NASL Podcast Episode #14; NASL Quarterfinal Recap, Previewing the Semis and End of Year Grades for Clubs
Welcome to episode #13 of the IMSoccer News North American Soccer League Podcast.
The NASL playoffs kicked off this past weekend with single elimination quarterfinals for four teams. The IMSoccer News IMS Podcast staff of Jay (Yankiboy) Long, Gerry Wittmann and yours truly, Brian Quarstad, review the weekend playoff games and discuss what went right for the Strikers and Stars and what went wrong for FC Tampa Bay and so very wrong for FC Edmonton.
We also take a look at the next round of playoffs, the semi-finals, as Carolina and Puerto Rico join Ft. Lauderdale and Minnesota for a two game, home and away, total goals series. Why will Puerto Rico struggle with their lineup for the semifinals? Why does Minnesota have the RailHawks’ number this season?
Lastly, we take a look at the 8 NASL teams and review their on field performance. But perhaps more importantly we take a look at attendance and talk about each club’s off field performance as well.
Please join us for this podcast as Jay Long, Gerry Wittmann and I present to you another IMS Soccer News NASL Podcast.
You can find all past episodes of the North American Soccer League Podcast here.
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1. No mention of me being the self-proclaimed NASL Fan of the Year? Disappointed!
2. NASL Championship. I predict the Stars will beat the Strikers for the title. The Stars have found their mojo, and are playing some great soccer. Carolina…, well, let’s just leave it at that. I have been impressed with the Strikers as of late. However, I think they will get crushed up in MN, and by the time they play the Stars in Florida, the goals deficit will be too large to overcome.
3. Attendance. I think MYSA boast 75,000 youth soccer players–one of the largest in any state, yet we can barely draw 1,500 people to our matches. Don’t get me on a rant, but I would once again like to thank the overpaid DOCs and lazy BODs for not promoting professional soccer in MN. For example, one of my kids plays for an overpaid DOC and he wonders why kids do not watch more soccer. Yet in the 5 years he has been DOC, he has never once sent out an e-mail encouraging players to check out the Thunder or Stars. We have received maybe one or two from the BOD. What a joke!
Yeah, I understand that the parents ultimately need to take their kids to a match. However, when there is no encouragement from the top, they surely will not come. I would bet that if the Stars offer a 10-15% rebate on tickets sold directly by DOCs, attendance would skyrocket.
FACT: Watching live soccer played at a higher level is one way our kids can become better soccer players!
Great podcast again, guys.
The best line in the podcast:
“This may come off as a little bit of crazy, but I’m selling crazy cheap today.” Jay “Yankiboy” Long
Thank you, Yankiboy! I’ll be stealing that and using it often.
There is really only one topic with attendance. The NASL drew 2,664 fans a game this year not counting Montreal. That’s even with some nice surprises in Atlanta/Carolina and a good rebranding with the Strikers.
No league can survive with those numbers. And I can’t see them rising any with San Antonio and their problems. There are no more Montreals/Seattles/Portlands/Vancouvers out there. That is the major question going forward with this league. When does Traffic stop bailing them out and when do the loses become too great? Soccer leagues generally fail, so the odds are against the NASL.
How long can they continue to draw 2,500 to 3,200 a game and exist as a league? Do they beg MLS for a minor league affiliation system? Make nice with USL? Commish Downs was saying even 4,000 is not enough. Yikes!
I gotta disagree with the general “Rhein Baart did not have a good game” sentiment. Overall and considering the final scoreline? Sure. But for the first 45+ minutes he made several great stops. I was sitting right behind his goal. Until Brian Shriver pushed his weak shot past him in first half stoppage time, Baart looked pretty damned good. After that it all fell apart obviously. I gotta say kudos to FCE for a solid first season. Hope they get a better stadium setup soon.
I like the Strikers chances moving forward. 1W-1L-2D vs. Puerto Rico this year, and undefeated at home. PR will have all those guys busy in CONCACAF play. If they can advance to the final, we held our own vs. Carolina with a 2-2-0 record. And we were undefeated at 2-0-2 vs. Minnesota.
GOOOO STRIKERS!!
@KL: Strong post. The attendance numbers and dependence of Traffic are two major aspects of the league that simply cannot be ignored.
@GumbyGrrl: Thanks (blushing). I don’t know why i needed to clarify that I had that particular item at a discount at that particular moment. Do to the overabundance of it in stock, I always have it price at an “everyday low price”, passing on the savings to my “consumers”.
@BQ, Gerry, yankiboy – Great stuff per usual guys, entertaining as always! Can’t tell you how nice it is to have your podcast to listen to about our league and teams. I hope it will be possible for you guys to continue it next year as well. One thing I’d like to mention is I miss the game report pieces you used to include with principals from the appropriate markets. I know it must be real hard for you guys to be on top of all the action each week in every game, and having those reports I think brought a little more detail.
