Good interview with NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson

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nksports
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Post by nksports » Wed Aug 26, 2015 4:20 am

[quote=""Pounder""]It's not much, and this blog says as much. It's the people involved with FC Cincinnati who deserve, well, a certain fate or two.

http://www.bigsoccer.com/blog/2015/8/11 ... occer-warz[/quote]

The guy writing the blog seems upset the FCC group has MLS ambitions. Yes, an NPSL team would probably not go head-to-head with a USL team (PDL maybe), but could co-exist and maybe even be able to strike a deal as either a reserve side or a place to loan reserve players.
Our local NPSL team plays in a stadium in a youth complex that maybe holds 500 with standing room or lawn chair room for the rest of the seating. But the NPSL has both summer college and semi-pro teams (ours is in the latter category). The league is still low on the totem poll and relatively low budget.
I'm no big fan of the Linder family for other reasons (mainly trying to keep the cabal that tries to keep Cincy "clean.") But for trying to start a business that may bring in jobs and revenue, Vaya Con Dios. They are trying to move into a 40,000-seat stadium (yes with artificial turf), but that says something right there.

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Sam Hill
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Post by Sam Hill » Thu Aug 27, 2015 3:50 am

[quote=""nksports""]The guy writing the blog seems upset the FCC group has MLS ambitions. Yes, an NPSL team would probably not go head-to-head with a USL team (PDL maybe), but could co-exist and maybe even be able to strike a deal as either a reserve side or a place to loan reserve players.[/quote]

You can't loan amateur players.
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Post by Pounder » Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:02 pm

[quote=""Sam Hill""]You can't loan amateur players.[/quote]

Unless you don't give a rip about NCAA eligibility... and kow-towing to the NCAA is the weakness of the system compared to the world.
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Sam Hill
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Post by Sam Hill » Thu Aug 27, 2015 11:07 pm

[quote=""Pounder""]Unless you don't give a rip about NCAA eligibility... and kow-towing to the NCAA is the weakness of the system compared to the world.[/quote]

No, US Soccer will not let you loan an amateur player. Whether they are an NCAA player or not.

It has eff-all to do with NCAA eligibility.

They won't process the loan and register the player with the next team. You can't loan an amateur player.
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Post by Pounder » Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:53 pm

[quote=""Sam Hill""]No, US Soccer will not let you loan an amateur player. Whether they are an NCAA player or not.
[/quote]

US Soccer won't allow it because they're afraid to challenge the NCAA orthodoxy.

It needs to be challenged. Of course, there's "follow the money" reasons why they don't. I also wonder if the modified ruling saying USSF only has monopoly power over the amateur side of the sport is a factor.
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Post by nksports » Fri Aug 28, 2015 8:06 pm

[quote=""Pounder""]US Soccer won't allow it because they're afraid to challenge the NCAA orthodoxy.[/quote]

That would be pretty easy to do at this point. The NCAA (the union ruling excepted) has been getting pummeled on all sides. Football players are now openly registering their names and nicknames as trademarks, preventing their own teams from using them unless they are paid.
The NCAA is looking like it will lose over whether athletes can be compensated for the use of their name and likeness.
FIFA via CONCACAF has threatened to declare the NCAA an outlaw league for a while, which would have major implications over what NCAA players can do. The issue: NCAA substitution rules (which, if brought in line with the rest of the world, would actually help NCAA soccer, since it would be easier for schools to start men's teams without major Title IX implications, since you would only have to carry between 15 to 18 players, instead of the current 20 to 25 needed for a viable program).

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Post by Pounder » Sat Aug 29, 2015 5:18 pm

[quote=""nksports""]That would be pretty easy to do at this point. The NCAA (the union ruling excepted) has been getting pummeled on all sides. Football players are now openly registering their names and nicknames as trademarks, preventing their own teams from using them unless they are paid.
The NCAA is looking like it will lose over whether athletes can be compensated for the use of their name and likeness.
FIFA via CONCACAF has threatened to declare the NCAA an outlaw league for a while, which would have major implications over what NCAA players can do. The issue: NCAA substitution rules (which, if brought in line with the rest of the world, would actually help NCAA soccer, since it would be easier for schools to start men's teams without major Title IX implications, since you would only have to carry between 15 to 18 players, instead of the current 20 to 25 needed for a viable program).[/quote]

That's not even the real issue. Schools have to carry 26 players or so (on, for the men, 9.9 scholarships) because they're only playing counting games in the fall, therefore they're playing 2 games a weekend. The proposal to extend the NCAA season to the spring is what would be helpful to take that roster down to 18-22, playing generally one game a week. 15 is way too low. Of course, count on the NCAA reducing the scholarship maximum to 9 or 8 or so if that happens.

The real issue- the $5 billion a year youth soccer industry, if I dare call it that. They love to bait parents with the possibility of earning that college scholarship. Look back at that scholarship limit to see the fundamental problem. Then there's championships to play for... when what's really needed is skills refined. Bigger and faster sounds nice for pointyball, but for real football, foot skills, agility, quickness, some guile, and the ability to see space in a fast-changing environment are requirements. Frankly, there's a half dozen MLS teams who get stuck on bigger/faster instead of what's needed.

What's really needed is for MLS youth academies (all teams have them now) to stop catering to kids who are using them as a springboard to college, feel the pressure to actually develop these kids, and do that. Some teams' academies are still pay-to-play. Among all the ways to monetize the teams, if there's one real wrong way, charging for the academy is it. There's still plenty of money to be made collecting from parents for the recreational programs, the "single digit" ages, etc. (not everyone has that consolidated, but for instance, Portland Timbers pretty much own youth soccer in the entire state of Oregon by now).
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