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NASL announces cancellation of 2018 season

The NASL announced the cancellation of its 2018 season on Tuesday.

The league’s future has been in limbo since the U.S. Soccer Federation revoking the NASL’s Division II status in September.

In an attempt to fight the decision, the NASL filed a preliminary injunction, but the motion for that has been denied on two occasions.

“The focus of the antitrust suit to date has been obtaining a preliminary injunction to save the 2018 Season,” NASL interim commissioner Rishi Sehgal said. “Unfortunately, with USSF’s decision and the loss of the preliminary injunction, playing the 2018 Season is no longer a possibility. ”

“The focus of the antitrust suit now shifts to securing the long-term advancement of soccer in this country, not only for the NASL, but for all soccer fans, clubs, and communities impacted by the USSF’s restrictions on competition,” Sehgal said. “Also, the NASL is prosecuting a breach of fiduciary duty action against certain USSF Board members for conflicts of interest and derelictions of duty which have harmed the NASL and countless other constituents in U.S. Soccer. The NASL and its clubs will look at all avenues to return to the field for the 2019 Season.”

The three left in the NASL, the New York Cosmos, Jacksonville Armada and Miami FC, will field teams in the NPSL for the 2018 campaign.

Comments

  1. The NASL is a case study on how not to run a sports league, from start to finish. And congrats to the New York Cosmos for having the distinction of helping put the same league out of business……twice.

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  2. sure, and Windows doesn’t have the “look and feel” of apple os, MY ASS. i agree with evan, “USSF’S pro-MLS & USL, anti-NASL bias has been obvious ever since MLS & USL aligned.” why do the courts always seem to find in favor of the side with the most billionaires?

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    • You are ignoring how USSF helped NASL out for years until it became clear that they were disastrously destructive. USSF did the sensible thing in demoting them from D2 (would you go with a growing 36 team league or a shrinking 6 team league? And before you suggest anything different, NASL had the opportunity to take the exact same deal that USL took with MLS, so spare me the bullshit about the USL/MLS partnership being unfair [even if NASL was never included in that opportunity, MLS has every right to partner with who they want]), but even that was done fairly with more than enough reason. NASL got what they asked for, and it’s nobody’s fault but their own.

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  3. Want to know the real, actual reason why the NASL season is canceled?

    Answer: There are only three teams left. And no one gives a ****t about them.

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  4. i kind of hope they win, or maybe that there’s some sort of resolution with USSF, MLS & USL where perhaps the latter creates another sort of cross continental division sort of within USL itself. It could be called North American Legacy Soccer. The teams could consist mostly of ones with historic NASL names like the cosmos, and it would extend from Canada to PR, San Diego, and Mexicali (why not?).

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  5. Well, we’ll have to agree to disagree about why the NASL is going under. I think the NASL owners’ failure to invest in their league was the biggest issue. How many soccer stadiums did the NASL owners build? How many NASL teams had rosters strong enough to make it to the USOC Final? If they wanted to be called Divison 1, they should have run their league as a Division 1 league. They didn’t, and that’s not USSF’s or MLS’s fault.

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    • How many USL teams spent $500k – $750k to buy a player like Poku? How many USL teams have a player like Samaras? What about Raul?

      USL 2 is division 2 only in name as they were essentially div 3 teams that were renamed to div 2 because NASL went away.

      There are some good teams like Cincy and Tampa but how many others can string together more than 3 passes in a sequence?

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      • Right now, the most important thing is league stability. We don’t need second division teams trying to prove they’re bigger than they are. We need teams that are stable and will invest in infrastructure and developing players. Those are the things that are going to sustain a league, not flashy signings. MLS is relatively young, but the lower divisions are still infantile. Only stability and investment in the right things will bring the long term success and culture that we all want.

      • Helium makes good points but I agree generally that NASL was simply a destabilizing force who didn’t seem to realize their position. “Cosmos & Friends” is cute for a travelling circus but we actually have a viable league system here now. Integrate yourself or get lost. Otherwise we turn into boxing.

    • Why? Because a league that’s been mismanaged, with owners who lack commitment to the sport is folding? Part of the problem is that the NASL has always blamed it’s problems on USSF. This is where that strategy has gotten the league.

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      • I just don’t think the Soccer Federation should be in the business of putting soccer clubs out of business. USSF’S pro-MLS & USL, anti-NASL bias has been obvious ever since MLS & USL aligned.

      • evan – How do you figure USSF is putting clubs out of business? Why does NASL insist on only playing if they are D2? NASL is laughably run, and this is another example of that. They are shutting themselves down because they lost a case they never had any business bringing in the first place.

    • LOL! NASL has a deal done to work with MLS and then the Cosmos entered and they said No! We r gonna compete with you. Then the rhetoric started. The lies, not vetting owners, blaming others, working with a corrupt group in Traffic….a truly corrupt group, not like the fact limited, conspiracy theory lead, ignorant and little kids would have you to believe Yeah, the USSF, which had granted waivers to NASL every year of their existence as they never met standards they themsleves pushed for and helped write even once!!!! The hilarity is only overshadowed by the dumb who make things up to try and prove how smart they are, or who blindly believe snakes who manipulate and lead them by the nose. They have now destroyed two leagues. The almighty Cosmos. Geat legacy there. NASL has no one else but themselves to blame IF you know the whole story, and all of the facts. This is always ignored by those who simply want to believ what they want because they are, ya know….smart. The NASL…champions of the little, easily manipulted kids, and the willfully ignorant. Hilarious.

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      • Oh yeah…USSF is not putting clubs out of business. They can join other leagues….as they all are…except for the ones who have failed financially. Another lie of course.
        Never in the history of our game here have we had so many stable clubs, esepcially the lower levels. It’s been historic and meteoric.

        Youth trul is wasted on the young. It’s why they are targeted. So easy to lead and manipulte with lies and fantasy.

      • I’ve followed lower-league soccer as a Sounders fan since long before the USL-NASL split in ’09 so don’t assume i’m an ignorant kid, thanks. USL acted in the most spiteful, confrontational way possible towards NASL ever since ’09. you’re so well informed so I’m sure I don’t need to list the numerous examples like Puerto Rico, Tampa, San Antonio, Oklahoma, etc…
        USL’s goal was to put NASL out of business and they finally succeeded. USSF backed them all the way. USSF was just as corrupt as Traffic. I support soccer clubs, not leagues and executives. USSF’S rulings are putting clubs out of business.

    • USSF didn’t put the NASL out of business. The NASL has wrongly assumed for years that they are in competition with MLS and USL and other soccer leagues, when in America, they are actually competing with the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and college sports. MLS and USL, while not perfect, have managed to grow smartly, while the NASL has been licking door knobs since 2010. Bye.

      PS

      There’s nothing stopping NASL owners from moving to USL like like the NASL expansion team in San Diego. Let it go.

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      • Amen AzTeXan. NASL’s arrogance was baffling. Their entire business thesis seems to have been based around a wild overestimation of nostalgia for the Cosmos. I won’t miss them at all. And for those who do, take solace in the fact that they will one day be the Red Bulls.

    • There’s no crying in soccer! This is business. NASL had a poor business so they’re going belly-up. It’s not the fault of the USSF that the NASL has failed.

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    • 1904 officially announced yesterday (Tuesday) that they are moving to USL in 2019. They also sent an email to all of us on the supporters mailing list announcing the news.

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