Good interview with NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson

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Good interview with NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson

Post by Fran » Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:29 pm

Interesting stuff on expansion.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... erica.html

These discussions are unlikely to begin in earnest until the NASL has finished its plans for expansion into a 20-team league. There are currently 11 teams in the league with two more to join next year, Miami FC which is part-owned by former AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini and Puerto Rico FC, which is owned by NBA superstar Carmelo Anthony (below).
"They're two great additions to this league," said Peterson, who revealed that both franchises will begin to make announcements over their progress this month.

Teams from Virginia and Oklahoma were due to join but for different reasons will now not. "We've moved on from both of them," says Peterson.

The next focus for the league is to admit teams from the West Coast of the United States.
"We expect to make some announcements this year regarding new teams in the league based on the West Coast," Peterson added. "So we start to get to a number of 15, 16 or 17 and from there we have to be careful what we do with the last three, which is a great place to be for us.

"We don't have a hard deadline but within around 18 to 24 months we will be at our 20 teams and have a nice footprint on the East Coast and West Coast and we're going to fill it in the centre of the country and in Canada as well.

"The territory is so big, it's hard to figure out what the right footprint is and we'd love a mix of major cities and smaller cities that are hotbeds for soccer and that's ultimately what we're trying to accomplish. The good news is the marketplace is so big... the challenge is the marketplace is so big."

The NASL is required to have teams on the West Coast to comply with US Soccer requirements for division two status but Peterson says he will not be pressurised or swayed into where to admit teams or when.

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Post by Pounder » Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:42 pm

Ah, yes, bring out all the shiny expansion promises while not having done anything about Traffic's continued presence in the league (if not league ownership, certainly Carolina).

Then there was a tweet from Global Premier Management today: "When ALL USL NASL clubs begin paying 12 month contracts, health insurance and a living wage, then we can talk about PRO/REL." Talk about shots fired.

Still waiting on the ever promised LA team, eh?
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Post by Fran » Mon Aug 10, 2015 10:47 pm

They are required to have west coast team yet they have nothing in place.

I told OSC to take down Virginia as an expansion team since the NASL won't go there and Oklahoma City too.

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Post by Pounder » Thu Aug 13, 2015 5:48 pm

It gets funnier.

You have this... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/117968 ... erica.html

It hit the rounds earlier this week. The usual people started going crazy. Joe Barone says he's working with the NASL.

Oh. Wait.

http://www.nasl.com/news/2015/08/12/nas ... relegation

Motivations here are obvious. Commissioner of what's primarily a "collegiate summer league" (both PDL and NPSL are this, generally) sees a crowd of 18,000 in Chattanooga (yes, Chattanooga) for their championship game, knows that there's a handful of markets (Detroit and Nashville among them) where they're not drawing merely collegiate summer crowds and are actually getting a buzz. Strike while the fire is hot, never mind most of the clubs couldn't possibly qualify for either the USSF's pro standards nor really a more realistic version. Also, never mind that the USL is doing things like muscling in on Cincinnati without so much as a wave. The NASL... anything to deflect from Traffic without looking too much like liars (I guess you give them credit for that in the current environment).
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Post by Sam Hill » Fri Aug 14, 2015 4:22 am

How is USL "muscling in on Cincinnati," exactly? Cincinnati isn't an NASL market.

I also love that the guy says he won't be "pressurised" by...you know....rules and stuff.
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Post by Fran » Fri Aug 14, 2015 4:27 am

Well Bill Peterson worked for the UFL its second season and they were never pressured except by people they were owed money to and never paid.

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Post by Pounder » Fri Aug 14, 2015 5:35 pm

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
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Post by preeths » Fri Aug 14, 2015 6:15 pm

Um, so the author see FC Cincinnati having apparently well-heeled owners as...a bad thing!? That's really all I need to read. American soccer fans should be doing backflips over the strength of ownership coming into the sport.

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Post by Pounder » Wed Aug 26, 2015 1:05 am

"Well heeled" and ill-gotten doesn't always fly well with soccer crowds.
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Post by preeths » Wed Aug 26, 2015 2:18 am

Precious little seems to fly well with some soccer crowds.

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