F19 brings up a good example with Baart this past weekend. When you see 5 – 0 it’s easy to assume he didn’t have a very good game. But I thought he played pretty well the entire first half until that goal from Shriver. That one was a bit weak, I’ll definitely admit that. But the other I don’t think you can have a lot of problem with. Two great headers from Abe off very nice crosses, Shriver’s second had him beat a defender, and then round the keeper with his finish, something a decent striker SHOULD be able to do, and then Abe’s final goal was a perfectly placed shot that just curved inside the far post from about the edge of the 18 yard box.
Personally I’d place more blame on the Eddies defense, especially on the last three, as you could visibly see the life kind of come out of them after the Strikers went up 2 – 0. Also give the Strikers some credit for finally displaying the kind of finishing we’ve all been waiting for all season. And I think that is a direct result of Shore finally putting his 11 best on the field (except Arrieta who was out because of his red card) and sticking with them. Striker Likers are praying he does not alter this lineup the rest of the way (except for getting Arrieta back if he’s not on national team duty). Can’t say enough about the additions of Restrepo and Mayen especially, they’ve really solidified the MF.
And I know you’re taking a swipe at the Strikers with those comments about shame on them if they don’t win in Puerto Rico, yankiboy! You’ve been pretty harsh on our boys all year. Some points I can’t argue, but others I could. The Islanders went unbeaten at home this year for a reason. Even with some reserves playing, I absolutely do not expect an easy result for the Strikers on Saturday. I anticipate this game being close, as all the others between them have been this year, but I think the Strikers are at the height of their confidence level for the entire season coming off last weekend’s performance. I expect they’ll be able to come home with what they want, either a tie or a win. Go Strikers!!!!
@KL – Agree 100% with everything you said. However, I think it is possible to have enough markets that could meet the kind of numbers needed to sustain a D2 league longer term. There’s a whole lot that goes into that, and I think the USSF standards for D2 are a positive in that respect because they show you what kind of situation you need to have, stadium wise, and economically to be able to survive. The questions that become important are how to get all of the sustainable markets/teams into the same D2 league, and then what needs to be done to make sure they arrive at and can remain at the necessary levels attendance wise.
Maybe BQ could do some digging on this next question – when if the USSF going to start the process of “updating” the D3 standards? Before you can have all organizations settling into the proper niche on the pyramid, you need the rules for each level to be completely defined. When USSF gets around to setting up the D3 standards, what will happen to the USL Pro and its teams? I don’t think it’s at all inconceivable to think there would be another turning point for USL. Once D2 standards were announced, they took one look, and headed for the hills.
Once you have clear standards at every level, it is far easier for an owner investor to look them all over, and say, well, here is the right level for us, at least for now. Right now that line is blurred because you have D2 with some tough standards, and then really nothing at all at the next level down. And everything I’ve just said assumes the USSF even gives a rat’s arse.
Anyway, bottom line is this. I do believe there will come a day in North America where D2 clubs will be sustainable due to the overall growth of the sport to the point that they’ll matter enough to fans. One day MLS will close it’s doors to further expansion, and when that happens, any future growth would naturally start filling in at the next level. People always demolish the idea of pro/rel in North America, and given the current state of the game, they’re 1000% right. But someday, IF the sport continues t o grow in popularity and relevance, if tv contracts start meaning big bucks, if fans continue to warm up to it and embrace it at new levels like in Portland and Seattle, then it is fairly easy to envision the growth of a second division that has as much popularity and relevance as it does in other nations around the world. And once that occurs, once you have stable divisions on your pyramid, someday in the not anytime soon future, then pro/rel could be a realistic possibility from that standpoint. The notion of original MLS teams who paid huge sums to get into the league and don’t want any chance of being relegated could very well always be a roadblock to it. All I’m saying is, with stable teams in stable divisions, the infrastructure would at least be in place at some point way way down the road.
Anyway, enough rambling. There’s playoffs in 2 days!!!!!
BQ, how does the resignation (ouster) of Traffic’s president Julio Mariz in Brazil play into the future of the league? Wasn’t he the guy that spearheaded the push for the NASL. Will it continue to be stats quo or could the new leadership have different plans?
Oskar, the problem with having a full time job, a personal life and then trying to run a website is I often know things that I don’t have time to follow up on or have followed up on them and don’t have time to write them properly without giving people junk or misinformation.
I had a story on the subject ready to publish Monday night and then finally got a call back from Aaron Davidson. I just have not had time to edit the original article to also give him a chance to address some issues. Publishing anything without that would not be right or fair.
