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From: CSALLEN@uga.cc.uga.edu (Christopher S. Allen) Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer Subject: Proposal for League in USA & CDN Date: 10 Jan 1993 15:35:24 -0600 Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway Message-ID: <9301102135.AA20556@deepthought.cs.utexas.edu> Lines: 2827

OK, folks. This is very long but it is a reworked version of the three pieces that our colleage Marcus Lindroos drafted in the fall regarding the prospects for a serious pro soccer league in North America.

As "regulars" here know, most of the work is Marcus' and he should be congratulated for all the work. But those of you who also sent suggestions to him directly or to the net also should be congratulated as well.

We will be sending this to Soccer America to get it published and to intensify the dialogue in the US about a serious professional league in North America.

Any comments you folks might have, please send them to r-s-s and/or to Marcus and me.

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* PROPOSAL FOR A NORTH AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL SOCCER LEAGUE

Marcus Lindroos

and

Christopher S. Allen _________________________________________________________________

* This article was first drafted by Lindroos and was written on an HP95LX palmtop computer, mainly on the train between Helsinki and Turku between February and November 1992. Source material included copies of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, SOCCER AMERICA, SOCCER INTERNATIONAL, THE HOCKEY NEWS, BILL MAZEROSKI'S BASEBALL YEARBOOK, PETERSEN'S PRO FOOTBALL and PRO BASKETBALL YEARBOOKS, Colin Jose's HISTORY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SOCCER LEAGUE, Terry Pluto's LOOSE BALLS - HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION and countless newspaper articles on the subject. Additional statistical material and a revised version was provided by Allen, who thanks his colleague Andrei S. Markovits for his insights in his article in the journal THEORY AND SOCIETY, "The 'Other' American Exceptionalism: Why is there no Soccer in the United States?" (1987).

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The following is a concrete plan for re-launching soccer as a pro sport in America and Canada!

The purpose of this article is to stimulate serious discussion in the wake of the APSL's difficulties to stabilize its membership beyond a handful of teams. We have tried to list the main difficulties and possible solutions to the problems facing the sport. We believe there is a broad-based support for professional soccer in North America that remains undeveloped. There is enormous knowledge of pro soccer, from the "Pele generation" who became enamored of soccer -- as fans and as participants -- during the period the rise and fall of the NASL. We are publishing this Soccer America because we believe it is the best venue for addressing Alan Rothenberg, the United States Soccer Federation, the World Cup venue committees, major sponsors, and existing professional soccer organizations. As everyone knows, Rothenberg himself is working on a business plan for a new pro league so we would like to contribute to the enterprise.

The idea of trying to re-charge North American soccer by a couple of fans may sound a bit naive but doesn't have to be. After all, the new Japanese pro league was very much created because of "popular demand" by ordinary people. In Nagoya, for example, some 100,000 citizens signed a document that demanded a pro soccer team for the city - after local business had decided it was too risky and expensive. Today, Nagoyans have their brand-new Grampus 8 team and Gary Lineker to root for. We are convinced that good fan turnout for the 1994 World Cup and intense lobbying by American and Canadian fans will almost guarantee pro soccer gets a second chance in 1995. But it's vital that all fans of North American soccer act NOW as USA'94 will be the sport's last chance to prove it belongs. Another failure no one will take soccer seriously for the foreseeable future.

I - PRIMARY CONSIDERATIONS

This section is a kind of "buyers guide" aimed at owners and executives wishing to operate a major league soccer team in North America. We have listed most of the important factors that should be considered when setting up a professional league. The second cection outlines the leage structure, and the final section encompasses a financial analysis of what it would cost.

The first thing anyone interested in owning a soccer team is not expect too much, as the problems will be formidable indeed. Don't even think about making money until the 21st century. You'll have to set up a marketing operation, run an efficient stadium, scout and develop players in North America as well as overseas, perform all kinds of civic duties.

Still interested?

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OK, here is the good news. If the old NASL is anything to go by, a market for pro soccer exists - at least in some places. Teams like New York, Minnesota, Seattle, Tampa Bay and Vancouver all averaged more than 20,000 fans for most of their existence fifteen years ago. In 1984, soccer was by far the most successful sport at the Olympics, again selling out most games. The next World Cup in 1994 is expected to be even more successful. Today, we have a lot of things the NASL didn't have, most importantly the "Pele generation" of adult fans not knowing soccer is supposed to be a "foreign sport", good US- and Canadian-born players and hindsight. We know the smart moves that turned the NASL into a major league for a brief period in the late 1970s. We also know the dumb moves and the pitfalls that caused the league to fold only five years after reaching the top. In other words, the time has come for another try.

OWNERS-THE FIRST STEP:

Everything in American sports begins with the owners. Unfortunately, as far as soccer is concerned most everything ends here, too. No team can survive without solid financial backing and enthusiastic ownership. Just look at the NASL, which had teams averaging 20,000+ crowds in Seattle, Minnesota and Montreal yet lost everything in the end because of mismanagement. One of the main problems then was to find local millionaires -- or better still, committed local internationally-oriented firms who sponsor soccer in other countries (Coca Cola, Gilette, etc.) -- knowing anything about the sport and willing to invest money in it. The same problem still prevails.

As if things weren't difficult enough already, the National Football League and Major League Baseball (America's two biggest pro leagues) now insist on exclusive ownership - no NFL or MLB owner is allowed to own franchises in other sports. This is a severe blow, for many of the NASL's competent owners were NFL men. The league was founded by Jack Kent Cooke and Lamar Hunt, both prominent NFL owners, while the Robbie family (long-time owners of the NFL Miami Dolphins) controlled the highly successful Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer team. Apparently the new league will have to get on without the financial help of these people.

What kind of ownership is desirable? Either individual millionaire owners or corporations (and perhaps some local governmental participation) are the primary options. For example, the NASL's flagship franchise, the NY Cosmos, was owned by a company (Gulf & Western). One potential problem with corporate ownership is that the sports franchise could tend to become a low-priority affair (there is an unwillingness to hang tough if losses start to build up) and that the team is run as a committee with disagreement as to what coaches, players and executives the club should sign. One highly successful NASL team (Montreal Manic) folded because the owner, Molson Breweries, didn't know how to run the team. Foreign companies (Mexican TV giants

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Televisa) and soccer clubs (mainly British and Mexican) were no better. Top marks goes to a single owner (or at most a partnership of two or three people) with substantial net worth and personal commitment to soccer.

If corporate ownership is to work, it will depend on finding the right kind of sponsors. The best would be those North American-based firms which are: 1) On sound financial footing; 2) Have consistently sponsored soccer internationally; and 3) Have signed on as major sponsors for the World Cup '94; and 4) are willing to make at least a 5-10 year commitment to team sponsorship. Among the most prominent candidates -- though hardly covering all such firms -- are Budweiser, American Airlines, Gilette, 3M, General Motors (Opel), Stanley Tools, Coca Cola, 7- UP, Gatorade, Master Card, and maybe Molson deserves another shot at it too.

Financial stability is the keyword, the aggregate net worth for for an ownership group's principals should be at least $100 million and the league should seek a long-term commitment from any prospective owner (ideally, beyond 5-10 years). Even if all goes well, setting up a new pro league will be very expensive and most owners will lose several million dollars during the first years. Still, the owners will have to hang tough and keep their franchises in the local communities for a bare minimum of five years - no matter how many problems there are.

