NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson
NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson spoke to the media via a conference call today.
In his opening comments, he noted that it was 44 days before kick off in April 4 for their 5th season. He looked back at last year’s final, calling it a “perfect ending to a very exciting 2014 season”.
He said twice that the clubs were beginning to mature.
Answering reporters’ questions, he talked about expansion, saying that some of the applicants wanted to remain anonymous until the deal was done. He hinted heavily though that there was a list of applicants.
He pointed out that NASL clubs were less centralized compared to MLS single entity, with each club allowed to spend what it can in its own market.
Asked about the league’s future in Canada, he expressed that the NASL is willing to work with the Canadian Soccer Association and ‘be their partners, even it means they have their own league.’
One area where the NASL has no presence is the west coast, a hotbed of soccer passion in MLS. Despite the MLS foothold there, the league has set its eyes on the territory:
“We have been open about our desire to be on the west coast,” Peterson said, expressing confidence that there would be one or two teams there in the near future.
He was then asked in having just one or two sides on the west coast was practical, given the distances:
“It’s a little bit tougher for the early clubs. Flying and the expense of flying is part of the equation, and it’s always going to be. We have to balance that out with the need and desire to have a full foot print. It’s impossible to enter into a national tv deal before you have that full footprint. We’re hoping we can move quickly and have some sort of critical mass out there.”
Would geographically based conferences alleviate the expense and fatigue issues that arose from expanding west?
“It’s not part of our plan today,” Peterson said and went on to say that as the NASL approaches 20 teams, all possibilities would be open including promotion and relegation between two divisions. He didn’t rule it out but did not sound that enthusiastic.
Reacting to recent USL announcements, he talked about the hot button issue of USL’s announcement of its intention to attain D2 status, he opted to go low key rather than confrontational.
“We’re always open to discussions how to organize pro soccer in this country. As far as USL going to 2nd division, it hasn’t happened yet and it’s nothing we can control. We’re just going to work around things that get in our way.”
He expressed concerns about reserve teams taking the place of amateur teams in the US Open Cup, and indeed questioned in they should be categorized at all in any future pyramid system.
“A reserve league doesn’t need a designation; 1,2,3. It should be called a reserve league.”
