soccer WI: original North American Soccer League doesn't dissolve

From the late 60s to the early 80s, the North American Soccer league was an attempt to bring top-flight soccer into the American sports mainstream. While there were a few success stories like the New York Cosmos (which had Pele on their roster in his last years of playing the game), a combo of poor management and falling popularity by the 80s caused the league to fold. While MLS is around nowadays and continues to grow, it'll still be a while before soccer in the region is somewhere comparable to its status in Europe and South America.

How could the NASL have managed to stick around as a moderately successful league, and sustained its growth? And how different would the US/Canadian sports scene be, as well as its place in a global context?
 
Probably it would have helped to either avoid over-expansion or to build an open pro-rel system.

Avoiding over-expansion would do wonders for the league's long-term growth. But promotion-relegation? That could scare away potential investment. Sports business in America was well-accustomed to having closed top-flight leagues by the time the NASL came around, so it might not work in the US. It's certainly far from likely to be adopted by the current MLS in the foreseeable future.
 

Bulldoggus

Banned
Avoiding over-expansion would do wonders for the league's long-term growth. But promotion-relegation? That could scare away potential investment. Sports business in America was well-accustomed to having closed top-flight leagues by the time the NASL came around, so it might not work in the US. It's certainly far from likely to be adopted by the current MLS in the foreseeable future.
Very true, although Pro-Rel would keep it from ever collapsing and maintain interest in teams who are doing poorly.
 
Very true, although Pro-Rel would keep it from ever collapsing and maintain interest in teams who are doing poorly.
I would sharply and significantly disagree with that sentence. It would not keep it from collapsing at all. For how to get the original North American Soccer League, let me think on it for a bit. Can we have a PoD before the formation of the NASL for it?
 
I would sharply and significantly disagree with that sentence. It would not keep it from collapsing at all. For how to get the original North American Soccer League, let me think on it for a bit. Can we have a PoD before the formation of the NASL for it?

Sure, go ahead.
 
I think that a way you could see Promotion/Relegation is by generating an agreement between the NASL and the existing American Soccer League. It would both expand the base for soccer nationally while also limiting expansion because it keeps the leagues from poaching teams and markets. Having a reasonable television partner would also benefit the league as it would give them exposure for the sport in markets that are unfamiliar with the sport.
 
I think that a way you could see Promotion/Relegation is by generating an agreement between the NASL and the existing American Soccer League. It would both expand the base for soccer nationally while also limiting expansion because it keeps the leagues from poaching teams and markets. Having a reasonable television partner would also benefit the league as it would give them exposure for the sport in markets that are unfamiliar with the sport.

No big companies or figures would want to invest because they would be afraid of losing revenue, and when you are developing a new league like that you would need the investment. In Premier League and the like it works because all of the teams are established, but in American sports you need big investment. No companies would invest money in arenas and no individuals would want to own teams because their team could fall from the top.

I'm sure the games would be on local channels like Fox Sports, and maybe on NBC like Premier League Soccer.
 
When you are talking television in the US prior to the mid-1970s, it is over the air broadcast only. That means the big three networks and working around their needs for advertisers.

Advertisers in this era of sports will expect commercial breaks via time outs or naturally occurring breaks in play like an end of an inning. Soccer does not have such a break in play as it uses a continuous clock. Now, if you can convince owners and networks to start with sign boards around the field as they use today, maybe you can try to keep from having commercial breaks during the action. Add company logos to the uniforms to that then maybe you have a stable financial environment and incentive to play to remain in the upper tier of the league.

But this would still require a TV deal, even for a match of the day type event and then the network will look at market size. So unless you want New York, Philly, Chicago, and LA on in some way, shape, or form every week, there would need to be some revenue sharing akin to that which the NFL has had since the 60s.

All of this together can make soccer seething that could work in the US with Promotion/Relegation as a part of it. Does this mean we might have a Detroit team on the field sporting a Chevy bow tie like Manchester United does today? Possibly. Are the champions playing for the Winston Cup, or the Budweiser Cup? Depends on what the financial stakes offered provide the league. Is that the price the league and it's owners would be willing to accept to make the league a success? Certainly.
 
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