FALL REGISTRATION IS … National Independent Soccer Association side San Diego 1904 FC debuted on Saturday, with some star-studded support. NISA, as a concept, has the potential to change the game for American soccer, but it’s going to take all of those in American soccer paying lip service to the ideals of promotion/relegation and the big bad wolf of MLS’s relationship with USSF to set aside their own partisan blinders and focus on the task at hand.
The creation of a first division, regional second divisions, and hyper regional lower divisions all under the sanctioning of NISA, becomes possible and sustainable.The PLS (Pro League Standards) currently in place and used by USSF to sanction professional soccer are seen by many as arbitrary, outdated, and as holding American soccer back. An open association, where it’s easy to start up a club and where information is readily available makes this dream much more of a possibility.USL is a corporate league. Plus, how many ownership groups currently in the PDL will think about moving to an open system where they could have more control and move up, based on their investment and product on the field? That, by the way, is going to require the remaining NASL teams to get off their high horses and get in the trenches instead of just throwing money around and hoping that they can sue their way into relevance.I’m not here to criticize NASL, though I will later. NISA can change that by doing the sanctioning.NASL (sanctioned by USSF as a professional league) and USASA (United States Adult Soccer Association, an affiliate member of USSF, who sanctions UPSL, NPSL, GCPL and a litany of other adult amateur and semi pro leagues in the US) should merge together to form their own association, NISA, keeping USASA’s affiliate membership in USSF, and therefore also FIFA.Then there’s NISA (National Independent Soccer Association), which is best known for existing for over six months and has three accepted teams (one of which doesn’t even exist). And if you think that it’s beneath the dignity of the world famous New York Cosmos to play in a weirdly sanctioned, outside the direct system professional league, just remember that in 2017 you played in a barely resuscitated eight team league in a baseball stadium next to Coney Island. There’s a bit of a Bernie joke in there somewhere but I digress.Bringing teams and leagues under one umbrella has additional benefits.
Removing 8 clubs from the 54 still means there would be 46 clubs remaining for the lower divisions. But here’s the thing: NASL took a really good concept, coupled it with some serious nostalgic name recognition and then proceeded to get into business with some pretty awful figures in soccer (you might even say they were caught in a traffic jam) and make every mistake they could make along the way. [Special thanks to Andrew Bresee for editing and to Chattanooga FC for being my local club. The association then operates each of the leagues at the different levels.Perhaps the best part of a connected pyramid is for potential club owners will no longer have to weigh the benefits and disadvantages of the litany of leagues and the potential for expansion fees. Somos una comunidad con una pasión por el fútbol.
Not only will more players be playing regularly, but they’ll be more visible. Probably. Those 36 could be split in half and form the basis for a regionalized third division.Let it be known, I don’t expect this to actually happen. The 1990 Southwest Independent Soccer League was an American outdoor soccer season run by the Southwest Independent Soccer League during the summer of 1990. Home Information > > Registration Coaches Soccer Association of Independence. For one, for all, for soccer.And we haven’t even accounted for the clubs that will start as a result of this, nor have we accounted for all the small clubs in those leagues you can’t even find on Google. Those merits should be looked at closely in the coming months and years.Let’s take a gander at what we’re looking at after combining all of these leagues together. If another 10 were poached for a second division in an East/West setup, there would still be 36.
And if a USL club gets promoted into MLS, are we expecting them to fork over $150 million dollars for the right to take their promotion? But they will, it’s just a question now of when. The general status of Puerto Rico is a more pressing issue in general and Congress should figure out if the territory itself should be a real state or jettisoned as a separate country, but that’s outside of the scope of this piece. This new system would make American soccer parallel the American dream. The overall lawsuit proceeding has merits regarding the relationship between USSF, Major League Soccer (MLS) and Soccer United Marketing (SUM). Two years from now, a group of five soccer loving individuals in Huntsville, AL may decide that it’s time to bring back Rocket City United. It’s time to stop whining and get off the bench. There is no other way into MLS. League Stats 2019-2020 Fall Showcase Spring Season Independent Cup Choose Type Championship Exhibition NISA Challenge Cup Playoffs Regular Season US Open Cup TEAM The structure of the sport is entirely different than the rest of the footballing world.
The NISA name already includes the word association. Go ahead and spend your millions on the lawsuit, but soccer is played on a field and you owe it to the fans to play.