It’s D-Day – Deadline Day for D2 Sanctioning, or is it?
It’s September 15, 2010 and that can only mean one thing for those of you who have been following along at home with the saga of D2 soccer. That’s right, it’s deadline day for submitting bids to the USSF for sanctioning of D2 soccer. However, you may be in for an anticlimactic D-day. And really, like the story that has dragged out for almost two years now, it’s really no surprise to learn the deadline has been pushed back, dragging the whole ordeal out just a tad bit longer.
Kartik Krishnaiyer, spokesperson for the NASL, told IMS this afternoon that the 15th was a guideline date set by the USSF and was not a hard and fast date. He stressed that his organization is not only working with their affiliated teams but also with US Soccer. “The NASL and its team owners are working with US Soccer on completing the application to sanction Division-2 soccer for 2011,” said Krishnaiyer. “We are also working with all of our teams to make sure they are in compliance with the new D2 standards set by the Federation. As we are working through this process we are taking US Soccer’s guidance in moving forward to complete this process.”
Krishnaiyer would not speculate on a date the bid would be submitted nor the teams that NASL will be submitting.
On Monday evening, Vancouver’s Bob Lenarduzzi conducted an interview on “Its Called Football“. In the interview the Vancouver Whitecaps president stated: “There are 6 clubs that are committed to the new USSF guidelines that they (USSF) will be strictly adapting next year. What the USSF has said is if in fact there aren’t enough clubs to meet the minimum of eight to operate a Division 2 league then they just won’t have a league. I think they are serious about that. What the NASL is trying to do before now and the end of the month when the submissions need to be in is to be sure there is a 7th and there is an 8th team and there are a number of interested parties that will hopefully make up the 7th and 8th franchises. It would be great for the game if there were indeed a viable Division 2.”
The Whitecaps president went on to say that he liked the new USL Pro concept if they execute their plan properly. “USL deciding they are going to go Division 3 is wonderful as far as I’m concerned,” continued Lenarduzzi. “If they can get that right and that is predominantly a regional league and then the next level (NASL) is more of an international league between Canada and the United States with MLS above that and then if we can get the youth development right (in Canada) where our very best players play with and against the very best players, then we will have the formula…”
USL President Tim Holt confirmed on Tuesday that his organization would not be making a bid for Division-2 soccer in 2011 with the USSF. “USL PRO is a current USSF-affiliated professional league member,” Holt said. “Frankly, our focus is less on the regulatory issue of what category at which we are sanctioned than it is on doing those things necessary at the league and team levels to be the strongest and most visible professional soccer league below MLS in the US, Canada, and Caribbean. In terms of team organization, financial viability, league office, and team requirements, marketing, and competition, USL PRO will exceed the published USSF Division III Pro League standards. Nonetheless, we believe that in order to meet the objectives developed for USL PRO over the next several years, utilizing the USSF Division III platform is the proper course of action for the 2011 season.”
IMS contacted US Soccer for a clarification of what those D-3 standards were that the USL President referred to. Neil Buethe, spokesperson for US Soccer, said in an email that like the D-2 standards the Federation will be revamping the D3 and WPS standards in the near future but could not provide a date that would be competed. “Right now, the ‘General Requirements‘ in the D-2 standards also relate to the D-3 and WPS. Once the specifics for D-3 and WPS are finished, we will provide those.”
Buethe also stated that since the USL is already sanctioned for D3 they needn’t submit a new application but simply need to provide an annual report, as do all professional teams.
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IN some respects this is good news because I think NASL will be pushing hard for other 2 teams, and I think they’ll have them in a short time.
What Lennarduzzi said means that perhaps the Whitecaps FC is likely going to acquire a USL Pro franchise in the next couple of years. Hopefully all the USL talks about will become reality.
I think it’s really silly that USSF doesn’t yet have a simple page on their site stating the requirement decision that they have, apparently, promulgated some years ago.
Six teams? My guesses:
AC St. Louis
Carolina RailHawks
FC Tampa Bay
Miami FC
Montreal Impact
FC Edmonton
That leaves NSC Minnesota (looking for investors), Crystal Palace Baltimore (dead team playing), Rochester Rhinos (evaluating all possibilities), and Atlanta Silverbacks (unknown…unlikely to ever return?).
And I completely ignored Austin and Puerto Rico. Whoops.