Is finding owners willing to put up with all this impossible? No, but it will be very, very difficult. Sports entrepreneurs do splash out $80 million on a baseball expansion team despite knowing it will take at least ten years before the investment starts to pay off. But this is baseball, the traditional "American pastime" and people (like European soccer team owners) are prepared to endure hardships for their team. The soccer league will be a lot cheaper to set up and run than major league baseball, yet sports entrepreneurs will think twice before committing themselves to it. If it doesn't sound fair it's because it isn't.

Unfortunately there are no shortcuts. Still, "ethnical" North American millionaires and might be worth a closer look. Some of the main backers of Greek, Scottish and Portuguese pro soccer made their millions in the US or Canada and trying to persuade them to invest in soccer in their adopted homelands instead is a good idea. The NASL did have a few English (Elton John) and would-be English (Paul Simon!) owners.

PLAYERS - THE FOREIGN CONNECTION:

1.SIGN GOOD FOREIGN PLAYERS:

This is vital if we want to give the league credibility. With big, long-established baseball, American Football and basketball leagues competing for the sports dollar, soccer had

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better be BIG and GOOD if it is going to survive. Look at the APSL, this was supposed to become a major league sometime in the future but hasn't progressed an inch during its five years of operation. Far from it, all clubs but five have folded and most good US internationals are playing in Europe. The fans have stayed away as well. Why? Because the APSL is no good! There are no stars to watch and playing standards are so low most Americans with ambitions prefer to gain experience by playing overseas. That's sad because, for the first time ever, there are truly good North American soccer players. US midfielders John Harkes and Tab Ramos are valued at $3 million while Eric Wynalda has been a scoring sensation in the German Bundesliga, and there are other promising players like Claudio Reyna and Steve Snow waiting in the wings. The solution? Import a few European and South American stars to give the league credibility and appeal. The NASL went from obscurity to front page exposure in a single year when they signed Pele for $4 million in 1975. As we will see, the key here is to sign the right players.

2.SIGN A MIXTURE OF YOUTH AND EXPERIENCE:

One of the NASL's biggest mistakes was handling out a lot of fat, guaranteed contracts to aging, over-the-hill foreign players. It was horrible, almost all of the so-called stars were 33 and over and had been out of top soccer for years. Most weren't prepared to put anything back in and consequently managed to alienate the fans. Why watch soccer if most of the big names are just in it for the money? On the other hand, building the league around young, inexperienced unknowns (local or foreign- born) is no solution either. As usual, a combination of the two plans works best. Young American and Canadian players who will grow with their respective teams, should form the backbone, with a couple of well-known GOOD foreign veterans thrown in for stability and marketing reasons. Certainly, signing "legends" such as Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and George Best was a smart move back in the 70s. These three (and others) were well-known and well-liked by the fans. A truly great player remains a significant contributor even at 33, even more so in the NASL where individual skill was more important than "work-rate" and teamwork. But the Bryan Robsons and Franco Baresis that might move West this time will not be as many as their NASL-playing predecessors.

How many foreign-born players do we need? Back in 1980, The NASL permitted 13 foreigners per team, although "only" 8 were allowed on the field. Most observers felt this was way too many, especially considering how expensive it was to import players just to have them on the bench. The solution was to import truckloads of fringe players from the lower divisions of European soccer. The APSL permits only three foreigners which isn't enough for a major league. The obvious compromise, if we continue the NASL's "one foreigner less every two years" plan would be four (of, if necessary, five) non-North Americans per team. That is eight down from 1980. The best North American players will have

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somewhere to play while the foreign "star" names guarantee that the league stays competitive. The number of foreign players will dwindle as more and more native stars enter the league.

3.AVOID CONSTANT TURNOVER:

The biggest thing in establishing soccer is continuity. Don't turn the team upside down every year the way most NASL teams did. Mike Flanagan was elected NASL Most Valuable Player for New England in 1978, yet he didn't return from Britain the next season. Teams changed, owners changed, players changed, cities changed . . . all this seriously hindered soccer's progress in the NASL years. We want owners, players and team officials that will grow with their clubs. No hasty decisions and impatience, please! The APSL is the organization to emulate here. They demanded a four-year commitment from all interested owners when the league was formed. As a result, the few people who do get franchises are prepared to hold on to soccer's long-time interests rather than abandon the league as soon as the losses start to build up. Despite the APSL's woes, this is the only way to go.

4.SPEND MONEY - SENSIBLY!

Good soccer players, though not as overpriced as their baseball-playing cousins, don't come cheaply. Young, promising British (non-English), Scandinavian, South American and Eastern European internationals usually sell for $500,000 - $1 million. Most transfers involving good players already on pro teams are in the $2 - $3 million range. After this, the sky is the limit. Juventus Turin paid $24 million for Italian star Gianluca Vialli, and few German national team players are sold for under $3 million. We would be crazy to start competing with the Italians, but every team should be prepared to pay $1 - $2 million for individual players. That way, we can have a top-class league with as many "names" as anyone ouside Italy and still keep expenses within reasonable levels. Look at the Japanese, they paid $1.5 for Gary Lineker's signature. Not much for perhaps the best English player of his generation. And, at 30, Lineker is hardly a spent force.

However, don't spend money recklessly. Some NASL teams threw away lots of money on expensive players and were forced to fold because of lower than hoped-for attendances. Soccer is business, not a toy. Do spend $3 million on that player if you believe it will help your team, but be prepared if average gates still remain at 10,000 afterwards. Bad business decisions and unrealistic expectations killed the NASL - not declining attendances.

5.SIGN BARGAIN PLAYERS:

The easiest player to sign is someone who has been written off as a bad apple. Eric Cantona is one of the most promising

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players on the French national team. Unfortunately, he has a long history of clashes with referees, team-mates and coaches and was off-loaded to Leeds in the English 1st Division for a bargain $900,000 (his original value was $4 million). Cantona provided a valuable boost for Leeds in their drive for the championship and consequently was signed to a full-time contract for $2 million, still a bargain for a starting forward on one of Europe's best national teams. As Leeds faded in the 92-93 season, he was transferred to a resurgent Manchester United for even more money. Another good idea would be to sign an agreement with the Italian league, getting foreign players on loan that have failed in Italy. Many French and Swiss clubs have done this, with some quite outstanding players going to teams that normally never could afford to sign them. Belgian star Enzo Scifo, at $3.5 million, was an expensive failure for Inter Milan in 1988 and consequently went to unfashionable Auxerre in France. There, he was one of the league's best players and was brought back to Italy after a strong showing in the 1990 World Cup.

The new pro league will have to become a major player in the international transfer market if it is to survive, always on the hunt for bargains and favorable player loans. The NASL stumbled over some quite outstanding players, only to let them move to European clubs for nothing and achieve fame elsewhere. Hugo Sanchez, then a promising 21-year-old was brought over by the San Diego Sockers in 1979. They foolishly let him move to Spain after two seasons, where he became perhaps the best striker of the 1980s. If San Diego had bought his rights, then loaned him to Atletico Madrid, they could have received millions for him a couple of years later. Same goes for Peter Beardsley, the English international who played for Vancouver before becoming a name in the English Football League. Liverpool paid Newcastle $2.5 million for his signature. How much did the Whitecaps get? Virtually nothing. Yet, smart player deals can keep even low- budget teams with attendance problems alive. Beardsley and Sanchez could have brought their teams thousands of new fans if they had stayed, millions of dollars if they had been sold at the peak of their careers (preferably to another North American team of course).

