USSF Brokered Compromise Official
Press release follows. Comment away!
From the U.S. Soccer Communications Center:
CHICAGO (Jan. 7, 2009) – The U.S. Soccer Federation, United Soccer Leagues (USL) and the North American Soccer League (NASL) have come to an agreement on the formation and operation of a Division 2 professional soccer league for the 2010 season. Under the agreement, U.S. Soccer will oversee the league for the 2010 season, working with both the USL and NASL on the day-to-day league activities.
The agreement pertains only to the 2010 season, and during the next year U.S. Soccer will continue to work with USL and NASL to build a long-term solution for the future. U.S. Soccer will also be developing new standards to govern Division 2 professional league applicants to ensure the long term viability and sustainability of the leagues and teams.
“We are extremely pleased that we were able to come to a solution that ensures we will have Division 2 professional soccer in the United States in 2010,” said U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati. “This agreement allows us to continue to develop the professional game in many important markets around the country, while at the same time working towards the long-term stability of Division 2 professional soccer. I’d like to thank the representatives from both the USL and NASL for the time spent during our negotiations, especially their efforts in the past seven days.”
So USL has three teams left and the NASL had to compromise??????????????/
That’s total b/s.
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I’m relieved that the Rowdies will play this year but disgusted they are in the USL division. Thank god it is just one year.
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The soccernista fanbase, in general, and the blogosphere in particular is overpopulated with finger pointers and has precious few problem solvers. The USSF should be commended on finding a solution albeit very late in the process. More sensible business people like Peter Wilt who knows how to go from A to B to find a solution should be nutured from now on. The next couple of years should be very exciting for soccer in the US with this development.
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At least that we have a season!
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I don’t know the details, but, this looks like a good compromise. USL gets money. NASL saves face. NASL learns how to run a league. Now it has to show other teams that it can do better than USL at running a team.
“The USL Conference will include teams from Austin, Minnesota, Portland, Puerto Rico, Rochester and Tampa Bay. The NASL Conference will consist of teams from Baltimore, Carolina, Miami, Montreal, St. Louis and Vancouver.”
USL gets/keep franchise fees from Rochester and Tampa. Forget the 3rd one that was being sued (guess I can look it up right?). Was this cost for dropping lawsuit (in addition to FIFA pressure?).
Joey Saputo can save face by saying that he’s not going back to USL. He’s not, he’s going to USSF. Now, NASL has a year to work out their kinks. Saying your’e going to run a league is different than running it. Will Jeff Cooper emerge as the power broker if and when Joey Saputo leaves for MLS?
Teams will leave for MLS next year, and possibly the year after that. In that time, teams can figure out if they want USL or not. This may pressure USL to change their structure because they WILL lose $750,000 in Franchise fees from each team.
In this sense there is competition between the leagues. And listen, this gives NASL some cover. I can’t stress how difficult it is to run a league. I don’t care how experienced you are. Look how long it took MLS to get off the ground.
Again I don’t know all the details but on the surface this looks good. I’ve give USSF credit for this.
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Baltimore CP was the third team being sued, as they defeceted from USL-2 to NASL.
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I don’t know what this does other than have D2 games being played, which I am thankful for. But The issues between NASL and USL will still be there, so there will still be some tension. The whole conference thing I find interesting, considering there is no regional thought to them whatsoever. Also using the USL/NASL names is odd as TB and Rochester are in USL and CPB is in NASL. Every team but PR, Portland and Austin was aligned with NASL prior to the compromise, so I assume Rochester and TB are in the USL “conference” due to there apparent obligation to play in USL in 2010. But then I thought CPB had the same obligation. Still craziness all around. I’m just glad I’ll have live soccer to watch in South Florida this year after the MLS Combine this weekend…
I hope NASL still goes ahead and launches a web site and gets things rolling. By developing a professional operation this year(and perhaps with it’s teams winning both conferences of this temp league and maybe the championship) they can sway USSF into giving them sanctioning moving forward.
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Meant nurtured not nutured… ouch Sorry Peter!
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it makes no sense to have Portland in a different Conference than Vancouver, and Tampa in a different Conference than Miami. unless they just play a full-table schedule. is this really the best they could come up with???
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Well now, isn’t this fun!
I TOLD YOU SO !!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://queencitysoccer.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/my-compromise/
I thank you! No! No, really! It was nothing…! Awwww, shucks… 😉
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The bleedind has stopped but the problem is still there. I don’t see how USL-1 will be around after this year. They will not have enough teams without merging with USL-2 or major expansion. I don’t see either happening. The NASL will still need a couple of more teams. They are going to have to get Austin, PR, and maybe a couple more teams to join. As things look now, the NASL has a much better chance. The big questions now are; can the USL continue without USL-1, what will happen to USL-2, and what will happen to the PDL.
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In 2011, NASL is scheduled to have St. Louis, Miami, Tampa Bay, Rochester, Baltimore, Carolina, Atlanta, Montréal, and Edmonton(Vancouver replacement). And that’s 9 without counting Puerto Rico or Austin if they eventually join. NASL looks to be set for the future, if they can get sanctioning. USL-1 on the other hand looks to be on it’s last breath.
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I’m very glad we’ll have D2 soccer in 12 great soccer metro areas across the 2 countries. I’m not even that concerned about how the “intraplay” (as Gulati called it) will look. 2010 will be greater for soccer because of this decision.
The World Cup of Soccer will only energize soccer fans (particularly young fans) to go to live games. So, LET’S GO TO GAMES AND SUPPORT THE TEAMS. No matter how the league will look in 2011, the teams that will do well in 2010 will be much better prepared for the next year.
Fans of D2 Soccer UNITE!
(hmmm, that was fun…but I’m really excited and hope we all do our part as fans)
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NASL still needs to abide by USSF’s foreign player limit and age requirements.
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Do you know what those are going to be?
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No, that’s basically all that was said during the conference concerning the 2011 and sanctioning.
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This so called compromise simply keeps the dinasour that is USL alive for another year. Too bad.
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What happen to FC New York?
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Scott: There had been rumblings for a while that FC New York wouldn’t be ready to go in 2010. USL confirmed as much at the press conference. Jeff Cooper confirmed the same thing about Atlanta. They’ll both be in the mix in 2011.
My prediction: Puerto Rico will be convinced to join the NASL in 2011, while Austin and FCNY end up merging with USL-2, which becomes the new 3rd-tier pro league on the US Soccer pyramid.
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Dave, thanks for the information. FCNY did a lot of talking last year so I was surprised that they were not in the league.
Does anyone know if USL is going to re-market the USL-2?
Is NASL still going to have problems with the 3 time zone rule with Vancouver and Portland going to MLS?
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