NASL is no longer considering suing US Soccer for anti-trust over division 1 status

I like this idea! And I think there are more than enough viable markets for USL expansion. Here in Michigan both Grand Rapids FC and Detroit City FC have the attendance to make the jump. Michigan Bucks have the pedigree. The only question is do they have deep enough pockets? Probably not yet...

 

If I'm the CSA, I'd rather see Ottawa and Edmonton as viable prospects until our own league is ready to go. Temporary permission to jump from NASL to USL with the understanding they will join a Canadian league when it opens. And if that doesn't launch, better to have teams in USL than fold.

From the USL perspective, one may wonder what there is to be gained by this, other than further destabilizing a rival. It's not as if USL desperately needs members and will take whatever it can get. However, there's value in the reputation of being easy to work with. After all, that's why the MLS affiliates are in that league. Maybe there's never a tangible benefit to the CSA and a couple teams owing them favors... But maybe there will be.

 

"You know who has a league? Wales! We should be like Wales!" - the CSA, probably

 

I don't think MLS is in any rush to vacate their Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver franchises. So in some real sense, a not insignificant portion of the the business of MLS does, at least slightly, care what the CSA thinks. The working relationship as is seems to be mutually beneficial. But caring what the CSA thinks doesn't necessarily mean MLS (or the USL) has to care specifically about Edmonton or Ottawa, and the fine cities they are.

Maybe at some point MLS will become an all-USA based league. Probably right around the same time the league starts playing MLS Cup in May/June.

 

For everyone at home following NASL musical chairs:

Minnesota is joining MLS.
Ottawa and Tampa are probably joining USL.
Fort Lauderdale's bills are now being paid by the league, and will probably fold after the season without a buyer.
RayOKC lost its local ownership component and will probably fold after the season without a buyer.
San Francisco is still committed to climbing aboard.
No information or strong rumors about anyone else.

Does that cover everything?

 

The rumored Canadian league wanted to keep the teams in MLS. They think it is better for development like Wales does.

 

We're a long way off from having enough stable USL teams to implement this type of system, but level 2-3 would be the perfect tier to experiment with a closed form of promotion-relegation.

USL1

• Four regional leagues with 10-12 teams each (East, Midwest, South, West)
• Each region holds its own 6-team postseason featuring the top 5 finishers (plus one promoted USL2 team)
• second-to-last place finisher in each region enters pro/rel play-off with the #2 through #4 finishers from that region's USL2 league
• last-place finisher in each USL1 region gets relegated to USL2

USL2

• Four regional leagues with 10-12 teams each (East, Midwest, South, West)
• First-place finisher in each region gets promoted to USL1 and enters that region's USL1 postseason
• #2 through #4 finishers in each USL2 region enter pro/rel play-off with second-to-last place finisher from that region's USL1 league.

 

I'm just confused if the tweet below goes in this thread.

Protesters in #Charlotte "hate white people" - North Carolina Congressman Pittenger tells #newsnight https://t.co/q6ELYD01QV

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) September 22, 2016

Also, today is the Air Force's birthday.

 

If the whites in question play in or attend MLS or NASL, definitely yes.

Will the USAF be doing flybys at MLS or NASL games this weekend?

 

Absolutely.

Plus, the head of the CSA is Victor Montagliani, who was just elected President of CONCACAF. He and Sunil are very tight.

So they are undoubtedly going to work together to whatever ends they both agree on.

In this case, Gulati wants NASL to stop poking him in the eye and wants USL as a national second division.

Montagliani wants an All Canadian league, initially at the second division level.

It would seem to suit both of their purposes to park Ottawa and Edmonton in USL for a year. And when they want to move on there'll be no objection from either fed.

The only loser will be the NASL and it's their own fault. They let the Cosmos talk them into fighting above their weight. They have now lost.

 

May it be painful. Utterly, Iron Sheikh Level Humbling

 

"MLS NUMBER ONE! NASL PATOOWIE!"

 

You could change 'any time soon' to ever.

Playing in the CPL would bankrupt all 3 teams. The average attendance will be less than 5,000 fans. No one in those cities will care.

 

Good.

The Bay Area deserves a good team.

 

To bring everyone up to speed from the other thread, I just remembered the first trans-positive role on US Network TV.

The role of Gene/Jean (a transmute) on the short lived NBC sit-com Quark.

 

If this were to ever happen, I'd guess it would be something more like two regional leagues at D2 level and four at D3 level, with the D3 regions realigned depending on who gets promoted and relegated. There's no reason to make the regions smaller than they need to be as long as all the teams can actually afford the travel.

Does anyone know what accounted for the difference in operating costs between USL1 and USL2 the last time the USL had two divisions? I know the only two teams to accept promotion to USL1 struggled financially at that level, and some teams self-relegated to USL2 to cut costs, but the only difference that's really obvious to me is simply that USL2 covered a smaller geographic area and was essentially an East Coast league. Were there also higher front office staffing requirements or the like for USL1?

 

Statement about commitment of Board, upcoming meetings and discussions, and more: https://t.co/e8TSOGMc2Z

— NASL (@naslofficial) September 23, 2016

 

This statement is so saturated with truth, I've made it my signature.

 

Without any specifics, the NASL release tacitly acknowledged the SI article. Doing so somehow required four paragraphs that contained no information beyond "Everything is fine. Nothing is ruined."

If there were significant factual errors or omissions, it's time to say so, or at least tell people you will soon be issuing a correction.

And the Fort Lauderdale release is just embarrassing. It boils down to "The owner is out of money and must sell. There are no current prospects. But this is normal and is not cause for concern."

 

Plus, "We're holding a meeting next week where all this will be solved"

 

Let's not forget that they're adding a" number of new partners " so are we getting more FTL, Rayo like partners or you know solid owners?

 

I don't think its a coincidence that aside from that Chicago team we've not heard much in the way of new teams coming into the NASL. I'd think most intelligent owners wouldn't want any part of them right now and I remember going on the NASL expansion boards and saying something to the effect that the NASL can't have too many teams crater because you'll scare away the good investors. I think its telling that all the new team owners are basically clueless as to the soccer landscape in this country they're not people who realize how expensive it is and how slim your chances at making money in this sport.

 

But we can surely see the sales pitch.

Soccer is growing like mad, just look at these MLS figures. And TV numbers are skyrocketing. And look at Cincy. And expansion. And, and, and.

But now MLS costs $100 million up front, whereas you can get in on the ground floor with us for 5% of that number.

Sure the minor leagues have been losing money, but so is MLS, and people are lining up around the block to get into that.

Plus, look at all the teams that started with us and are now in MLS. Come in with us, build a fanbase, prove to some investors that its viable in your community, attract some investors and voila: your own MLS team.

In the meantime, you'll be a professional sports team owner in a growing sport - just LOOK at these youth participation numbers - and well situated to ride the next wave of sports in the US.

Blah, blah, blah.