NASL should grow to 16 teams immediately. 8 teams play the first season and the other 8 play the second season. The winner of each mini-season plays a fight to the death match on neutral territory.

The trophy is dipped in the blood from the losing team players, and the bodies are piled high in the middle of the field and set on fire as a tribute to the end of the season.

NASL is forced to grow one new team a year, so fresh “blood” is always ever present in this dynamic new league.

I guarantee the networks will pick this up.

Nah, they wouldn’t!

…Would they?

As for the Cosmos, and having brought that issue up a couple of times, you really do have to wonder. No mention of an established home venue, any sort of an infrastructure being put together, etc. When BQ interviewed Downs recently and directly asked the question, Downs didn’t (couldn’t?) give a straight answer. With a split season now pushing things forward, they’re rapidly running out of time.

Soccer Sam may say a lot of “crazy” things about his opinions on the state of soccer in the US, but the boy does know marketing, and he is absolutely passionate about his views on these issues.

The sausage and mushroom pizza is to die for. And he ain’t cheap on the ingredients, either. There is a reason he has, shall we say, a larger girth than most.

You’re also right when you stated that he puts his money where his mouth is and has for a long time. His leadeship helped save the Rhinos a few years back.

I saw his Lancers play twice last season and I look forward to seeing them play again this upcoming MISL season.

Your comment to my first point is actually correct. We really aren’t saying opposing things, just different things which point to the same aspect of the output of the players. Thanks for the agreement on the second point. You’re right about the ‘core fans group’ needing to grow in order to sustain some real salaries at the D2 level. I would say (very amateur guess) each team needs the core base to reach between 8-10 at the D2 level.

You also made the point that since the American soccer landscape doesn’t include pro/rel yet the single table (& no playoffs) system has a tough road. Whenever you have pro/rel there’s lots of excitement at the top and bottom of various divisions. I remember that when I lived in Europe; the pro/rel excitement at the D2,D3, D4 was more fun to get into than the D1 dramas. I remember that once the season got past the half-point there were always 3-5 teams that were scared to death of relegation, while their counterparts in the division below were excited as heck trying to get a crack at it. We’ve got some ways to go, but I’m glad you brought it up.