North American Soccer Leagues 2011 Season Preview Prolog
Division-2 Soccer in North America saw yet another tumultuous offseason. A number of the changes to this year’s teams came on account of a set of strict new financial requirements by USSF which were created in August. Not all teams were able to make those high standards. Others chose to move to the new D3 USL PRO model that was announced by USL in early September.
The NASL members, who had attempted to gain control of D2 soccer the year prior, tried again to control their own league for the 2011 season. This happened after the USSF had operated the league themselves in 2010.
The NASL eventually was sanctioned by the USSF in February’s 2011 US Soccer board meeting – but only provisionally. The USSF made it clear that the sanctioning was only for one year and only until the league can prove it is ready to move forward with a more stable team base.
In that short time the NASL has started forming a front office staff and on Monday, March 28th announced David Downs as new league commissioner. The NASL also unveiled their new logo, a nice melding of the old NASL logo with a more current upgrade.
Division 2 saw many teams come and go again this offseason. In fact the 2010/2011 offseason may be one of the most topsy-turvy ever. Six of the twelve teams from 2010′s division-2 are gone. Two moved to MLS, one relocated, changed names and dropped down a division. Yet another dropped a division and 2 went belly up. One team stayed D2 but switched allegiances and two more teams changed ownerships. Another team stayed in the same location but changed names. One team is new and another comes back into the league after a 2-year hiatus.
AC St. Louis, like the Thunder the year previous, just seemed to fade away after the season, plagued with financial problems since the beginning of its first season.
Crystal Palace Baltimore also folded due to financial difficulties.
The Austin Aztex owner Phil Rawlins decided the grass was greener in Orlando. He moved his team there and changed the name to Orlando City and they are now playing in Division 3 USL PRO.
Also moving to USL PRO were the Rochester Rhinos, one of the longest-standing D2 teams.
Two more teams with long D2 histories, the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps, both left the league but their move was upward as they joined Major League Soccer this season.
FC Edmonton was added to the league this year. They have been playing exhibition games for over a year but lost their coaches and general manger within a 4-month stretch.
The Atlanta Silverbacks are not new to D2 soccer but are new to the NASL. The team had quit participating in D2 after the 2008 season but are back after a 2-year hiatus.
The NSC Minnesota Stars are back for their 2nd year but are under new [league] ownership. The owners of all the teams in the NASL rescued the Stars from the National Sports Center who could not meet the new USSF D2 financial requirements for ownership.
The Puerto Rico Islanders switched from the USL to the NASL so they could continue playing D2 soccer.
The Carolina RailHawks doors were closed in December after a very successful season on the field. Traffic Sports stepped in and started a new team and bought the naming rights from the former owners, allowing Swoop the RailHawks mascot to rise like a phoenix from its own ashes.
Miami FC Blues went through a makeover this offseason with a name change. They now take on their the old NASL namesake, Fort Lauderdale Strikers.
FC Tampa Bay settled a lawsuit so they can no longer use the nickname Rowdies which was of course taken from the old NASL team. FC Tampa Bay also moved to a new stadium, moving from Tampa to St. Petersburg.
Only one team remains steadfast from last season and that is the Montreal Impact who are preparing for their move up to MLS in 2012.
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“Lost a lawsuit” – not technically true since it never went to court. But the trademark squatters in Texas have the legal right to sell merchandise with the Tampa Bay Rowdies name so they can sit on that right and earn next to nothing selling a few nostalgia t-shirts to fans who don’t know about the legal situation, until they and FC Tampa Bay finally come to an agreement. In the meantime, FCTB(R) are still the Rowdies in every meaningful way except for merchandise.
You are correct meh. They came to a settlement in the lawsuit.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/oct/15/tampa-soccer-team-drops-rowdies-name-settles-lawsu/sports/
What Classic Ink Inc. did was speculate. It happens in business all the time, correct? They own the rights from years ago when no one was interested. So if someone wants the name bad enough they have to put up the dough to show.
I’ll correct the statement.
@BQ – Good synopsis of last year, the offseason, and build up to this year. Have you heard anything recent regarding the Rowdies trademark situation? With the incredible success in South Florida of the Strikers rebrand, it is making more and more sense for not only FC Tampa, but also the league itself to really try and get a deal done for the team to get the Rowdies name back. The NASL needs every advantage it can get and help its teams get in order to achieve some stability. Those of us in South Florida have already seen what bringing back the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers has meant to our team, the rest of the world will get a good look once the season starts too. But I gotta believe getting the Rowdies name can only help Tampa as well. Not only that, but the marketability of other teams to be able to put out an ad that says, coming to town Saturday night to face your (insert your team’s name here) is the Tampa Bay Rowdies, seems to me to be of greater value than one saying FC Tampa Bay.
What’s really funny to me is that Rochester and Austin (now Orlando, of course) finished 1st and 3rd, respectively, in USSFD2 yet self-relegated to D3.
Also, Portland and Vancouver finished 4th and 5th, respectively, yet are now de facto promoted to MLS.
Further, the two teams from last year that said “Adios” were last year’s two worst teams (ACSTL was 11th, CP Baltimore 12th).
Only in America, folks.