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BREAKING: Could FC Edmonton be joining the CPL sooner than expected?

Pat Carrasco

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ironcub14 Newbie

ironcub14

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44 minutes ago, harrycoyster said:

The USSF isn't going to let the NASL teams fall into oblivion. There seems to be big things at work in terms of the American soccer pyramid. Two American D3 leagues are kicking off in 2018 and it is looking increasingly likely that the USL is going to drop the MLS2 teams down into their D3 division, which would leave the USL in a pretty strong place (until MLS raids it for FC Cinnianati, Pheonix Rising and SacRepublic).

I'll wait to see the specific details on both USL D3 and NISA before I go further with my thoughts in general, but with the general issues in play in both NASL and USL at the moment, and just 8 months removed from the near USSF D2 armageddon, this all is starting to feel a little bit like a soccer bubble in the US.

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harrycoyster Contributor

harrycoyster

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1 minute ago, ironcub14 said:

I'll wait to see the specific details on both USL D3 and NISA before I go further with my thoughts in general, but with the general issues in play in both NASL and USL at the moment, and just 8 months removed from the near USSF D2 armageddon, this all is starting to feel a little bit like a soccer bubble in the US.

By all accounts the USL is in pretty good shape right now, and the potential death of the NASL could help set up the MLS/USL-independent/USL-development split that US Soccer has wanted for years.

It's less a bubble and more a collapsing of two dysfunctional pyramids into one slightly less dysfunctional pyramid. 

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Kent Grand Master

Kent

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I hope FC Edmonton joins CPL as much as the next guy, and if that means NASL has to fail for that to happen, that's fine by me. But I just have to throw this out there.

2017 USL average attendance: 4,414
2017 NASL average attendance: 4,472

Fine, I'll run USL's numbers without the "2" teams. But then I'll run them again without Cincinnati.

USL sans MLS2 teams: 5,927
USL sans MLS2 and Cincinnati: 4,952
USL sans MLS2, Cincinnati, and Sacramento: 4,632

So the leagues have essentially equal average attendance. USL has much better attendance outside of the MLS2 teams (Bethlehem Steel FC, Portland Timbers 2, Real Monarchs SLC, LA Galaxy II, Orlando City B, Swope Park Rangers, Toronto FC II, Seattle Sounders FC 2, Vancouver Whitecaps FC II, New York Red Bulls II. If there are any others, my numbers are off above), decently better if you also exclude Cincinnati, and marginally better if you exclude their top 2 teams.

All this to say, I think NASL's troubles do get exaggerated sometimes. And personally I'd love for CPL to have either of those league's average attendance in the early going.

Edit: meant to include my sources.
http://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2017-usl-attendance/
http://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2017-nasl-attendance/

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harrycoyster Contributor

harrycoyster

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13 minutes ago, mpg_29 said:

CPL will have the benefits of being a Div 1 league and will probably have a lot less teams than USL...that could lead to higher wages in CPL over USL...

Right, but the CPL needs to find the Canadian players, which is significantly less easy than what a team like Phoenix did in basically creating a fifth round of the MLS Draft for themselves. You can get ~10 low-end American USL players from the NCAA for $20,000 a piece. Signing USL level Canadians is harder and more expensive, especially since there is going to be a sharp increase in demand.

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ironcub14 Newbie

ironcub14

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9 minutes ago, harrycoyster said:

By all accounts the USL is in pretty good shape right now, and the potential death of the NASL could help set up the MLS/USL-independent/USL-development split that US Soccer has wanted for years.

It's less a bubble and more a collapsing of two dysfunctional pyramids into one slightly less dysfunctional pyramid. 

I was talking less about USL and NASL and more about USL D3 and NISA, when I was talking about what seems like a bubble starting to sprout.

My best wishes to both leagues though, it's definitely going to have be regional focused to do well. I think the idea of creating a D3 league is good, but I think it's a bit too soon, considering all the events in the USSF meetings around December of last year.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about NASL but at the end of the day, I don't want to see the league die, and I don't think it will. I thought it was going to in December for sure, I don't think it will not as much.

As for USL, all the newfound stability and all comes down so much from the MLS2 participation. USL has consistently said for months that USL D3 was not going to be for MLS2 teams; it's funny how one article from a OKC paper has changed that narrative in one day. The internal struggle USL will go through the next few months will be very interesting to watch. And all this all has ramifications on CPL obviously.

I can't believe you guys kept this thread going after all that in the OP though :)

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Rheo Contributor

Rheo

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Just now, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

So contrary to the rumour Miami FC clearly plan to hang around and will use this lawsuit to get into the USSF's D1? NASL death spiral postponed by the looks of things.

I never thought they'd go away.  I'm no lawyer and really interested to see some real expert analysis of their argument but I find it hard to believe that "the rest of the world does it, so we should do it" will hold up in court.  Definitely going to be interesting though.

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BringBackTheBlizzard Newbie

BringBackTheBlizzard

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6 minutes ago, Rheo said:

I guess if they did somehow win all the Canadian teams would be forced here lol

There are plenty of examples of clubs from one country playing the lower divisions of another FIFA member's league system, so don't think so, but this CAS case has a snowball's chance in hell of winning anyway unless some FIFA statute has been violated. All it usually takes is a notwithstansing clause to allow the people in charge free reign to do whatever they like on issues like this. It's clearly mainly about PR and the timing says it all given this follows immediately on the heels of Miami expansion being approved pending details being finalized.

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BCM Newbie

BCM

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5 minutes ago, Rheo said:

I never thought they'd go away.  I'm no lawyer and really interested to see some real expert analysis of their argument but I find it hard to believe that "the rest of the world does it, so we should do it" will hold up in court.  Definitely going to be interesting though.

I think you're right, but FIFA and the Asian confederation constantly and publicly threaten Australia (ie losing placing in the Asian champions league) for not having relegation... I would guess the US has been spoken to in the past (softly and privately).  

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mpg_29 Collaborator

mpg_29

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3 minutes ago, BCM1555362349 said:

I think you're right, but FIFA and the Asian confederation constantly and publicly threaten Australia (ie losing placing in the Asian champions league) for not having relegation... I would guess the US has been spoken to in the past (softly and privately).  

I could be way off here but if there are valid arguments against pro/rel in FIFA's eyes they may be less sympathetic to a country like the U.S. with 300m people and largest economy in the world than Australia (24m pop,  large country, isolated).

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Ansem Veteran

Ansem

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Lots of drama down south...this suit is going absolutely nowhere

Then again, as NASL is dying, what do they have to lose? Might as well use up the last of the funds and try lol.

I'm guessing they are (NASL clubs) hoping to reach some sort of settlement and be allowed in MLS. (Which the league will never, ever do). They know full well not a single court will give them what they want

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Ansem Veteran

Ansem

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Just now, BringBackTheBlizzard said:

You need to read up a bit on how this happened. Miami FC did it independently of the NASL and didn't even notify the other teams in advance.

 

Oh I see... Strange strategy. They would have save themselves lots of trouble, money and time by just partnering with Beckham and upgrade to MLS. I guess they missed that window by now.

Stuff like that shows the importance of not allowing full independence to a team who's part of a league. This looks bad on NASL regardless of this being a solo initiative...

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