Then there is Diego Armando Maradona. The greatest player of his generation and the one athlete that probably comes closest of being a household name in America. Spain's FC Seville paid $8 for his services, although signing him would appear to be a foolish move at first sight. Isn't this the person who was voted third- most disliked person (after Saddam Hussein and Madonna!) in Italy last year? Having a guy whose career was suspended because of cocaine abuse playing in drug-soaked America doesn't appear to be a smart move either. But Maradona was generally respected and well-liked by his colleagues and it now seems like the strains of being a star in soccer-mad Argentina and Italy put too much pressure on him. And, even at 31, this guy really can play. In Miami (where he currently lives) or Los Angeles, Maradona is just another star and won't have to be afraid of receiving the same

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kind of attention he got while playing in Italy. Too bad no US club was prepared to sign him, even at $8 million he was a bargain. Maradona promptly paid back as gate receipts from his first home game in Spain brought in $3.5 million alone. Seville (traditionally one of the smaller clubs) was offered lucrative TV and sponsorship deals and almost certainly will make a huge profit this year. An American team could do the same if given the chance.

6.CO-OPERATE:HAVE THE LEAGUE SIGN PLAYERS!

This is a classic method used by new up-and-coming leagues struggling for recognition and star players. The World Hockey Association's Winnipeg Jets signed star player Bobby Hull in 1973 and when they failed to come up with the money, they received financial help from other teams and the league itself as everybody knew that Hull would help not only the Jets but everyone in the WHA. The American Basketball Association went even further, signing players by itself and pooling its resources to pay them. It would sign stars from the rival NBA to league contracts so that if a player signed with an ABA franchise and that team went out of business, he would still be paid by the league. The ABA also had the famous "Dolgoff Plan," a kind of annuity that players would collect long after their playing days were over. The ABA teams paid into this fund for ten years or so, and in 20 years the thing could be worth ten times the original sum. As only financially stable companies were used, the players were guaranteed a secure income even decades after the ABA folded.

The new soccer league will have to come with similar cost- saving schemes if it is to survive, the player-pool idea looks particularly attractive. Mismanagement was one of the NASL's biggest problems, so having at least one competent group of scouts and agents signing good players, then distributing them to teams with enough money to sign them is a great idea. While the franchise owners will be real "soccer people," it is still a good idea to assist individual franchises in picking the "right" players, coaches and executives. Another plus is that it will give the league added credibility in the eyes of the world's top players, who no longer have to worry about signing for a "Mickey Mouse" operation or at least worry about the financial aspects.

Co-operation should not be taken lightly. No league is stronger than its weakest franchise, and lack of democracy has put many leagues in trouble. NBA owners were infamous for not looking beyond the two inches of their faces and the league almost went out of business before their new commissioner, David Stern, managed to put pro basketball on the right track again. Today, the NBA is a happy family where teams consult each other on issues such as marketing (i.e, if a team comes up with a great idea it tells other league members about it) and individual franchises try to persuade local sponsors to support franchises in other cities as well. In contrast, the NHL has pretty much

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been about 21 greedy owners choosing a quick dollar over long- term investments that would have helped hockey in the long run. Most important of all will be sharing income between the strong and weak franchises. Put simply, the New Yorks playing in front of sellout crowds and earning millions from local cable television deals will have to help the Atlantas by giving up some of the gate receipts, TV and sponsorship money.

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT - DISCOVERING LOCAL TALENT

1.ESTABLISH A STRONG MINOR LEAGUE SYSTEM:

This is something the NASL neglected, only Seattle and Vancouver bothered to carry reserve sides. Why should they? With almost all stars being foreign, developing local talent was a waste of time and money. The new pro league won't make the same mistake as no more than 4-5 players will be foreign. Therefore, player development will be important. The minimum requirement is a minor league system akin to basketball's Continental Basketball Association, where the players not quite good enough for the NBA are being kept in reserve. As in the other major sports, these "farm" teams would receive most of their players and modest financial support from the pro league. Again, baseball (with its extensive minor league systen) is the role model, in fact there are many amateur and semipro soccer leagues playing at the very moment. All we have to do is somehow integrate them into the new system.

Here the USSF seems to have an interesting idea, in that the organization's "Master Plan" envisions the current APSL (obviously with about 15 more teams) to serve as the "Second Division" to the First Division that we are outlining here. The current level of play in the APSL is clearly not of international first division calibre, but it certainly could attain levels of play comparable to second divisions elsewhere. Surprisingly, the American "Third Division", the USISL is actually the most vibrant of the three divisions that the USSF -- and we -- foresee. Starting small, and with mostly amateurs and a semi-pros, the USISL has developed from a few regional groupings in the southwest and west to an approximately 30 team league for the 1993 season that has grown rapidly, but very sensibly. Establishing links among the three divisions -- with appropriate transfer fees (and perhaps "trades" which are so prevalent in other North American sports) -- is the key to a solid base of "domestically-grown" professionals.

2.SIGN NON-COLLEGE PLAYERS:

Like the other major sports, North American soccer depends on the college system for player development. Almost all promising basketball, American football and baseball teenage stars are discovered by a college, offered a lucrative scholarship to play for the school's sports team while at the

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same time receiving free education. Young, well-educated and good at sports - the American dream. Once they've graduated (usually when 21-23 years old), they're free to sign for a pro team. Unfortunately, what works for the other sports might not work for soccer. The college system is heavily geared towards the middle and upper classes, those who can afford to put their children in college. Consequently, this is where most of the players on the American soccer team come from. Except Hispanics, there are few players coming from nonwhite and working-class homes and almost no blacks - the sources that produce most of the players in other countries. Baseball, American football and basketball get around the problem because the colleges (who'll do anything to assemble good sports teams) also sign many poor and underprivilegied kids who can play - even if they aren't "college material" in the first place. College soccer, unfortunately, doesn't receive that kind of attention and there aren't too many world class, first division players coming out of it (with the possible exception of the University of Virginia). What the colleges produce is basically white, Anglo Saxon middle class athletes not big or good enough to make it in the big American sports.

Ignored by the college soccer programs, there are the poor "inner city" kids living in L.A., New York, Houston, Miami... Most of these are of Hispanic descent, mainly Mexicans and Central Americans. They are poor, speak little English, have no school education - and love soccer. Most of them are no different from their brothers living in the slums of Rio, Buenos Aires, Mexico or Naples as far as soccer ability is concerned. Yet most go unnoticed, they are never signed by local or foreign pro teams. The new US league must find a way to discover these players! The pro teams will have to set up "Anderlecht systems" in their home cities to help, sign and develop underprivilegied kids. This is what Belgian giants Anderlecht have been doing for years, signing poor 15 and 16-year-olds showing promise from South America and Africa, providing them (and their parents) with food and education in exchange for a contract with one of their junior teams. Major league baseball's "academies" in the Dominican Republic work in the same way. Soccer's system would be a lot like these two, except we are only interested in local players. The advantages are obvious, it would strenghten the local connection between team and community, give grateful minorities something to root for, not to mention the financial aspects. Running a couple of junior teams in the local city leagues and providing financial support for the players is far cheaper than having to sign a dozen European or South American athletes, the way the NASL did.

