NISA (New NASL-allied D3 league) Mega-Thread

kenntomasch · May 7, 2024

In other news, the NISA's Arizona team has moved from a junior college stadium to a high school stadium before ever playing a game at the junior college stadium.

So it's going really, really well for this league. Georgia fails instantly and gets re-organized. Their somehow league champion moves to the NPSL. Any club they've ever had of any significance or wherewithal has moved to a better league. This has been a disaster from the jump.

MLSinCleveland · May 8, 2024

kenntomasch said: ↑

In other news, the NISA's Arizona team has moved from a junior college stadium to a high school stadium before ever playing a game at the junior college stadium.

So it's going really, really well for this league. Georgia fails instantly and gets re-organized. Their somehow league champion moves to the NPSL. Any club they've ever had of any significance or wherewithal has moved to a better league. This has been a disaster from the jump.
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Still better than the new Arena Football League.

Paul Berry · May 8, 2024

kenntomasch said: ↑

We've been over this a million g-d times. It's NOT the status of your teammates. It's the status of the TEAM. You can't play on a professional TEAM. An NCAA player can play against and even on the same team with players who have professional STATUS (which is something you have or don't have, regardless of whether or not you're currently getting paid.)

12.2.3.2.1 Professional Player as Team Member. An individual may participate with a professional on a team, provided the professional is not being paid by a professional team or league to play as a member of that team (e.g., summer basketball leagues with teams composed of both professional and amateur athletes).

12.2.3.2 Competition With Professionals. An individual shall not be eligible for intercollegiate athletics in a sport if the individual ever competed on an professional team (per Bylaw 12.02.4) in that sport.

And what is a "professional team?"

12.02.4 Professional Athletics Team. A professional team is any organized team that:
(a) Provides any of its players more than actual and necessary expenses for participation on the team, except as
otherwise permitted by NCAA legislation. Actual and necessary expenses are limited to the following, provided
the value of these items is commensurate with the fair market value in the locality of the player(s) and
is not excessive in nature: (Revised: 4/25/02 effective 8/1/02)
(1) Meals directly tied to competition and practice held in preparation for such competition;
(2) Lodging directly tied to competition and practice held in preparation for such competition;
(3) Apparel, equipment and supplies;
(4) Coaching and instruction;
(5) Health/medical insurance;
(6) Transportation (expenses to and from practice competition, cost of transportation from home to training/
practice site at the beginning of the season and from training/practice site to home at the end of
season);
(7) Medical treatment and physical therapy;
(8) Facility usage; (Revised: 4/24/03)
(9) Entry fees; and (Revised: 4/24/03)
(10) Other reasonable expenses; or (Adopted: 4/24/03, Revised: 10/28/04)
(b) Declares itself to be professional (see Bylaw 12.2.3.2.4). (Revised: 8/8/02)

It makes no effing difference what your teammates' status is. It's whether or not the team is a professional team.

Read the rules. It's been the rule for 20+ years, FFS.
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Apologies for using the colloquial definition of professional rather than the NCAA definition.

So NPSL, UPSL and NISA Nation define themselves as (semi) professional leagues.

USL L2, formerly PDL, does not.

smontrose · May 8, 2024

Anothe way to think about it is NISA is an incubator?...
It's just not a model that can succeed for lack of funds and some teams still not understanding you gotta put butts in seats.
Fold NISA into NPSL as well as NISA Nation....Nation teams initially in a second tier, maintain NPSL regions, introduce pro/rel and we're on our way
Bing bong

