North American Pro Soccer 2017

[Gothamite]

Well, the Sounders lift the MLS Cup, and its time to look to the next season. 

 

So what to expect?  Will the NASL survive?  Will the USL take over D2?   Will Seattle fans be incredibly insufferable?  Will the Cosmos ever pay all those players and staffers their back wages? 

[Kevin W.]

14 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

Will the NASL survive?  Will the USL take over D2?   Will Seattle fans be incredibly insufferable?  Will the Cosmos ever pay all those players and staffers their back wages? 

No. Yes. Always. When Hell freezes over.

[MJWalker45]

Is Rooney coming to LA? Is Giovinco leaving? Hopefully no on both. We should have some more info on USL/NASL on the 15th.  It'll probably be still as clear as mud.

[Breakwood]

8 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

Is Rooney coming to LA? Is Giovinco leaving? Hopefully no on both. We should have some more info on USL/NASL on the 15th.  It'll probably be still as clear as mud.

Giovinco isn't leaving. Bradley probably will be going back to Italy. Greg Vanney is in line for the Galaxy coaching job apparently.

[tp49]

WIth the Cosmos ceasing of operations the redevelopment proposals for Belmont Park are now dead.  

[Jer15]

11 hours ago, Breakwood said:

Giovinco isn't leaving. 

He asked to be subbed off apparently.

[Gothamite]

6 hours ago, tp49 said:

WIth the Cosmos ceasing of operations the redevelopment proposals for Belmont Park are now dead.  

 

The timing would indicate that the State was considering their proposal until it was clear that they wouldn't be around long enough to actually use the land. 

 

I think that was the only responsible position. From the second game, the Cosmos' survival has always been in doubt.   The state shouldn't have given them the land under those circumstances. 

[AnPheitseog]

The one thing i take from the loss, is that this 2017 season comes down to one objective for TFC. Win the MLS cup.

 

After making playoffs, making the MLS cup finals, there is no other room for improvement.

 

Win the cup, or else the season is a failure.

[Breakwood]

11 hours ago, mr.negative15 said:

He asked to be subbed off apparently.

 True but I think he realized he couldn't compete anymore. I think he's been suffering through a nagging injury. I just don't see him leaving. If Barca or someone comes in with an huge offer that could change things, but I don't see it happening.

[Jer15]

7 minutes ago, Breakwood said:

 True but I think he realized he couldn't compete anymore. I think he's been suffering through a nagging injury. I just don't see him leaving. If Barca or someone comes in with an huge offer that could change things, but I don't see it happening.

Oh yeah. You are right. I only meant that I don't know why people are making something of a story of his substitution. He wanted off knowing he was being well defended (or at least this is what I've heard) and thought it'd be best for the team. 

[Nyk33]

11 hours ago, Gothamite said:

The timing would indicate that the State was considering their proposal until it was clear that they wouldn't be around long enough to actually use the land. 

 

I think that was the only responsible position. From the second game, the Cosmos' survival has always been in doubt.   The state shouldn't have given them the land under those circumstances. 

 

I would really like to know who exactly was in the secret cabal that is the Cosmos ownership group. 

 

I imagined at the time that they must have had a lot of money to convince the state but if they had enough money to do that then they surely would have enough money to pay their employees. 

[TBGKon]

Lets put it this way, I'm 95% sure the NASL is dead.  Once they decide that USL will be the new D2, I'd be curious to see if USL splits into D2 and D3 divisions as a 30+ team league is a little tough logistically, and some teams may keep the D3 structure afloat.

[Gothamite]

Well, right now I understand that the USL keeps its eastern and western conferences almost totally separated.  Essentially two regional leagues.  So they already have a structure that will make such a large number of clubs feasible. 

 

I'm more concerned with the reserve sides.  Right now the USL has two kinds of clubs; those whose primary goal is selling tickets, and those whose primary goal is developing players (and who couldn't care less if anyone comes to the matches). Those two models are fundamentally incompatible, and at some point it'll have to be addressed. 

[Jer15]

Luckily the USL is almost 50/50 between those 2 types of clubs.

 

Maybe it would be easy enough to split the current USL into a D2 - "ticket selling clubs (including what's left from the NASL)" and a D3 - "reserve sides"?

 

I'm sure it's easier said than done but that seems to make sense to me. 

[TBGKon]

Is it safe to assume that the affiliated teams not owned by MLS clubs (the ones with MLS affiliates and not RBNY2, Toronto 2 etc.) are reserve sides?  Could they wish to remain D2?

[Nyk33]

22 minutes ago, AstroBull21 said:

Is it safe to assume that the affiliated teams not owned by MLS clubs (the ones with MLS affiliates and not RBNY2, Toronto 2 etc.) are reserve sides?  Could they wish to remain D2?

 

I think more and more MLS teams are going with the affiliate model. 

 

Montreal is getting rid of FC Montreal and adding Ottawa as an affiliate (until they go to the CPL) and the Long Island Roughriders (already affiliated with NYCFC) are working on trying to get into the USL. 

[Gothamite]

4 hours ago, mr.negative15 said:

Luckily the USL is almost 50/50 between those 2 types of clubs.

 

Maybe it would be easy enough to split the current USL into a D2 - "ticket selling clubs (including what's left from the NASL)" and a D3 - "reserve sides"?

 

I'm sure it's easier said than done but that seems to make sense to me. 

 

Affiliates are not reserve sides.  Affiliates are just that - teams that have an affiliation agreement with an MLS club, in which the MLS club can send them a certain number of players for seasoning.

 

By my count there are ten reserve sides in the USL, and I'm not even sure we should count the Bethlehem Steel.  But even for argument's sake let's keep them on the list.  You can't spin those ten off into their own league because travel costs would be prohibitive, covering everything from Vancouver to LA to Orlando to Toronto.

[Jer15]

5 minutes ago, Gothamite said:

By my count there are ten reserve sides in the USL, and I'm not even sure we should count the Bethlehem Steel.  But even for argument's sake let's keep them on the list.  You can't spin those ten off into their own league because travel costs would be prohibitive, covering everything from Vancouver to LA to Orlando to Toronto.

I did count Bethlehem Steel but fair enough. 

 

I didn't think about the travel cost though.....so yeah, easier said than done. Good point. 

[Gothamite]

Found this clever graphic about how the domestic pyramid will look next season.

 

(Source)

[bosrs1]

On 12/11/2016 at 11:48 AM, tp49 said:

WIth the Cosmos ceasing of operations the redevelopment proposals for Belmont Park are now dead.  

 

Actually they're dead independent of the Cosmos troubles. The RFA was pulled for the site and all the proposals including the Cosmos were rejected. Which makes me wonder if that among their financial woes didn't play into the Cosmos closing up shop.