Naturally, we do not want to ignore the college game in any way just because of the local programs. All kinds of players will be needed, big-name foreigners (some at the end of their careers perhaps), up-and-coming foreigners, American & Canadian college products, inner city kids...

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THE STADIUM:

1.GET A STADIUM CONSTRUCTED FOR SOCCER:

As anyone knows, the lack of good soccer stadiums is one of the biggest problems facing the sport. In far too many cities, a soccer team will have to make do with a domed stadium possessing an artificial playing surface. AstroTurf's negative impact on all sports is well documented, yet baseball and gridiron football grin and bear it because it is much easier to maintain than real grass - particularly indoors. However, soccer cannot! No team can be expected to run on carpeted concrete for 90 minutes on a regular basis. Add to this the fact that many stadiums primarily constructed for gridiron football are too narrow for soccer and it is clear that something must be done.

The league has no choice but build new stadiums for soccer! Otherwise, roughly half of the games will be played on carpets like in the NASL days with devastating consequences for the health of the players and the game in general. Nice and tidy stadiums possessing full-size playing fields and real grass should be the norm. The snag is, some of these stadiums will have to be built by voter or legislative approval so the stadiums will have to be inexpensive. Better to look at 30,000-seat stadiums that should be big enough for all but the most important and sought-after games. The domes should not be completely abandoned, however. Playing indoors does have some advantages, weather is no problem no matter how cold it is outside.

If all members of the league are unable to build a stadium of their own right away, the next best solution -- although clearly only temporary -- is to find a 20,000 small to medium sized college stadium, preferably with a running track, and convert it for the March - September (or so) soccer league season. Davidson College, one of the 1992 "Final Four" and the host of the NCAA Championships offers a useful potential model for temporary stadium use. Davidson had a running track surrounding their gridiron football stadium but as their soccer program grew -- eclipsing both their gridiron football and track program -- the college moved the track elsewhere and was able to widen the field to create a regulation sized soccer pitch. They expanded the seating capacity from 5,000 to 8,000 for the NCAA finals -- clearly too small for a pro soccer stadium -- but the idea of local pro soccer league ownership offering to refurbish (and expand to approximately 20,000 seats) a local college facility might be a good first home for several of the teams in our proposed professional league.

MARKETING:

SOCCER & THE KIDS:

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As a participant sport for kids, soccer is more popular than any of the "big" established sports! Therefore, converting them into lifelong fans of the game should be a first priority. An aggressive promotion campaign stressing soccer's strengths as THE sport for kids will be necessary. It is fast, simple, does not require size (unlike basketball), strength and is (according to my Swedish encyclopedia) SEVENTY times less dangerous than football, where several people are killed or left permanently paralyzed because of on-the-field accidents - every year. No wonder soccer is popular. Getting TV exposure on Saturday mornings, after the children's cartoon programs, is a great idea pro basketball already has tried. The pro organizations should also build new soccer fields and update older ones in their home cities, so the kids have somewhere to play. Another important thing would be to cooperate with the local soccer programs as much as possible. The NASL used to invite local boys & girls teams to play short warmup games before the match. The idea behind this was of course to force their parents to come to the stadium as well. Having a weekly "faces in the crowd" section in the match program, introducing a number of new teenage players is another thing deserving a closer look. Another is offering discounts for registered players, or even let kids in for free on "Fan Appreciation Nights." Or we could give season ticket holders a free soccer ball - the possibilities are endless. Products aimed at youngsters (i.e. collector cards of the stars in the pro league) is necessary if soccer is to gain a foothold. What else can be done? We can send some of the star players (local and foreign-born) to the countless soccer camps for kids that are being held across America every summer. Excellent "role models" fluent in English or Spanish who know how to deal with children should be widely available. With only one match on weekends, there's lots of time for the players to spread the gospel. We could also send some of the biggest stars, all excellent speakers, on a PR tour to schools throughout the home states or provinces of the teams. Don't you think a kid who has met, say, Jurgen Klinsmann or John Harkes is person would like to come and see them play?

SOCCER AND WOMEN:

No country has more girls playing the game than the US. In fact, soccer is more popular among girls than among boys, suggesting Oscar Wilde was right after all ("Football is all very well for rough girls, but it's not a game for delicate boys!"). The womens' national team also boasts something their male American counterparts won't win in the foreseeable future, namely a world championship. The new pro league must take this into account as well. Baseball & co. are notorious for the lack of women and minorities holding important jobs, so soccer can do a lot better in this respect. No question about it, soccer should make great efforts to take care of its own. There is no reason why women wouldn't make as good coaches (junior AND senior), referees, talent scouts and administrators as their male counterparts. If a girl (for example, a former US international)

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is interested and good enough for the job - hire her! The message should be that there is a place for women in this sport other than the cheerleaders squad.

SOCCER AS A MARKETING OPPORTUNITY:

Everyone knows that soccer players make up a huge group of consumers. Yet television and corporate America, despite pouring billions of dollars in pro baseball, football and basketball every year, by and large continue to ignore this segment of the sports market. Their lack of interest for soccer is one reason why no national league has materialized since the NASL folded in 1985. Therefore, a PR campaign aimed at these groups will be necessary, stressing the impressive size of the American soccer community (two million registered players) and the possibilities it offers the business world. In this age of global entertainment, sports like basketball and pro football try to sell themselves overseas as well. Soccer is light- years ahead of the rest is this respect, and a significant number of the stars in the new pro league should be household names overseas and in Latin America too. Therefore, sports equipment manufacturers and the like should be made aware of the fact that getting John Harkes', Rudi Voller's or Gary Lineker's endorsement for a product not only sells in the American soccer community but also in Europe - an area with five times the population of North America.

As we have seen, having companies own individual franchises (or even the entire league, if USA'94 czar Alan Rothenberg had his way) could be a good idea, if done well. Equally if not more important is encouraging them to invest in soccer as more "traditional" sponsors. The "foreign" twist here would be for the North American teams to allow their local sponsor to put its company logo on the jerseys like in Europe and Latin America. This is both "un-American" and a bit unsportsmanlike (nobody likes it in Europe as it looks bad and trivializes the sport) but might make companies more interested in supporting soccer.

SOCCER AND MINORITIES:

A vital task for any US soccer league trying to survive is getting fan support from the local ethnic communities. This can be difficult. The foreign-born fans do know and care more about the game than does the average American and Canadian, but also seem to be very discriminating. That is, the ethnic fan will watch players and teams from his own country but won't watch anything else. The NASL was not very successful in this respect, partly because they apparently did not know enough about the local sports markets they were operating in. San Antonio, for example, has the country's second-largest Mexican population (52% of all San Antonians speak Spanish), yet the local NASL franchise didn't sign a single Mexican and opted for a monolingual nickname ("Thunder"). This certainly wasn't the only reason why the Thunder folded after just two season, averaging only 4000 fans,

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but it must have helped. The Cosmos was the role model of the NASL, they signed well-known and well-liked players with strong local appeal. The Italians had Chinaglia, the Germans had Beckenbauer etc.. While I am not saying that the GMs of the pro league should assemble their teams with a demographic chart in hand, it certainly helps to sign foreigners with the local market in mind. That is also true for nicknames. "Cosmos" is a generic nickname, meaning the same in English, Italian, Spanish, German, Russian...