canammj · May 8, 2024

kenntomasch said: ↑

12.02.4 Professional Athletics Team. A professional team is any organized team that:
(a) Provides any of its players more than actual and necessary expenses for participation on the team, except as
otherwise permitted by NCAA legislation. Actual and necessary expenses are limited to the following, provided
the value of these items is commensurate with the fair market value in the locality of the player(s) and
is not excessive in nature: (Revised: 4/25/02 effective 8/1/02)
(1) Meals directly tied to competition and practice held in preparation for such competition;
(2) Lodging directly tied to competition and practice held in preparation for such competition;
(3) Apparel, equipment and supplies;
(4) Coaching and instruction;
(5) Health/medical insurance;
(6) Transportation (expenses to and from practice competition, cost of transportation from home to training/
practice site at the beginning of the season and from training/practice site to home at the end of
season);
(7) Medical treatment and physical therapy;
(8) Facility usage; (Revised: 4/24/03)
(9) Entry fees; and (Revised: 4/24/03)
(10) Other reasonable expenses; or (Adopted: 4/24/03, Revised: 10/28/04)
(b) Declares itself to be professional (see Bylaw 12.2.3.2.4). (Revised: 8/8/02)

Again, "professional" is a status. You can play on a team that has players with professional status, as long as the team is not a professional team and doesn't fit the definition above. You can't play on a team that declares itself to be professional, even if they never pay a player, and remain NCAA-eligible.

tl;dr: You can play alongside professionals. You can't play on a professional team.
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All of these rules give me a headache and makes me really want to remove the NCAA from our soccer environment. If you want a degree and like to play soccer, go to college.
If you want to be a professional footballer, get on teams or academies run by the teams and hope you have the talent to succeed.
Its just one example our our soccer politics that keep us from becoming a soccer power.
Too many divisions and professional leagues and one league throwing its weight around too much.
Amateur leagues and such when they should be in a different set up
All the colleges leagues- NCAA rules etc.
Pay to play at the youth level when we should be just "letting them play"
Kind of a mess. Not sure If and when it can get better.

MLSinCleveland · May 9, 2024

canammj said: ↑

===============
All of these rules give me a headache and makes me really want to remove the NCAA from our soccer environment. If you want a degree and like to play soccer, go to college.
If you want to be a professional footballer, get on teams or academies run by the teams and hope you have the talent to succeed.
Its just one example our our soccer politics that keep us from becoming a soccer power.
Too many divisions and professional leagues and one league throwing its weight around too much.
Amateur leagues and such when they should be in a different set up
All the colleges leagues- NCAA rules etc.
Pay to play at the youth level when we should be just "letting them play"
Kind of a mess. Not sure If and when it can get better.
Click to expand...

Minor pro leagues won't be able to survive on academy products. They will always be scouting NCAA at least for roster filler (unless you declare the college game outlaw due to the rule differences and tell NCAA players that their post-collegiate options are the MASL and rec soccer).

canammj · May 9, 2024

MLSinCleveland said: ↑

Minor pro leagues won't be able to survive on academy products. They will always be scouting NCAA at least for roster filler (unless you declare the college game outlaw due to the rule differences and tell NCAA players that their post-collegiate options are the MASL and rec soccer).
Click to expand...

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Kind of makes me think of what MLS would have been like if we set up like baseball. Draft out of college or players you found elsewhere, players then to A>AA>AAA> the show. Or MLS version MLS-3 > MLS-2 > MLS-1 > MLS Premier.
As baseball just proved, it costs lots of money to run a large farm system and they cut teams. Thus MLS can't probably afford to do it either.

msilverstein47 · Jun 24, 2024

NISA announced a drawback in the 2024 schedule eliminating the planned August West Coast swing for East Coast clubs.

Media Alert : 2024 Eliminates West Coast Swing Matches for Sporting Integrity | National Independent Soccer Association (nisaofficial.com)

Paul Berry · Jun 24, 2024

canammj said: ↑

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Kind of makes me think of what MLS would have been like if we set up like baseball. Draft out of college or players you found elsewhere, players then to A>AA>AAA> the show. Or MLS version MLS-3 > MLS-2 > MLS-1 > MLS Premier.
As baseball just proved, it costs lots of money to run a large farm system and they cut teams. Thus MLS can't probably afford to do it either.
Click to expand...

They'd save money on academies but waiting until players have graduated college before signing them would mean losing the most talented young players to Europe.