Well, Austin seems to be an uncertainty, though it has not sounded like they’re too enthused with the NASL. Puerto Rico would love to play, but can they meet the standards?
It will be a travisty if Puerto Rico is not given an exemption. The organization is proven on and off the field. Maybe the USSF should as for a $1M bond, since they are a higher risk. Is that going too far?
Puerto Rico can’t meet the standards (which is why the NASL is lobbying for an exemption).
Atlanta Silverbacks are NOT coming back. Boris the revolutionary does not appear to be interested in bringing the Silverbacks back to pro men’s play.
He’ss too busy with the kickball beer league that he hosts in his stadium.
Focusing on being a D3 league seems like the smartest thing that the USL has done in a long time when it comes to it’s pro product.
A LONG TIME…
If NASL can’t get sanctioned then they will be the next tier and some of the NASL clubs will be forced to reconsider asking back in.
Or go dark.
Better to swallow the pride, sometimes.
Or if the NASL gets sanctioned then they are right where they want to be (for the time being, at least)…
As to Puerto Rico, I think the NASL has some hard decisions to make with Montreal, Edmonton and Puerto Rico overloading them with non-US teams. I think there might be some options here that allow them to meet the standards. More to come on that in the near future.
Even if Austin have never been advocates for NASL, they have already stated they want to remain in D2, whatever shape it may become. Now that Holt have said USL will focus on D3, I don’t think Austin have much of a choice.
@drebin: You’re right. Considering that it’s not apparent yet that the USSF will sanction the NASL, the Aztex have little choice but to sit back and wait and see what happens.
The six are more likely:
Montreal/Edmonton/Puerto Rico/Carolina/Tamp/Miami
On the sidelines based on financial net worth would be:
AC St. Louis/Crystal Palace/Minnesota
Wild cards would be:
Rochester/Austin
I would not call this a great hand of poker for NASL, unless USSF either amends the standards or grants multiple waivers.
Bart is spot on.
I’m still eagerly awaiting word on AC St.Louis and their possible new owner. I would imagine this would be another factor in the league being sactioned. Question even then would be if this new owner would meet the Div2 financial standards?
Brian, that’s a very nice tease – “I think there might be some options here that allow them to meet the standards. More to come on that in the near future.” I guess I’ll have to keep checking back for more! Keep up the good work.
i am all for stricter standards for D2 in principle. but making them so inflexible is just stupid and counter productive. some of the standards set are entirely arbitrary and a team not having a $20M 35% stakeholder does not necessarily mean they are not financially stable. for the USSF to cut out at solid and well performing D2 team like Puerto Rico is just plain short sited. to inflexibly enforce some sort of 75% “US” rule (btw PR is technically a territory of, wait for it … the US) even in the early stages of D2 when it only has the minimum 8 franchises is also colossally stupid.
“sorry strong and serious potential D2 Canadian ownership, we don’t want you in our fledgling D2 league because we already have 1 other Canadian team (which is leaving after a year anyway) plus one from a place that is technically a peripheral part of the United States.”
in the end if USSF wants D2 to be a strong 16-20 team cross continental league i can see why they wouldn’t want 10 teams of it being in Canada. that is fine. 5 out of 20 seems reasonable. but on the way to 20 it seems stupid not to keep that ratio “fungible” as the league grows towards its ultimate goal.
but this is USSF we are talking about so just about everything they do is colossally stupid and the rest is utterly corrupt so …
@OleGunnar20:
Try being a Canadian soccer supporter! Talk about ineptitude at the CSA.
@OleGunnar20 PUERTO RICO has is own football federation and has its own vote with FIFA. I suspect the USSF wants team that pay dues / $$$$$ / US Dollars which means teams from the 50 states…period. This should help you understand that the USSF doesn’t care about PR performance and its not being short sighted..IT’S JUST NOT ONE OF THEIR CLUBS . Hey NASL I hear , Saadi Gaddafi wants a wants a team in D-2 I’m sure he is quailified
@Hector: You are of course 100% right about the fact that Puerto Rico has it’s own fed and vote with FIFA.
I’m sure that you know that the Puerto Rico US $$$ for currency so I am a little confused on why you brough that point up. Of course, the USSF should focus primarily on USSF member soccer clubs. Agreed.