I’m hoping I can get to it tonight. BTW, I have about 5 different stories that I’ve had on the back burner for a couple of months now and just never can find enough time to get them done. I used to fret more about it than I do now. I know I’m only one person with a limited amount of time and have to prioritize.
Strikers Return, I think Jay would have said that no matter who the opponent was. I think your being a bit sensitive on that one.
Also, check out the video highlights.
Goal #1: Baart commits too early and goes to his right, ball slowly rolls to his left.
Goal#2: Great cross but watch Baarts body position. There is no way he can get to the ball and he only half commits to going far post and making himself big. Very poor goalkeeper.
Goal#3: He did his best. Had to commit when he did. He just guess wrong.
Goal#4: Baart starts to come out and then decides not to leaving him totally in no mans land. At that point there is no way he is going to block that header. Again, great cross but either he has to commit or not. Any goalkeeping coach would give him very poor grades on that one.
Goal#5: Great shot and probably hard to stop. He’s where he should be for the ball being where it was at on the field but the shot made it tough for him.
As I stated before, the defense should have done better, but Baart didn’t help the cause either. As Gerry stated, he has been very inconsistent this year and I doubt you will see him back next season.
I have answered the question of the D3 previously. USSF, after telling me they were making standards for D3, told me last spring that they will not be making specific standards, except for those that are applicable to all leagues.
Thanks for the prompt response, BQ. I look forward to the story and appreciate the time you put in.
Striker,
Will you be happy with a sustainable D2 league if it means that some of these current teams would not be in it because of attendance/finical /ownership problems?
A couple of huge problems are that not all teams have true owners and enough people are not showing up for games.
@BQ – I’d have to go back and look at the video to address your points, but I’m sure you’re right. Mine and I’m sure F19′s views were based solely on being at the game and our vantage points. The first goal was obviously not well played by him, as the ball didn’t have much pace at all yet went in untouched. And I had a perfect view of Abe’s last one, a very nicely taken shot that Baart just wasn’t going to be able to do anything about thanks to his defenders terrible marking. At that point you could see Edmonton had already given up and was just trying to play it out.
@Silly – The answer to your question is yes. Well, with the caveat that the Strikers are still one of those D2 markets, assuming they haven’t made it to MLS anyway! I think the ideas I floated above pretty much assure that some current NASL teams wouldn’t be in the picture long term, unless there were some pretty dramatic turn arounds for them. Minnesota is not going to survive long term with 1,600 average attendance. I’d argue that that level woulg even be tough to sustain a D3 team long term unless they had very favorable conditions in all of their expense areas. Without a far more favorable stadium situation, I’d put Edmonton in the same boat
Let’s toss out a hypothetical situation here. Based on this season’s attendance totals, I could see the following teams as “fitting” at the D2 level, let’s say by 2014, assuming they can all see some improvement year over year by then: Ft. Lauderdale, Carolina, Tampa, Atlanta, Puerto Rico, San Antonio, Orlando, Rochester, Wilmington, and Charleston. If you put Ottawa in this group, you only need one more I think to meet the USSF 2014 league size right? Now I know that we could all start tossing out reasons why this or that one would not be willing to make the move to D2 from D3. All I’m saying is I see in these markets currently, or potentially if they are marketed properly, the ability to draw enough fans regularly to sustain them longer term at a national D2 level. We’re all in agreement that, although circumstances could be slightly different from team to team, but somewhere within the 4,000 – 6,000 range is where teams would need to be at the D2 level to be sustainable, yes? Obviously to stabilize you need teams to get into that range, but long term you’d want them to keep growing. Once you show people that D2 is a product that can be sustained long term, it’s an easier sell to investors in additional markets where they feel there is potential to join.
I could see that working if you could find investors willing to take a huge leap because three of those teams still have the same owner.
I would describe the whole situation for investors as diving off the high dive into and empty pool during a rain storm. Some are definitely going to splat before the pool fills up.
@ Strikers Return:
Really? Atlanta and San Antonio Really? One market has yet to prove itself and the other has already proven itself to be flawed.
After an average of 2,500 fans LEAGUE WIDE, this concoction of motley crue will begin to average 4,000 to 6,000 fans? This would convince investors that one should blow good money after bad with no real forecastable future for any true revenue growth.
I truly would like to see a successful D2 league, but a house built on a weak foundation will fall at the first tremor. This is one league not built on solid ground.
So…since Bart predicts doom and gloom, I think The NASL will have a higly successful 2012 season!
You can quote attendance figures and drone on about ‘unproven’ prospective franchises, but since the management of these teams still shows up at work every day to perform the business of soccer…Ill chose to be optimistic.
By the way, Bart. The 2011 NASL season DID happen and most considered it a great success. Nice predictions, though…Ill add it to the list of wrong predictions youve made.