SOCCER AND THE MAJORITY:

For all the marketing aimed at kids and women, the league will not survive unless we manage to attract their dads and husbands as well. White, American-born males aged 20-40 make up the majority of sports fans. To make matters worse, there seems to be a longing among some of this group for "pure" American entertainment for those concerned about "values."

While there is no easy method for selling soccer to new fans, particularly those thinking that soccer is "a silly foreign sport for women and minorities," one way might be to market it as a slightly different experience. These days, there seems to be growing resentment towards the overmarketed, overhyped and overanalyzed "established" sports. Indifferent, mediocre baseball players that can't pitch, field and run are pulling down $1 million annually. Despite this, both American football and baseball players repeatedly disappoint their fans by refusing to play unless their demands are met. In these days, sacred American values such as honesty and work ethic seems to have gone the way of Babe Ruth. The owners and executives are no better. Despite a deafening PR machine aimed at winning new fans, NFL owners often hold their loyal fans as hostages by demanding favorable stadium and TV deals - otherwise they threaten to move the team to another city. Baseball, despite its reputation as the sport for the people, continue to raise ticket prices and move from national TV to high-priced local pay-per-view channels most fans have no access to. Both leagues have had embarrassing cases of drug misuse, gambling, harrassment of female reporters and other public relations nightmares.

In the light of this, it seems that soccer should sell itself as a simple, down-to-Earth sport. A truly international sport, so big it doesn't have to pretend it is a worldwide affair, the way baseball and football overhype their sports with arrogant "World Series" and "World Championship" claims. While attending a soccer game should be fun and entertaining to the new fan as well, some of the excessive marketing ploys baseball and other pro sporst regularly use could well be left out. Instead of the arrogant millionaire approach taken by pro baseball players, soccer players should be pleasant and accessible towards their fans - particularly to the kids that play the sport themselves.

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To sum things up, an ounce of modesty, a dose of humility and a tablespoon of innocence might be what not only soccer but the American sports scene in general needs. One day, this could be soccer's great opportunity as there are signs that baseball and pro football are heading for tougher times because of skyrocketing salaries. Television (the lifeblood of both sports) is losing money on the current contacts and everyone is expecting that both MLB and NFL will have to make do with less money in the future. Another players' strike in baseball looks more than likely in the next few years. Neither sport is ever going to die, but soccer could get a foot in the door if baseball and football decide to suspend operations for a month or two because of player strikes.

2.MARKET REGIONALLY, NOT LOCALLY:

A small detail that undoubtedly will not be ignored by the new soccer league, but nevertheless deserves to be mentioned. Except NY and maybe LA, there aren't enough fans for a pro soccer team (or almost any sport for that matter) to survive by depending on hometown fan support only. Instead, it is necessary to get everyone within 200 miles of the stadium and preferably the entire state/province involved. The league had better emulate gridiron football and European soccer and play few (2-3 home games per month), highly-publicized games almost exclusively on weekends so that as many people as possible turn up. Foolishly, the NASL preferred to play as many games as possible during the outdoor season (late spring, summer, autumn) which meant some teams could have as many as three home games a week.

Other sports routinely use offseason "caravans" for promoting their teams in the home state. Baseball's Kansas City Royals, for example, have their players and executives -- all good speakers -- travel across Kansas and Missouri to appear at dinners, civic clubs, schools, senior and charity events. Montreal's baseball team, the Expos, had their manager speak with 500 amateur coaches and generally tried to get the entire province interested in the team and baseball before playing their first season.

3.MARKET YOUR LOGO/FIND A CATCHY NICKNAME:

Increasingly important with every new pro sports team joining the major leagues as the competition is tough already with 107 pro sports franchises in operation across the US and Canada. A nifty logo and a great nickname can give even a lesser sports team lots of publicity. When the San Jose Sharks joined the National Hockey League in 1991, both the owners and the league were determined to give hockey a high profile in what was thought to be a difficult market. Therefore, great care was taken to come up with team colors and a logo that would "sell" instantly. The Sharks executives consulted a commercial advertising agency for developing various designs, then had them thoroughly tested on people before settling for a distinct gray,

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black and Pacific Teal (a kind of mix between green, blue and gray) jersey and a logo featuring a shark chomping on a hockey stick. Sharks collectibles sold like crazy, only basketball's Chicago Bulls did better and this in a country where hockey is very much a minor sport.

The licensing department will be extremely important because, as the Sharks showed, a great design combined with good marketing can do a lot to help a new team catch on with the fans. Even soccer's image problem in the States will not be much of a hindrance. And this is big business: the average baseball team pulls down a cool $9 million from products wearing its logo. One of the important factors behind pro basketball's rise in the late 1980s was that their commisioner managed to turn NBA Properties Inc. (the company that sells NBA-licensed products) from a company that had difficulty in breaking even into a success story that brings the league $700 million annually. There is no reason why soccer can't do the same if two conditions are met. One, the marketing must be first class - Major Indoor Soccer League products were rarely seen on the advertising pages in US sports magazines. Equally important, the product (in this case the logo/ team jerseys etc.) must be appealing to the public! Unfortunately, many NASL/MISL teams weren't really exciting in this respect. At least NEWSWEEK, in a recent article, reported that exotic, foreign soccer jerseys/pants are rapidly becoming something of a fad in America so the new league had better join the fight soon. There should be no shortage of sportswear manufacturers willing to support an ambitious soccer league. The NASL had a lucrative deal with international giants Adidas who manufactured the official league ball and most of the team uniforms in an effort to enter the North American sportswear market.

As for team nicknames, ownership (usually arranging a naming contest to get suggestions from local fans) decides what the franchise will be called. The MISL and NASL had a habit for selecting silly names like "Crunch","Manic","Blast" and "Attack." All names more appropriate for pro wrestling than a "serious" sports league. The same rules apply as for any other North American sport, the team name should sound great and catch on with the fans while containing a local flavour if possible (e.g., "Sounders" as in Seattle's "Puget Sound" area, "Cosmos" as in NYC's "Cosmopolitan" image). Or "Golden Bay Earthquakes" - "it's like an Earthquake/taking control/there's nowhere to run/there's nowhere to hide!" Such is the stuff legends are made of.

4.MARKET YOUR STAR PLAYERS:

This might sound self-evident but it isn't. The National Hockey League has traditionally been blessed with classy, intelligent stars like Wayne Gretzky and Brett Hull who always have time for their fans and are great spokesmen for their sport. Yet mismanagement on behalf of the league itself has prevented most hockey players from becoming real household names south of

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the 49th parallel. Pro basketball, a sport that according to some observers was having an image problem because there were "too many" black players, came up with a program to learn its new players how to cope with fan attention and how to deal with the press. Apparently the results have been good as basketball's biggest stars tend to be the ones most cooperative off the court as well. Curiously, both baseball and gridiron football are infamous for the unpleasant prima-donna habits of some of its players - yet they continue to get most of the attention from journalists and fans alike!

Soccer, like hockey, will have to work hard to create a fan following among ordinary Americans. The essential thing is that people must care about the participants, and they will do that only if they recognize the players. As noted earlier, the new pro league will have to send its stars (both local and foreign-born) to youth soccer games, charities and the like to get in touch with "the people." Having foreign players who are able to talk to the audience only through an interpreter is a bad idea, and consequently the NASL tried to sign British players and others able to communicate in English right away if possible.

