Sounded at the time like they were really most completely dead. END OF THE LINE: Rochester NY FC (formerly the Rhinos) ceases operations - Front Row Soccer
Unconfirmed but hearing that NPSL may be working on a new "pro league". Primary owner of $2 million and a team budget of $500K to $1 million. NISA Nation teams have been actively recruited by at least one other NISA Nation team to join this new endeavor.— Dan "Young Designated Player" Creel 💾 (@dancreel) December 8, 2023 Here we go again. The cycle never ends.
The NPSL made noise about this a while back, didn't they? Most NPSL owners aren't prepared to be fully professional. They're in the NPSL because they're even less ambitious than those in USL-2. "Unconfirmed, but I wanted to put it out there just in case, so I can say I said it first," is always nice. And if you're looking to NISA Nation for people with $2 million...well, good luck.
--------------- Was hoping with NASL-2 gone and NISA on the verge , NPSL would just worry about keeping their league viable.
They seem to have some divergence of opinion about what they actually are. I mean, within their own ranks. When you see what the successful lower leagues do and you say, "Well, I can be the one to not do those things and be successful," you have to wonder what people are thinking.
Maybe USSF could try and get USL, NPSL, NISA and UPSL to talk about creating an amateur/semi-pro pyramid. Is that too much to ask? If you look at the eastern US you have a viable system.
=============== This should have been done years ago. My version is that all 4 MERGE to create a true national league I would have divided the country into 16 conferences and try to keep teams close- bus league close- to keep costs down and create some rivals. I picked 16 as makes a nice round number for your national playoff- the 16 teams to to a single site and play a 3 round tournament for your champion. Now I haven't done the math on how many teams are out there, but you figure some of these conferences could have 15-20 teams.. OR if we have even more teams that I think, create 32 conferences....some states like Calif, Texas, Florida would have several. The other big thing, is I would call this Division 4 (after MLS > USL-c > USL1/MLS next), AND get USSF to sanction it as such AND I would require (if there are not already) standards each team must meet so we don't have the constant churn of teams coming and going. Maybe even some teams in same town merge to create a stronger team etc. This league also needs to be what I would call an "all comers" league. Players who have graduated college, players still in college, players sorting out green card issues, walk on's, players trying to get back in shape....whatever reason. The top 3 leagues could scout this huge league and probably find some players rather than scouting college (if they even still do that). As long as this league follow the soccer laws properly , then in my opinion would be better than college ball and its crammed schedule, dumb clock , subbing etc...
I should have also added that this will never happen. Too many empire builders that keep trying to create leagues and teams that just come and go. And USSF has no back bone to get our domestic house in order so to speak. That anti-competive business or what ever that legal crap keeps us and soccer from progressing. Even in a completely wild scenario if MLS buys USL or they simply merge , there will be other leagues, teams and people upset with that as being non-competitive and they will either sue or simply go out and create more league and we start the mess all over again. Sorry for the rant, I just know we can do better and with the size of this country, we should be producing a constant flow of players in a much better fashion.
Why would merging leagues at the D4 level be better than college or the current leagues? D4 players are D4 players for a reason, age, skill set, etc. Yes clubs could save money on transportation but does that help teams/players to play a higher quality game? It's still D4. Also clubs coming and going at the lower levels is common and will always be common at this level even with a smaller travel budget. That is sad but it reflects that people involved at these levels are often putting passion above fiscal reality.
It's more about developing feeder leagues and feeder teams that may ultimately step into the pros. My local team Kingston Stockade plays in a NPSL division with teams in Albany, Syracuse, Hartford and Newton Mass. Meanwhile their potential local rivals, Hudson Valley Hammers, plays in USL 2 against different teams in Albany, Hartford and Newton Mass. Wouldn't it be great to create some local rivalries and build teams from the grass roots up? If you add UPSL the number of teams in New York State goes from about 6 to over 20. College leagues won't merge because of NCAA divisional requirements.
