It seems that another chapter in the book of bush leagueism is about to be written in North American 2nd division soccer, as it was reported that AC St-Louis is on the brink of folding.
Apparently the USSF and the NASL are presently in talks about how to insure they can play out the 2010 campaign. Usually a bond has to be deposited to the league by each team prior to the season to keep a team afloat in this type of situation. If they were to fold now it would be a huge black eye for the NASL, as AC St-Louis was looked at as being one of their flagship franchises in their bid to gain official D2 status in 2011. Jeff Cooper, who is supposed to be the interim-commissioner of the proposed league has been unreachable and appears to have disappeared. Perhaps that explains why Nike backed out at the last minute and sold the USL to Nurock over Cooper and certainly goes a long way towards proving that Don Garber was right on when he stated that the Cooper led MLS bid for St-Louis did not meet the financial requirements back in 2008.
I feel for the fans in St-Louis. I really do. We've been there before in Montreal, what with that whole Ionian fiasco in 2000-2001. But unfortunately for St-Louis, it doesn't appear that there's a white knight waiting in the shadows to take over.
All the more reason to be thankful Impact fans, we have a healthy team to support and these garbage league stories will soon be a thing of the past.
Thing of the past once we hit MLS? Don't jump the gun, there'll still be teams with terrible attendance and baseball stadiums.
ReplyDeleteTrue. However there has been no talk of teams folding since MLS contracted 2 teams in 2001 as opposed to it being a yearly event in USL/USSF D2.
ReplyDeleteAs for baseball stadiums the only one left is in Kansas City and they have already gotten approval to proceed with their new stadium plans. There is also Portland however depending on who you believe it will be completely transformed into a semblance of a SSS with new turf.
I don't think the professionalism level of both leagues is even close to being comparable.
One set of issues for another.
ReplyDeleteBut the MLS issues are certainly better than D2 issues, considering the criticism of low attendance is low crowds of 9,000-12,000 people, rather than 500.
How is that sustainable, anyways?
Montreal did right by jumping ship and moving to MLS. For all its faults, Major League Soccer is still a lot more financially stable and lucrative than USL/NASL. There is more money-making potential in the top-flight and the league has a better "safety-net" of sorts to help out struggling franchises.
ReplyDeleteSaputo made a gamble buy acquiring the MLS franchise for Montreal, but I really think it will work out for the best in the long-run.
^^^^
ReplyDeleteMyself and the vast majority of supporters in Montreal would agree.
Obviously MLS is not perfect but it's definitely a huge step up from the USL/NASL not so much in the level of play but in marketing and brand recognition.
And as the salary cap continues to slowly rise and more DP's are allowed the gap between itself and USL in regards to the level of play will continue to grow.