Who Remembers The NASL?

[DaveBrett]

I grew up a fan of the North American Soccer League (NASL). It lasted 17 years, from 1968 to 1985. It was really popular in the late 1970s. But soccer's popularity nose dived in the 1980s, for reasons that aren't entirely clear. Fortunately soccer is now more popular in the USA than it has ever been. And MLS has revived the names of a number of NASL teams on the west coast.

I would love to see the NY Cosmos return to MLS in a new stadium in Queens. MLS wants a second team in NY, but it is going to be very expensive to build a new stadium. It will probably cost at least three or four hundred million to build. I grew up a fan of the Cosmos and about 15 years ago I started collecting videos of Cosmos games. They are on my web site: www.DaveBrett.com

I also know people who collect NASL jerseys. The Colorado Caribou jersey is the hardest to find because it is so rare...

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Dave Brett
Austin, TX

[Ron Obvious]

1. I do...

I do. I came to the US when that was in its heyday and while I enjoyed the NASL, boy are things better now for the soccer lover in the US, aren't they?

The old NASL wasn't really set up in way to be sustainable for the long term in my opinion, so it isn't that surprising to me that it eventually failed. I think I recall that every team had to have just one home-grown, US-eligible player on it? That didn't do much for the development of American talent or for the sport at the grass-roots level. Huge sums of money (for that time) were spent on attracting some of the biggest names in the sport, like Beckenbauer, George Best, Cruyff, Pele, but those players only came at the end of their careers for a big final paycheck, the way they might now have gone to Dubai, Saudi Arabia or Chechnya. I think only a few teams were actually financially viable in those days. Certainly the Cosmos and the Chicago and LA teams probably, but outside that? Was the league even sanctioned by FIFA? There were certainly quite a few differences from the international rules at that time. Shoot-out tiebreakers, artificial pitches, oddly sized.

The name Kyle Rote Jr is the only American player from that time who comes to mind at the moment, though I did once meet someone who claimed to have played with George Best at the time. Can't recall his name, though.

I'm not convinced the NASL really had a long-term impact on the sport, but maybe it created the first real wave of fans. I think it was only after the '94 WC that the derision for the sport began to abate and a viable US league was created and the sport really began to grow. Surely the MLS is a far superior setup for building long term success? Some big names, yes, but essentially a league for American talent to develop away from the stunting effects of the NCAA. The single-ownership model seems artificial, but it's kept the league viable and growing slowly and steadily.

[DaveBrett]

2. More on the NASL

Oh sure, the NASL was sanctioned by FIFA. If not, all those stars wouldn't have
played in it. If any soccer player plays in a league that is not sanctioned by
FIFA, then he is forever banned from playing in a league that IS sanctioned
by FIFA.

You are right that the NASL wasn't really sustainable, in large part because
they were playing all their games in rented stadiums. It's the same thing
that caused MLS to lose money for so many years. You have to own the
stadium you are playing in to make a profit.

To answer your question, every NASL team had to have at least three
North American players on the field. But that quota could be (and often
was) filled by only Canadian players. There just weren't many quality
American players at that time. Fortunately, things changed.

[regnaD kciN]

3. There were many problems with the NASL...

...but the biggest came when the Cosmos decided to emulate their baseball neighbors up in the Bronx and start splashing the cash for European superstars. Within a very short time, they had build up a team that dominated everyone else, and all the other clubs had no choice but to try to do the same, without the financial resources to do so. This is one reason why the MLS has a salary cap, and limit on the number of "designated players" each club can carry.

The second biggest problem with the NASL was that it peaked just before the days when cable became a force in broadcasting. Television was limited to the "big three" channels plus PBS in most places, with a smattering of independent channels in the bigger cities. There was no ESPN to beam games into homes, let alone a Fox Soccer Channel. Nowadays, in every MLS city I know of, you can watch their games on a regional sports or independent channel; back then, I'm pretty sure the only game broadcast anywhere was the championship final and, because the market was perceived to be so small (because there was no broadcast coverage -- talk about your vicious circle), few if any teams had radio broadcasts, either. I attended a couple of Boston Minutemen games in the mid-'70s, but the only way I knew how they were doing outside of those two games was to look up the score in the next day's sports section.

[DaveBrett]

4. The NASL on TV

You are right that the NASL peaked before cable became a force in broadcasting.
That was bad timing for American soccer.

But most NASL teams still had deals with independent local channels. It wasn't
just the biggest markets. In those days the home games usually weren't televised
to a local audience. Only the away games were televised. The assumption was
that if you put a home game on TV people wouldn't buy tickets.

Here is a good article about the NASL and TV:
http://www.ussoccerplayers.com/television-and-the-nasl


Dave
www.DaveBrett.com

[teddy007]

5. Good

Sounds like a very inspiring story. Here in Europe soccer was always rising popularity, from popuplar to extremely popular

[VWolf]

6. Cosmos season ticket holder here

Section 213 (mezzanine), front row. Also had a pass to the stadium club. I remember meeting Pele, Werner Roth, Dennis Stuart, Franz Beckenbauer, Bobby Smith and Carlos Alberto, among others. Met Henry Kissinger once after a match. I was only 9 at the time, so I didn't have the urge to slug him.

Every time they won you'd hear "Nobody Does It Better" over the PA.
And who could forget those awful cheerleaders ... The Cosmos Cheers ... blech!

Remember the 35 yard line? I think it was introduced specifically for Giorgio Chinaglia so he didn't need to run as much.

Ahhh, those were the days.

[DaveBrett]

7. Bring Back The California Surf

MLS has announced that they will be rebranding Chivas USA next season.
Who wants to see them bring back The California Surf? I do. I love the
this logo...

[BKH70041]

8. Tampa Bay Rowdies

The team in my area was the Ft. Launderdale Strikers. But of all the NASL franchises, the Rowdies had the best marketing, hands down.

[Aquavit]

9. I remember the Minnesota Strikers

but only vaguely as they were only around for one year in the NASL, and I was only just a very little kid at the time