Yea it’s just a really bad look. And like you said could have easily been avoided. Still don’t know how they can be declared the winner after only playing 65 mins. Absurd.
US Soccer rules state: 3) If inclement weather causes a delay and the first half of the game has been completed, the game will be considered FINAL. Can darkness be considered inclement weather? (MLS doesn't follow those rules and states that an abandoned match must be finished).
I thought joining a league without expansion fees, a team could reinvest that money to infrastructure. Sounds like floodlights are a basic necessity no? Humph.
They were playing at some religious college stadium for this game. Not entirely sure why they’ve chosen this nomadic life over their usual stadium at Rio Hondo College, and I’m willing to give some benefit of the doubt trying to arrange stadiums in California in a pandemic, but they honestly need to do better than TBA in the fall.
Arranged in a way that for a weak league office admitting weaker teams not knowing sunset times when they schedule games? And that they probably knew LA were switching grounds, one that did not have running lights available, yet greenlit the game anyway?
A public post-mortem on this season sometime before the fall kicks off would go a long way, but I’m not holding my breath for that.
Of course the thing about an expansion fee is that it funds the league. So although the team paying it may be worse off, the rest of the league will benefit. In the case of MLS the existing teams benefit. In the case of USL NuRock takes a cut.
Sorry - I was thrown off by the typo, I understand what you mean now. I kind of wish they'd just throw away the whole notion of the fall and spring being 2 parts of a whole and just let each season (fall/spring) stand alone. It would make dealing with expansion or attrition much less awkward.
Detroit City wins the 20/21 Championship: 2020-2021 NISA Champions @DetroitCityFC #NISAChampionship pic.twitter.com/aMhaTj46T7— NISA Official (@NISALeague) July 4, 2021 1:0 on an own goal by LA Force: GOOOOOOAAAAAL!!! The first goal of the FINAL is scored by LA, but it's IN THEIR OWN NET!!! 😱⚽️#NISAChampionship 🏆 @DetroitCityFC vs @LosAngelesForce🔥 Watch it LIVE NOW for free on beIN SPORTS XTRA!https://t.co/OQzCHWzQSH 👈@NISALeague pic.twitter.com/36xLvWPdPZ— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) July 4, 2021 Attendance: 7,231
How Detroit City FC gave a city hungry for a pro title a heaping helping of success https://www.freep.com/story/sports/...a-championship-hamtramck-la-force/7856443002/
Because NISA is apparently allergic to consistency, they will be switching to a spring/fall schedule in 2022 and the fall will be a standalone season. Logistically this makes sense, given the player pool (the international calendar is basically irrelevant for a D3 league and you don’t want players having to basically lock themselves into fall/spring, because it limits their mobility to other leagues. I’m glad they’re correcting their mistakes, but I wish we could get through a year without completely changing everything.
Really wish they’d decided on a format and stick to it. If they’re going to start in spring why not just have one season playing through to fall and the top 4 qualify for the playoffs?
I haven’t listened to the podcast yet where this is explained, but my guess is that this decision was made at the league meeting that happened last week around the championship game due to feedback from the clubs. I imagine that this is hitting Chicago especially hard, having to assemble a squad of pro-talent players effectively in the middle of the year. Stumptown and 1904 at least were working with the same candidate pool as USL. But it’s a problem across the board and I would bet that after trying it for a year, the clubs were not thrilled with the reality of it.
I remember NISA commissioner initially saying they wanted to align to a Fall to Spring calendar for some inconsequential Eurosnob reasons, I think it was for "international transfer window" - which is utter nonsense since every country/continent has different transfer window dates, and it's not like Europe (not a monolith) is head over heels for American third division soccer in hopes of buying NISA players there, LOL. Now, the reason of going back to a Spring to Fall calendar, is because of venue availability - figures when most teams are renting high school/college stadiums with no alcohol zones.
If you're a fan of @NISALeague we've got a great podcast recommendation for you. Today's Sight Lines features Commissioner John Prutch discussing all things NISA. Well worth your time! https://t.co/27a51iaQXn— Protagonist Soccer (@ProtagonistUSA) July 5, 2021 Mentioned in the podcast is five new expansion teams not announced already. Rumors of those five are: Atlanta, headed by the former NASL Atlanta Silverbacks group along with a "new" stadium - I'm sure that's going to end well - and no, it's unrelated to the other Atlanta team that folded in 2019. Miami - like there's demand for another professional team there Phoenix - some existing team in UPSL; good luck competing with Phoenix Rising I guess Unknown Unknown
Phoenix is almost certainly FC Arizona who announced they’re moving into some sports park in Mesa next year. They had friendlies with some of the California teams and are participating in the Independent Cup. They have NPSL, UPSL, and WPSL teams. If there is a criticism of Rising, it’s that their new stadium location is inconvenient for parts of the metro. I know nothing about Phoenix, but maybe Mesa would appeal to a different part of the population.