USLpro and MLS Reserve League have effectively merged to form the new USL. Not technically true but similar in effect.

 

Depending on how you count Louisville, either 7 or 8 of the teams that joined this year were MLS sides.

 

One has high standards, the other has no standards. I'm not even sure this is the most rapid expansion the USL/USISL has ever had.

 

I would argue that the issues that we have seen with Virginia and OKC shows that the NASL does not quite have high standards. Also, if you look at the recent USL expansion, it would appear as though they are bringing in rather sound franchises at this point.

 

OKC were screwed over by Tim McLaughlin, who's now in USL. So if he was a substandard owner before, he's still substandard now.

And Virginia's a mess. I really don't know if the majority could've foreseen it

 

And if (when!) they get desperate enough for a team in the Pacific time zone, their standards are going to slump very, very badly.

The NASL likes to think they've got high standards. And a lot of NASL fans like to think the USL (still) has low standards. But these standards are quickly converging, both as the USL builds itself up, and as the NASL runs out of low-hanging strong expansion groups.

 

Or it is a sign that they do have higher standards as it is more difficult to get a team up and running because they have to meet higher standards.

Anyways I think having higher standards at this level is overrated.

 

Not based in fact but your biased opinion/prediction and not likely. The club that they do end up approving for the Pacific time zone like a possible LA/OC team will have much the same D2 standards as the rest of the recent expansion clubs that have entered the league, probably even more moneyed as the realities of the market dictate.

Compared to what? - if its D3 it has nothing to do with thinking, NASL is a D2 sanctioned league since 2011 and has in FACT higher standards than D3 Usl. Usl is attempting to bring their standards up to D2 level in 2 years when they HOPE to be D2 sactioned for 2017. We'll see if it happens or not. As for low standards, Usl still has teams like OC Blues who play in a 2500 seat stadium and averaged less than 800 fans per game last season for instance.

 

On the other hand as Virginia and OKCFC have never taken to the field yet (and I doubt they ever will) it could be argued that they do have high standards and have kept, at least in OKCFC's case, them from taking to the field as they don't see them as capable yet at the NASL level and won't allow them to proceed unless they are.

 

Aren't we crotchety ... and oh, so prickly.

I'll believe the Pacific time zone team is solid only when they 1) exist, and 2) prove credible. Until then, I don't believe any of the talk or bluster.

We're not talking sanctioning standards here. We're talking how professionally and responsibly the league is run. USL is definitely catching up -- that's part and parcel with their pursuit of D2. The NASL started out with really solid group of owners after the split. They've added some others. And there are a couple notable exception where they really haven't shown the strength they like to tout.

And don't kid yourself: the USL absolutely will be granted DII. Nobody should doubt that. There's no way the USSF will say no.

And the OC Blues's days are numbered. They're way out of sync with the USL these days. And they know it. I've already written my prediction for that team: they're holding out to sell.

 

If anything, the fact that neither team has taken the field (nor probably ever will) is, at the very least, just as much a testament too the NASL's standards as it is against them.

Both teams had what seemed to be solid ownership groups with clear and attainable stadium solutions. In both cases, those ownership groups ran into internal power struggles that led to their dissolution. How does that reflect negatively on the league? Especially at the DII level?

What would reflect negatively on the league is if either team had jumped the gun and taken the field before such problems arose (see: VSI and Phoenix in USL).

The fact that NASL didn't have to contract or find new ownership groups for a couple of teams that clearly weren't ready says everything you need to know about the league's standards and their respect for fans.

 

The fact that Los Dos bring a pretty decent team to town, one that has a few U23/U20 National Team kids to draw the USMNT hardcores doesn't hurt.