North American Soccer League Podcast Episode #11; Heading Toward the Playoffs
Welcome to episode #11 of the IMSoccer News North American Soccer League Podcast.
The NASL is nearing the end of the season with most teams having only two games remaining. With the NASL Playoffs on the horizon and 4 of the 6 playoff spots clinched, we decided to bring back the IMSoccer News NASL Podcast for a few last times as the season winds down and the playoffs begin, with a champion crowned on Saturday, October 29.
Back again to join me this week are co-hosts Gerry Wittmann and Jay (YankiBoy) Long. The three of us review this past week’s games, survey the playoff outlook, and review Gerry’s interview with CEO/Secretary General of US Soccer Dan Flynn. (Flynn says the NASL is meeting with US Soccer this week to talk about the sanctioning process.) Did you know that the Puerto Rico Islanders general manager resigned last month? We tell you why and we discuss if that really was a goal in the Impact vs. RailHawks game at Saputo Stadium on Sunday afternoon. I say no, but the Impact deserved the win anyway. Jay says he believes someone might be receiving a year of free Saputo Dairy products. All in good fun folks, all in good fun.
Please join us for this 11th episode of the IMSoccer News NASL Podcast as we head toward the playoffs.
You can find all past episodes of the North American Soccer League Podcast here.
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Great stuff guys, glad the podcast has made a return appearance! I’m really looking forward to the remainder of the season and the playoffs. I think a little too much may have been made of unfortunate situation of Traffic having to have backed both the Railhawks and Silverbacks in order for the league to operate this year. It’s easy for me to be called a homer when I say that I haven’t seen anything that appeared shady with regards to the three Traffic teams. Hell, Atlanta came down here and beat us even, and the Railhawks under the direction of Martin and Johnson have been far and away the league’s best team. The only thing Traffic had to do with that is that they financially backed the team so they could operate.
At the end of the day, I don’t think Traffic wants to be laying out the cash to continue backing three teams. But now that they’ve made teh commitment and investment, they’re not going to just pass it off to the first person that comes along and says they might be interested. I certainly hope the league does a FAR better job of vetting it’s potential owners than the USL has been doing for a long time now, even this year. The only way D2 franchises can be stable is to have stable ownership situations. Can they find enough of these to make the league work is of course the big question, and only time will tell us the answer. The artcile you guys were discussing about this topic was a good one I thought.
Can’t wait for the rest of the season and the playoffs! Keep up the great work guys, and GO STRIKERS!!!!!!!
@ Strikers Return
“At the end of the day, I don’t think Traffic wants to be laying out the cash to continue backing three teams. But now that they’ve made teh commitment and investment, they’re not going to just pass it off to the first person that comes along and says they might be interested.”
So, if Traffic does not want to lay out cash, what type of individual do you think would want to begin forking over cash to cover the losses? And while the may not just pass it off to the first person that comes along and says they MIGHT be interested, I would bet my bottom dollar that they would most certainly pass it off to the first person that agrees to pay them the money to recoup their cash losses.
@Bart – My comments were simple common sense. If Traffic had wanted to field three separate teams, they’d have done so long before now, when there were no sanctioning guidelines against it. Something made them believe it would be worth their while to do this. Teams are already planning for next year, and as of this week the USSF was supposed to be meeting with the league regarding next year. I’m sure BQ will let us know anything he hears coming from those meetings. If the USSF says the league will be sanctioned again next year, you’ve got your first measure of stability in place. Next step is further expansion as well as trying to divest Traffic of the majority ownership in ATL and CAR, as well as finding investors to take over MIN from the league. These things either will or will not happen, and we can go back and forth speculating about them all off season, and into the future. Bottom line is only time is going to tell us anything for sure.
Are there any plans to put this podcast in iTunes? I wouldn’t mind re-listening to some older pods. Are they archived somewhere?
MH, I do not have the knowledge to make this happen. I’ve reached out to some others and asked for help and a couple of people have tried to help by telling me how to do it but I wasn’t successful and really need someone to make this happen.
As to other podcast, if you notice the copy right above the player that states: “You can find all past episodes of the North American Soccer League Podcast here.” Well if you click there you will find past episodes of the podcast.
I enjoyed listening to the IMS podcast on my new Dr. Dre Headphones I picked up at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. My only comment is that I though Dawn Flynn was really dumbing down the USL and NASL in his comments to them as “minor league soccer.” I found it insulting and feel like he enjoys his ivory tower a little too much.
#1) It’s ALWAYS dangerous to insult others and then make a bunch of misspellings in your sentences.
#2) If Major League Soccer is called “Major” because it’s the top tier in soccer in the US, then what might the other leagues under it be called? I try and be nice and call it lower level soccer at times. But it is what it is – minor league soccer.