I completely disagree with your declaration that your previous comments helped us understand why not giving Puerto Rico Islanders an exemption for the NASL bid is not potentially short sighted if it makes the difference between having a league or not.
I’m not sure what to say about the Gaddafi comments. They were confusing. Did I miss the article where Gadaffi expressed a possible interest in an NASL club?
yankiboy
Puerto Rico has two issues;
1) it operates under a different Federation, making it a non-US based team (currency used is irrelevant, Russian businessman prefer dollars to rubles); and
2) PRI does not pass the financial net worth threshold.
Finally, you are operating on the assumption that D-2 is a given in this country. If it was, USSF would have sanctioned both NASL and USL last year and let the better league come out on top. USSF did not, because they want sustainability and longevity, all for the greater good of soccer here in the US.
Hey Brian, any final results of the USL meetings other than the press release?
There really wasn’t much news about the meeting that wasn’t released. I talked to several people that were present and they said they were impressed. But they are already USL people so you take it with a grain of salt. I personally think it’s a good thing. One question I will be asking USL in the future is will the teams have control of who is admitted into the league. I am guessing not and that was one of the KEY arguments of breakaway team owners association.
Bart, my track on the PR financials is that they do now qualify. I’m not at liberty to explain how at this point but I no longer think the financial qualifications of the Islanders plays into the equation. It’s more the 75% US teams.
If Puerto Rico can meet the financial requirements, that’s great for both the NASL’s bid and for the Islanders. For such a successful team, it’d be sad to see them knocked out of D2.
As for the 75% USA requirement, I should hope that U.S. Soccer will see fit to give them a pass for 2011. It would be better to have a strong foundation for D2 and ignore the locations for a year or two rather than hastily try to assemble a team or two to make requirements.
BQ,
Interesting you say that, has new ownership come into play where one individual has 35% control, and has full authority to bind the team? This has never been the case in the past, and one of the problems PRI had was getting decisions out of multiple ownerships.
Bart, I think you know that I am fully aware of how things were. As I stated, I’m not at liberty to explain how at this point and time. I think things will become clear in the coming days or weeks.
BQ
Given what you insinuate, that means 7 teams qualify financially. That is still one team short and NASL is still below the US based minimum requirements.
There still needs to be one wild card to make this hand work.
D-2 is still not guaranteed.
Bart, Bro:
(Pending forthcoming news aside)
1) Yes, they definitely belong to a different federation (Canadian clubs have a different federation).
2) They have not in the past met the new financial criteria.
So we defintitely agree on two of several potential obstacles.
I am operating on the assumption that a second division is a given. You are correct on that.
Here is the what I am proposing (just try to stay with me for a few seconds):
If the USL’s division is the 3rd and the 2nd division disappears or is absorbed into the third then the de facto 3rd will become a second division. How did Jay-Z say it, “30 is the new 20″.
I have been saying this for a while and Brian stated that part of the USL Brass logic is to be poised to be able to pick up the pieces if NASL can’t get it’s sanctioning.
I am amware that the USSF’s mission is to foster growth of the good of the game in the US. But they also are realists. With a FIFA bid in the pipeline, I would be surprised if they are actually going to say to FIFA (Uhm, we eliminated our second division for the good of the game). I really would. I am guessing that they are going to want thing to look as “normal” in an abnormal soccer landscape as possible. Sure, it is a minor facet. But I am guessing that they will be so paranoid when they bow down to the god that is know as FIFA that they will try to have as many ducks lined up in a row.
I could be wrong. I definitely could be. Of course, just ask wife–she will tell you that I am always wrong …
Here’s a silly idea
Portland and Vancouver have in the past indicated that they wanted teams in the lower divisions. Do either of them like the NASL enough that they would operate a Reserve-ish team in D 2 and the USA in order to help the league actually run?
yankiboy,
Well spoken, and my wife thinks I am wrong all the time as well. I do think that USSF is less concerned about D-2 for the World Cup sake as it is having a quality, long term viable D-2 league that will survive in a positive and quality manner.
If USSF is so chickenshit that they quiver at every fart Switzerland gives them and do not take care of soccer business properly in the US, then Switzerland will not respect USSF anyway.