5: MAKE SURE THE LEAGUE GETS ATTENTION FROM THE PRESS:

This is most likely going to be the league's biggest hurdle, other than finding interested owners. At the moment there's virtually no newspaper coverage of soccer, in part because there isn't much to write about as long as there is no pro league but still. Never is the difference between the haves and the have- nots bigger than in the sports pages. While the tiniest rumor, the most obscure over-analyzed statistics and the most insignificant news in baseball and pro football are taken up and blown out of proportion by the press, soccer struggles to find room at the bottom of the page. But don't blame the press only. The big problem is that there are too many sports already, with two baseball leagues, three other pro sports leagues and college football and basketball fighting for media attention. As it is, the attention soccer does get is almost always negative (lack of scoring, crowd violence, Maradona's drug suspension etc.).The NASL was frequently overlooked even while Pele was still around, although the fact that soccer has been a popular participation sport for twenty years now should ensure there are more sportswriters knowing anything about the sport than before.

The PR department of the new league will have a lot of work to do. In fact, getting publicity when launching the league will be so important that temporarily BUYING advertising space in major sports magazines like SPORTING NEWS and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED should be considered. The ABA teams used to have someone write short game summaries, the send them to the local newspapers so the team would get some publicity even if the papers couldn't send a reporter to the game. Cooperating with existing soccer magazines (SOCCER AMERICA, SOCCER INTERNATIONAL, and SOCCER DIGEST for example) will be important, and an attempt should be

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made to increase the distribution to all parts of the States. Currently, far from all newsstands sell soccer magazines. The league should take care of the basics by making a full-color yearbook & media guide featuring schedules for the forthcoming season, team rosters and analyses, player profiles and photos, stats for previous seasons and the like. Countless independent companies publish yearbooks for baseball and pro football, but minor sports such as hockey and soccer must do this themselves. Trying to capitalize on other local sports events (the NBA finals, college basketball's Final Four tournament) by scheduling a soccer game, then inviting the hundreds of sportswriters covering the other sport to come and watch before the "main attraction" is a good idea.

As for the individual clubs, they should offer fans attending the game a possibility to read about the team by selling a good match program. British clubs are famous for doing exciting, full-color magazines filled with interesting and informative facts. The best English Premier League programs list both the home side and this week's visiting team (including player-by-player portraits, stats and photos), columns by the chairman of the board, coach and team captain, readers pages, "Commercial Chats" (ads for team jerseys, umbrellas, baseball caps etc.), reviews & previews of recent and forthcoming matches and a folksy look at the local youth scene - all in full-color. These sell for only $2 and would be even more important in North America as it would make the fans forget about the (anticipated) lack of coverage by local newspapers.

II - THE STRUCTURE OF THE SOCCER LEAGUE

Suppose we could turn the CBS/ABC/NBC TV moguls, Donald Trump, Ted Turner and about twenty other millionaires into soccer fans and then start a new high-profile pro league in North America... What would it be like? Well, this would be *our* dream league:

LEAGUE NAME: "National Soccer Association"

This is mostly by default. We wanted to distance the new league from the NASL and there are already at least three "National Soccer Leagues" in operation (Australia, South Africa, Canada), while the acronym for "North American Soccer Association" (NASA) isn't unique either! Also, the "association" part sums the whole idea up nicely: this is more than just a league. Plus, the National Basketball Association is not a bad role model...

LEAGUE SEASON: March - October

The season would run from March (including pre-season games) to September or early October. This worked out well for the NASL. Except baseball (April-late October), soccer will pretty much be the only show in town from June to September. The schedule will be slightly unbalanced in that teams from warm-weather states

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will play plenty of home games in March and April, partly to avoid conflicts with baseball, partly because this is the most pleasant time of the year to attend outdoor soccer games (summers in Florida and Texas tend to be uncomfortably hot and humid). Same goes for the cold-weather teams playing in domed stadiums. Heck, if we have to use those carpeted hellholes, let's try to use them to our advantage. The rest (New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and similar cold-weather cities) will play fewer home games during the first two months, then get more home games as the season progresses. Generally, most games will be on weekends when the local baseball team is playing away from home. The exception might be some of the larger markets such as NY, LA and Chicago, where soccer teams will also try to schedule home games for dates when there are as few competing sports (mainly baseball but also hockey and basketball during the first few months) around as possible. The average number of home games per month will be two (+- 1 or 2 games depending on climate factors), so there will be plenty of time to build up hype and promote the games.

NUMBER OF FRANCHISES: 16-18

This is the chosen compromise between a truly national league (24+ franchises, good for publicity) and a smaller but competitive setup (12 teams, great because enough local players should be available with few teams around). The drawback is finding enough North American players for all teams, and signing four or five foreigners per team will be necessary or else playing standards will suffer. World Cup'94 czar Alan Rothenberg proposes an 8-to-12 team league which, in our opinion is not enough if we want soccer to become a truly national sport.

NUMBER OF NON-NORTH AMERICANS PER TEAM: Four (Five at the most).

Another logical step from the NASL, which had 11 in its last year of operation (1984). This will give the Tab Ramoses, John Harkeses and Craig Forrests a chance to play while the rest remain on the bench until they are good enough to compete at this level. As for the foreigners, about half should be up-and-coming Brits (plus an ageing star like Glenn Hoddle, Bryan Robson, Terry Butcher and Mark Hateley here and there). The rest would be "great value"-players from Europe (probably mostly East European-and Scandinavian internationals as they are less expensive than their Central & Southern European colleagues), South America and Africa, i.e., star players like those currently on the rosters of most Spanish, French, German, Greek and Belgian elite teams. Most of the foreigners probably would cost $500,000 - $1 million. This is of course much by APSL standards, but still within the limits for a major league enjoying the kind of fan support the NASL had in its heyday. Except New York, most teams would be well-advised to avoid signing enormously expensive (>$3 million) mega-stars like Gullit, Maradona etc. - at least in the beginning. In addition, I would like to have a low-budget "farm league" in the background, where the American and Canadian

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players that aren't good enough for the pro league could hone their skills.

MEMBER CITIES: NASL, CSL and World Cup Venue Sites

What North American cities can support major league soccer? Good question! The NASL tried no less than 40 different cities and still was unable to find a winning combination. Should we go for big cities/media markets like New York and Los Angeles? This is after all where the potential fans should be since a significant part of their population is foreign-born (for example, Chicago is the world's second-largest Polish-speaking city after Warsaw!). Well...soccer was a big hit in New York, but not in Los Angeles despite the huge Latin population living in southern California. How about small cities with a metro population of 500,000 - 1,000,000 inhabitants? None of these have major league baseball or American Football teams, surely they will watch soccer? That was certainly true for the Tulsa Roughnecks (up to 20,000 spectators per game), but New Haven/Connecticut, Las Vegas and Hartford did not care that much about their teams. As a colleague of ours, David Akkarach, pointed out, the crucial factor is probably competition from other diversions. The folks in Honolulu and Las Vegas have other options than watching a boring soccer team. Obviously Tulsa is different, and once soccer is firmly established as a pro sport in the traditional big markets, the new league should focus its attention on the mid-sized cities in the southern states. Places like Louisville, Richmond, Greensboro, Memphis, Birmingham and (of course) Tulsa have no traditional major sports league teams of their own and most likely won't get any. Currently, the area's conservative reputation might be too much of an obstacle when trying to promote a new sport there, but as soon as the "silly foreign sport" rap no longer is a factor these cities could form the backbone of a 30-team league. The NBA left the mainstream a bit by letting in Utah, Sacramento, Charlotte and Orlando but hasn't had any reason the regret the decision as fan support has been excellent. Anyway, let's take a look at the selection criteria:

1 POPULATION: As stated earlier, a large population ensures there are many potential fans. One drawback is of course that soccer must compete for local support with other pro sports. A huge ethnic minority is a plus as a significant part of the NASL fans were foreign-born.

