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The NASL sky is falling


Steedman

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Why do I strongly suspect, despite the fact that the NASL meetings are scheduled to be done today, that the picture will not be any clearer? With the vast array of moving parts in this and with the level of acrimony and diverging ideas that seem to be contained in this meeting, I don't know how you will get anyone to agree on anything. 

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USL will take on a few NASL teams which fit into their long-term plans, leaving the rest to drift into the cosmos.

USSF doesn't seem keen on reserve teams in a D2 league.  I wonder if USL will pull a quasi-MLB and have two conferences that overlap the entire country.  Rather than being split geographically, they'll be split between independent teams and reserve/affiliate MLS teams, satisfying the USSF desires and allowing for a lot of "interleague" play.

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From Steven Sandor: FC Edmonton owner Fath: “The expectation is that we will play in the NASL in 2017”

And a little quote regarding ticket sales.

Fath said that ticket sales are far ahead of where they were at this time last year.....The team is currently looking to hire staff for next season — the club is looking to bring in a new sales person.

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9 minutes ago, shermanator said:

From Steven Sandor: FC Edmonton owner Fath: “The expectation is that we will play in the NASL in 2017”

And a little quote regarding ticket sales.

 

 

FC Edmonton's response to everything thats happening has been one of the more curious elements of this entire situation.

Granted what other options do they have at this point for next season?

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20 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

There was a few interesting tidbits yesterday, I think from Nipun, that said there was a block of teams that were trying to keep the NASL going until 2018 when 4 expansion sides were coming in (though who knows how garaunteed those are). 

My bet is that Fath is in that block. 

Yeah, from what I can tell, there are probably five teams that are probably motivated to remain in NASL (Indy, Miami, Edmonton, Puerto Rico and San Fran). If that's correct, they really need to secure a sixth team to salvage the 2017 season. That would, interestingly, give us a glance at what a 6-team would look like.

Problem is that Carolina will probably jump to USL, to remain cozy with MLS (now that they have MLS expansion aspirations). Rayo are out for 2017 regardless. Ft. Lauderdale are probably out as well (loads of debt on top of scrambling for investors). So that leaves one of Jacksonville (rumoured to jump as well) or NY Cosmos (scrambling for investors) to come through - iIffy situation right now. If Indy or San Fran jumped ship, it would be over with.

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Not to mention it's all but guaranteed USL is going to become Div2 status and there's significant whispers NASL will get dropped down to D3 status.

For owners who thought NASL was a chance to try and fight for Div1 status that has to be a punch in the gut.

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14 hours ago, lazlo_80 said:

Not to mention it's all but guaranteed USL is going to become Div2 status and there's significant whispers NASL will get dropped down to D3 status.

True but everyone knows that the division flip would be mainly due to the number of teams.

The interesting thing is that a 6-team NASL (in Div-3) would not only retain a higher level of pay and play than USL - it could even improve its level of play from last season, as top players from folded teams and others who won't sign for presumably lower USL salaries scramble to find a spot. It could, in theory at least, make for a very competitive season. "In theory" being the operative phrase. Cheers!

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7 minutes ago, shermanator said:

Who knows if this is true or not, but take it for what it's worth...

 

I mean, when he's saying he's gotten 3 sources on it, even the Rollins doubters have to give it a little weight. It wouldn't be over-reporting on one source at that point, it would be outright lying if it wasn't true, which is a hefty accusation.

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21 minutes ago, Complete Homer said:

I mean, when he's saying he's gotten 3 sources on it, even the Rollins doubters have to give it a little weight. It wouldn't be over-reporting on one source at that point, it would be outright lying if it wasn't true, which is a hefty accusation.

One thing missing in Rollins tweets are that the New York Cosmos are negotiating with a NYC person or group for a sale of the club, could be finalized soon but these things take time.

 

A new owner could have the Cosmos returning in the NASL in 2017.

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http://fiftyfive.one/2016/12/source-nasl-four-teams-future-bleak/

FiftyFive.One has learned that the Cosmos have ceased operations and the NASL is now down to only four teams. A source with information of the situation said it “appears that the NASL is officially dead.” It’s expected that those four teams will either go dark or make the move (subject to full vetting by USL and its owners) by the end of the week, if not the end of the USSF Board meeting vote on Tuesday.

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26 minutes ago, ThatDaveCh said:

http://fiftyfive.one/2016/12/source-nasl-four-teams-future-bleak/

FiftyFive.One has learned that the Cosmos have ceased operations and the NASL is now down to only four teams. A source with information of the situation said it “appears that the NASL is officially dead.” It’s expected that those four teams will either go dark or make the move (subject to full vetting by USL and its owners) by the end of the week, if not the end of the USSF Board meeting vote on Tuesday.

Weird that the author thinks that Rayo, Ft. Lauderdale, NY Cosmos and Edmonton are only four teams still standing in the league at the moment. For all intents and purposes - Rayo and Ft. Lauderdale are already out of the picture (for 2017 anyway). So then, what happened to Puerto Rico, Miami, Indy and San Fran? The first two of these teams likely won't even have the option of joining the USL.

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It is sad to see that NASL looks like it will fail. In many ways I liked NASL better than MLS in how the league was run and how it treated its fans even though the level of play is much better and the cities and teams more interesting in MLS. They made a big mistake in trying to challenge MLS for D1 though instead of accepting they were D2 and trying to work with MLS. As much as it irritates me that MLS and its corporate style have won this battle it is probably better to have some sort of unified clear D1, D2, D3 pyramid structure that players can move through like in other countries instead of competing leagues. 

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If Chris' comments below are correct, the USSF's actions (to hold off giving USL D-2 sanctioning) is a classy move toward the remaining NASL teams. This looks to be the final chapter is this whole saga, since the NASL teams will be pressed to jump now or risk being left behind.

 

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