2 more years, can he deliver owners for the traffic teams? Can he get 3 more American teams to make NASL a 12 team league by 2014-2015? http://nasl.com/index.php?id=3&newsid=1785
The big news here to me was that the Board of Governors set parameters for expansion. Now, those parameters may be very low, but at least we know that they have some level of discretion. One can assume that if they're setting these sorts of requirements, they're getting interest from people who don't meet them. Of course, that might imply that there is also interest from people who do meet them, and that's a good sign. Can they add three teams in two years though? I think the key will be whether those new teams are geographically near one another (or currently existing clubs).
Why would we want the LA Blues? They draw flies and would be just another very long and expensive road trip for all the other teams, not to mention nearly ALL of their own away games. They'll be lucky to last more than another season or two in the USL Pro before folding unless something crazy happens.
Well the owner is very interested in soccer, he is committed (perhaps foolishly) that is why. Attendance is a problem, they would also be closer to Edmonton, right now Edmonton is way out there. Plus they would be the first team to maybe get other rich dudes to start teams in the west cost. Plus LA may be far, but is probably cheaper to go to LA than it is to go to Edmonton. Now this is all up to the Blues owner, if he came asking I doubt the NASL would turn him down.
Another good interview: http://www.soccernewsday.com/usa/a/90/bigshot-q-a-nasl-commissioner-david-downs
http://nasl.com/index.php?id=3&newsid=3390 well... this is certainly interesting....... obviously deserves it's own thread separate from the other news.
I wish him the best in his "retirement". I'm curious to know who'll succeed him and what they'll bring to the table.
He did a good job the last two years. Hope they find someone as good as him, hopefully the recruiting firm NASL is using gets good results in the hunt for the next commish!
Merge? https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/nasl-commissioner-david-downs-resigns.1976020/ https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/downs-to-step-down.1976017/
Good news or bad news for NASL? Could he be jumping ship? What does that mean for the other expansion teams the league was going to announce in the next "60-90 days" Downs wanted the stars to stay, I wonder if this means they are done? My apologies if I sound negative. http://nasl.com/index.php?id=3&newsid=3390
Yes that is what the press release said. However if Downs is from ~LA~ but is retiring from the NASL head office to NYC, that might make the theory that he is doing this to help the Cosmos a bit stronger.
That would be fun, but not likely. He seems to want to prowl the sidelines too much. On the other hand, if Fox Soccer loses the EPL to BeIN Sport and/or ESPN, I think all bets are off with regard to what he does next.