2 LOCATION: This is important for obtaining a TV contract. The league won't have nationwide appeal unless all areas (the Midwest, the South, the Pacific coast states, Canada...) have at least a few teams each. Therefore, the eighteen teams chosen encompass all parts of the North American continent. There is no regional imbalance to speak of in "Our" League although the West Coast and Canada do have more teams than their share of the overall population otherwise would entitle them to.

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3 FACILITIES FOR SOCCER: Most stadiums in North America were not designed with soccer in mind. Best marks go to a stadium with a natural playing surface, huge seating capacity and enough room for a full-size soccer field. Indoor AstroTurf stadiums are unavoidable in some cities because the local climate makes playing outdoors all the time difficult, though *any* artificial turf facility should be temporary until a wide enough grass stadium is built (or found). If the Pontiac Silverdome experiment in growing grass indoors -- a requirement for the Detroit World Cup Bid -- is a success, it might bode well for soccer's long term presence in the domes. The first soccer test of the "indoor grass" experiment in the Silverdome comes in June's US Cup matchup between Germany and England.

4 TRADITIONAL SUPPORT FOR SOCCER (the NASL, mostly): Some people might argue that fan support for NASL soccer shouldn't be taken that seriously as that league folded almost a decade ago. We disagree. Any city can attract 40,000 for a single exhibition game but finding enough fans for 20 games per year is a different matter. The NASL is the only serious attempt at launching soccer as a major pro sport and therefore should be studied carefully by anyone planning to start a new league.

We've divided the 16-18 cities that are, we believe, the best choices into two groups. GROUP I includes the cities whose NASL teams pulled in average crowds of over 19000 at least once during their existence. GROUP II: cities where soccer managed to establish a beachhead in the NASL years but couldn't penetrate deeper. (See the appendix at the end of the article for details on each of the potential league sites. We have listed what we feel are the top 16-18. There would need to be two more).

If there is a pattern in the cities that supported NASL soccer well, it seems to be that they either didn't have major league baseball (also a summer sport and usually using the same stadiums as well) or didn't care that much about their local baseball team. Of the 10 cities with the best fan support, five (Washington, Tampa, Vancouver, Portland, Tulsa) didn't have baseball, six if we include San Jose (sure, San Francisco and Oakland did have MLB clubs but the Earthquakes were San Jose's own team). Seattle probably fits the second description, putting butts in the seats for major league baseball games has always been a problem there. About 60 - 65% of all NASL teams had to compete with baseball for local support, so this seems to indicate something. There were of course numerous exceptions from the "no baseball-will watch soccer" rule (e.g. Denver, Miami, San Antonio, Rochester...).

Then there is the "image" question. We think it would be great if we could build on some of the good things achieved by the NASL. For example, there were eight teams that lasted at least five years and drew close to 19,000 spectators per game: New York Cosmos, San Jose Earthquakes, Washington Diplomats, Minnesota Kicks, Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders, Tampa Bay

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Rowdies, Vancouver Whitecaps. The average age of these franchises is seventeen years, a relatively long time in the "here today- gone tomorrow" world of American sports. In 1974, 20% of the current professional baseball, basketball, football & hockey franchises either weren't born yet or were playing in another city! There was pro soccer in Seattle, Tampa Bay & Toronto before baseball & American Football came to town. It would certainly be great if we could revive some of the old, popular teams and not have to start from scratch again.

THE FUTURE - BEYOND 2000 A.D.

The sixteen (or hopefully) eighteen teams that would play in OUR League represent, on paper, the best bets for running a pro soccer league. The drawback is that they are almost TOO good as there is no margin for error. About half of the cities mentioned above are absolutely essential, if the LA's and Chicagos fail it will be a massive blow to the league and its financial backers. The other nine teams, such as the Canadian franchises and the smaller markets on the west coast and in Florida aren't as essential and can be moved if attendances turn out to be lower than hoped for. Then again, if soccer can't make it there - where will it succeed?

The league should remain at sixteen-eighteen teams for the foreseeable future as there will have to be enough new local stars to first bring down the number of foreigners per team to four (as in Mexico) while still ensuring that the product will not be watered-out by letting in more teams. Still, there are markets deserving a closer look - especially if there have to be some franchise shifts. OHIO as America's seventh largest state is on top of the list. Columbus, the only 1 million+ city without a major league team looks like the best bet as it possesses a full-size stadium although Cleveland (a "major league" city that has supported indoor soccer well) would be more interesting. A second team in TEXAS is also a high priority. Houston is the largest city without a soccer team, but lack of an outdoor stadium and bad fan support for its NASL team deducts many points. Instead, San Antonio deserves a second chance as there is only one other pro sports team and a huge market for soccer exists because of the local Mexican community. Elsewhere in the west, DENVER as one of only five remaining cities having an APSL team probably should be one of the founding members of the new league as well. Still, great fan support for US exhibition games against Uruguay and Scotland isn't quite good enough to erase memories of the two NASL teams that folded because of low attendances. In the south, there is ATLANTA because of its location in the middle of a soccer-less region although a previous lack of fan interest means that support for the Olympic soccer tournament in 1996 will have to be exceptional for the city to merit serious consideration. Finally, there are the remaining 1 million+ markets that have no baseball team (Phoenix, Indianapolis, Buffalo, New Orleans).

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III - WHAT WOULD IT COST?

Running a major professional soccer league is obviously going to be a lot more expensive than anything tried before, save possibly for the NASL. Nevertheless, it will be a bargain compared to other sports as far as expenses are concerned. A rough outline of what sources the average pro soccer team would expect to get the money from-

- NATIONAL and CABLE TELEVISION will be counted on to supply some 2-3 million dollars annually. These are not very large sums compared with the kind of money each pro football ($21 million), baseball($14 million) and pro basketball ($8 million) team is receiving. In all the soccer league is asking for 1/5 or about $45 million of the sum the cheapest established sport (basketball) is pulling down. By contrast, ABC alone paid the World League of American Football (very much a minor league) some $40 million - shared by ten teams.

The best bet for a national TV contract appears to be ABC (and most importantly, ESPN) the outlets that are going to broadcast the World Cup nationally. Soccer should try to get one regular season game per month on national television (perhaps more in March and April, before the baseball season starts), plus both semifinal games and the league championship game (perhaps the NASL's "Soccer Bowl" could be revived?) in September/October. ESPN, the sports cable network owned by ABC, will be counted on to show at least one regular season game on weekends, plus a "soccer highlights" summary of all games played that week.