And as for the World Cup, let’s face some international facts. The US is the richest market in the world and will be by far the most successful revenue stream for FIFA in history. FIFA ultimately knows that it is time for USA to do World Cup again for this very reason. USSF has come a long way from the eighties and nineties. Gulati, like him or hate him, is a seasoned soccer politician and knows what he has to do to cement his legecy.
Bart:
Thanks a lot for continuing to share some intelligent insights and thoughts.
A stable second division is very important for the US. Just what that division will ultimately look like is the question. The USSF wants it to span eventually a few time zones.
This soap opera keeps on churning out new episodes. I just hope that by the end of next month or early November it will be clear what the way forward is for the NASL clubs and Rochester and Austin.
The USL has already chosen a course of action that is not conditional on the USSF NASL sanctioning. For the NASL, it pretty much seems all or nothing.
I think that too many bridges have been burned for some of the ownership groups to ever consider going back to the USL –but if the USL was smart then they would kiss and make up after having “won” (which is a really realtive term, in this case).
Maximum Respect!
Don’t know USSF sanctioning rules; but is it possible we’ll see a “USSF D-2 Redux” in USSF D-3, with no D-2? Could USSF theoretically sanction neither league and then approve a D-3 involving NASL and USL Pro?
If D2 doesn’t happen I think there will be a number of teams with some tough questions to be answered in the off season.
For instance, Carolina is still looking for investors. If they cannot find them do they ask to play in D3, (which I doubt with the bad blood between the USL and Wellman) or do they fold?
Miami I guess would fold because their is no way Traffic USA associates itself with USL.
Tampa might join if USL allows them and I think USL would. I still have a hard time believing USL will get a midwest conference up and running this next year. So That leaves Austin running to the East Coast every other game. That doesn’t make any sense to me but we will see what happens.
Palace is done unless they get new investors and then it’s possible they go back to USL D3.
MN is not interested unless they get new investors which doesn’t look likely and again, without a Midwest conference there is no interest.
St. Louis, we will see. – Islanders, who knows what they want to do. –
Edmonton would be out.
Montreal would be out. No way do they play in D3. A year of exhibition games perhaps?
BTW, If you go back and read this article, USL is already sanctioned for D3. Nothing is going to change in that regard. I would guess that if a NASL affiliated team wanted in with USL and USL said no, than USSF might step in. But right now I just don’t see USL turning anyone away that I think may try to play in their league.
I think the majority of the bad blood is with Wellman, not the new USL owners who had no history with Wellman until this last year. Carolina would make a perfect fit for the regionalized concept that USL Pro is supposed to be. Based upon this reason alone, I think the smart business folks look at profit and logic, and not emotion. Unfortunately, Wellman wears his emotions and ego on his sleeve and has been stated here before, Wellman would rather allow the team to go dark in lieu of admitting defeat and going back to USL. Interestingly enough, there are other venues in the Raleigh/Durham area that would do just as well as the current Park that Carolina uses, and in fact, in better locations. Carolina does not have a monopoly in North Carolina, and it is quite possible that USL will announce a new team in that area shortly. That would give the new team exclusivity and not even USSF could do anything about Wellman and company at that time.
I don’t think Tampa or Miami would go back to USL, and with declining fan attendance, USL would probably not want them. What was the attendance at the Austin/Tampa game this week? Something like 700 actual fans in the seats? I think the Rowdies newness is over.
And as far as Montreal is concerned, this team should talk to Garber about entering in 2011, instead of 2012 and their problem is finished. As the last remaining remnant of MLS group, they would be better served doing exhibition games, they would probably make more money.
The bigger issue is what happens IF NASL gets sanctioned? They have to start up a league office from scratch, and that is going to cost a sum of monies, probably over $1,500,000 in the first year alone, or about $200,000 per team, not including ongoing USSF dues, et al.
This is much like the dog catching the bus, once it has it , what does it do with it?
Charleston and Carolina have played a friendly this year and we had a player on loan from them and sent one to them after the Battery season ended so there has been some cooperation between “USL” and “NASL” this season so I dont know if the door is completely closed on Wellman returning if he want to.
That said the Carolina Dynamo, who play at Macpherson Stadium got some pretty respectable crowds this year. one over 3000 but averaging 1600 If they decided to jump into the USLPro game who knows what would happen?
Bart brings up a good point. While it probably wouldnt take long for NASL to get a staff together that meets the USSF standards, getting it together as a team isnt going to happen quickly.