--------------------- This is exactly why to do this... 20 teams in a closer knit geographical area At these levels, the level of soccer played is not totally the issue. As for college, I have followed soccer in this country since the 70's and in years we didn't have pro leagues, college soccer was all I had to go see. But now my feelings are we need to move past college soccer and I think the MLS knows this. Having said that, if kids want to play college great, they can then move on to the next level, but don't necessarily think they will get "drafted" or rely on the draft. I believe the rounds of the draft have shrunk over time anyway. There are many kids where college is just not their thing and we can't loose sight of that either. This is why if this "super countrywide regional" league was a thing, it needs to be structured as a "all comers" league for both kids from college and not from college all to be given a chance to continue to play. If they play well they can then move up to USL-1, USL-C etc...
Everyone always seems to jump from, "Everyone should come together for the good of the order" to "And here are the divisions and how the playoff format would work." We can't get past the first statement, though. The history of the sport in this country is one of conflict, of various groups believing their way is the better way, and to hell with those other people who are also trying to do this and also believe that their way is the better way. It was that way back in the 30s, it was that way in the 60s, it was that way in the 2010s...it's always been that way. (And this thing about local rivalries being anything more than travel reduction is silly. How many times a year are you going to play the team from the next town over, or the next county? And who, honestly, gives a shit? No one grew up as a Kingston Stockade fan and remembers the great Peterboro game in '68. At this level, it's a way to get players more games - a positive - and give posers a chance to pretend they're doing something by supporting whatever local club plays six home games a summer at the local high school field. It's just tedious already.)
To be fair, in some smaller markets, people go the games because it's the only soccer they can get to in person in the summer, sort of like summer college baseball.
I'm not suggesting that everyone jumps over here. I'm suggesting that the fed facilitates talks between the leagues to see if a unified system would be beneficial. Rivalries develop over time. I largely doubt people remember the great Peterboro game of 68 because Stockade didn't exist until 2015. We know rivalry games attract eyeballs because MLS has a whole marketing campaign around them. So while Stockade v Hammers wouldn't mean anything today it might in 5 or 10 years, especially if fans make the two freeway exit trip between cities. And if Kingston and Newburgh becomes a thing someone may think about starting a team in Poughkeepsie. And suddenly you have a thriving hub of semi-pro soccer. I think that's it. Remembering my economics education from 40 years, ago a merged league could result a hub and spoke model, as opposed to the traditional US scattergun approach.
I think there's nothing wrong with everyone thinking 'my league is best' and then choosing to play in that league. Maybe it should be 'my way/league is best for me', whatever, it is still D4. I will acknowledge that a lower travel budget is helpful, that said, a travel budget on the east coast will always be lower than in the mid-west, know your budget and plan accordingly.
https://www.frontrowsoccer.com/2024...LiSIG7xBfip5BSDaD9pKswEI-_pqutOglS-0QJWD8QvBQ Nelson Cupello dropped the mic the best way possible. Minutes after Flower City Union defeated Michigan Stars FC to complete its astounding ascent to the National Independent Soccer Association championship on Nov. 11, the long-time soccer coach decided to call it a career.
Of course it would be beneficial. But, again...history tells us that getting people to agree and align and not go their own way has been the single biggest challenge we have faced. MLS Next Pro is just the latest example in a long line of them. No shit, jackweed. If you don't know where "the great Peterboro game of '68" comes from, I can't help you. It might go all the way from 600 people to 750 people. Because those are still two low-level, low-budget, high-school-stadium-playing dipshit teams that we love to romanticize but which very few people are ever going to give a shit about for the two times a year that Kingston plays Newburgh. Underpants gnomes! It's always been, "This might happen and if this happens, we'll go straight to "suddenly you have a thriving hub of semi-pro soccer!" (Where does semi-pro soccer thrive for any real length of time, BTW? And what does "thrive" look like?) And everyone knows this. But you can go back 100 plus years and, for some reason, the sort of groupthink that has made the NFL successful, as one example, does not exist in this game in this country. if you think that this Fed leadership is going to miraculously crack the code and get everyone to come together when no one has been able to do that to this point, I cannot fathom what you are thinking. It is not simple, it is not a matter of showing someone that someone two towns over would start a team if they could play you twice a summer, and we're not going to suddenly come together against what has been the run of play in this country for more than a century.
Wrong sport but great movie ... Slapshot The Hansons Play Dirty - Slap Shot (6/10) Movie CLIP (1977) HD - YouTube