The "experts" claim that any league without a lucrative TV contract is doomed. They are right. Perhaps after ten years, when most of the pro teams have solid fan support in the 20,000 range, local television and pay-per-view deaks will be sufficient to keep the league afloat even if there is no national coverage of the sport. But the cost of building am entire league almost from scratch and the relatively small crowds that will attend the games in the first few years means that the pro league MUST get as much money from TV as possible.

-LOCAL TV & RADIO accounts for an additional $1 million, perhaps more. Almost all North American sports teams have local cable TV companies show away games on television to the fans back home.

-TV COMMERCIALS AND INTERRUPTED ACTION: Some people, most notably FIFA's Joao Havilange have suggested that soccer leagues might even be forced to change some rules (i.e., dropping the current 2 * 45 minute format for pro football's 4-quarters-of-15-minutes format) in order to create breaks for TV to insert commercials. This was met with unilateral opposition from all soccer purists, but is this the only way to increase revenue from TV?

We think not!

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As for the 4 quarters vs 2 halves, we are dead set against it because it alters the structure of the game itself. If the purpose of such a radical change is to make it more attractive for US advertisers, then it is being done for the wrong reason. We think the Havilange "trial balloon" on this issue about a year ago was just that and nothing more. Given the firestorm of criticism that resulted, the issue is dead-and-buried for a long time.

As for the advertisers, we think they can get a better deal. Why does UNIVISION telecast soccer without commercial interruption while English language broadcasts on PRIME and SPORTS CHANNEL (and especially TNT's World Cup 1990 coverage) are constantly interrupted? We think the reason is because the English language media never even suggested that matches be shown uninterrupted, or perhaps were unwilling to challenge the prevailing pattern of TV sports sponsorship in North America. In contrast, UNIVISION realizes that any sponsors that allowed their product to interrupt the action would not be viewed favorably by the public.

There are more creative ways to get revenue without breaking the action and still let sponsors get the exposure they want:

- More signs on the touchline - graphic logos at the bottom of the screen every 10-15 minutes for 10-15 seconds - graphic logos on goal replays (the last two are done on Univision) - advertising on the uniforms

We realize the last point may not sit well with American soccer fans, but if it means that we can watch 45 minutes of play uninterrupted the way it is supposed to be played, then we can live with it. Some people suggest that such a change won't be accepted in the US. Well, many of the sports equipment manufacturers have good-sized logos on the uniforms now, particularly in basketball, American-football, and hockey. The logos are specifically for the manufacturers of the equipment itself, however. Yet if you look at a sport like auto racing in the US, the drivers and cars are like moving billboards and no one seems to mind.

We do feel that if a US pro soccer league doesn't make a deal up-front about corporate logos INSTEAD OF breaks in the TV action, we fear that, left to their own devices, the corporations will push for the logos anyway. We insist that there must be a precedent established up front so the structure of the game (2 X 45 minute halves) can be preserved.

-ATTENDANCE? Assuming the average team attracts NASL-size crowds of 12,000 about twenty times (preseason+regular season+playoff games) and the average ticket costs $15 (halfway between baseball's $11 and the other sports' $20-$30)), revenue from the

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turnstiles brings in $3 - $3.5 million a year. This sounds reasonable enough and might even represent and underestimate of soccer's appeal. The seventeen markets we have chosen have an all-time NASL average of 13,500 but this includes the "dark years" from 1969 to about 1973 when the league did not even pretend to be a major league operation. It is interesting to note that the clubs get almost as much from TV as they are getting from ticket sales!

-CONCESSIONS, assuming the club owns the stadium, brings in about $2 million. In any case the local community will be counted upon to offer some modest financial support as sports franchises create lots of jobs, both directly and indirectly (for local hotels, restaurants etc.). For this reason, most cities try to prevent their local sports teams from moving.

-LICENSING from jerseys, sweaters, umbrellas, baseball caps etc. could be a lucrative business if the marketing and product are good. Baseball gets about $9 million from this, soccer should begin by aiming for $2 million.

-SPONSORSHIP DEALS: Unlike European soccer, pro sports teams in America are not allowed to display the names or logos of their sponsors - even if that company owns the franchise. This makes sense from an estethical point of view, but financial realities might well force the US league to follow the example of its European and South American brothers. In Europe, a good sponsorship deal can bring a major soccer club an additional $2 - $3 million annually. If the sponsor owns the team as well (the preferred option in Alan Rothenberg's plan), the sum of money will of course have to be much higher. Corporate ownership does have some advantages (especially when launching a new sports league), but it is important to keep commercialism in check. For example, naming soccer teams after their sponsors should be avoided at all costs. The Italian basketball league is currently the only major sports league in the world which allows this. Consequently, there are teams like Benetton (clothes manufacturer) Treviso, Knorr (food products) Bologna, Il Messagero (Newspaper syndicate) Rome, Philips (home electronics) Milan . . . Not only does it sound like all Italian basketball players are employees by big business rather than exciting sports profiles in their own right, most teams change names several times during their existence. Since 1986, the Milan-based team has been known as Tracer, Simac and Philips because of new sponsorship deals. This can only confuse the public and does not make it easy to market products wearing the logo of the team.

All in all, we might expect an annual income of some $14 million - 20% of baseball's total. Then again, the average soccer team will have fewer expenses than MLB clubs - who pay the players on the team some $25 annually. Important costs include:

-TRAVEL. Not much of a problem for soccer as there will only be perhaps 17 away games per regular season and because of the

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comparatively small number of players on a soccer team (13-16). That translates into 250 air tickets, while baseball's average is 700 (=26 road trips * 27 players), pro football consumes about 400 tickets (=8 * 47) and pro basketball needs about 500 (41 * 12). This estimate does not include team officials, coaches and others who accompany the players on road trips. Unlike football and hockey, there is no need to haul around truckloads of heavy equipment either. The resulting price tag of perhaps $50,000 annually is a major problem for a minor league operation such as the APSL, but any major pro league troubled by minor expenses like these is in serious trouble.

-PLAYER SALARIES, with 18 full-time professionals on the team, account for some $3 million - translating into an average salary of $160,000. This is only about half of what NHL players (currently the lowest paid athletes in pro sports) are getting for their efforts, but still represents 50% more than the best- paid players of the defunct MSL were pulling down. These numbers are inflated somewhat by the four "established" foreign-born star names who might get annual average salaries of perhaps twice the league amount. The best American players, like John Harkes, Eric Wynalda and Roy Wegerle, will get around $200,000 or the kind of money paid by their current European employees. In all, the salaries will be quite competitive especially as income taxes are much lower in the States and there is no reason why several foreign star players shouldn't want to play stateside if the league is good. Incidentally, the world's best soccer players receive far less money than their baseball and basketball counterparts! Soccer's best paid player last year was Real Madrid's Yugoslavian star Robert Prosinecki at $2.5 million - excluding bonuses and endorsement contracts. Sharply rising salaries in Italy almost certainly means there are better paid players than Prosinecki today, however.

-Paying TRANSFER FEES to foreign clubs for the stars we buy is a necessary evil that can be minimized by carefully choosing the players to sign. Hiring players on loan from Italy, England, Germany and Spain (but for the ENTIRE season only!) is one possibility. Because of the huge expenses that every team will have to cope with during the first few years, the teams will have to keep a close eye on their wallets. The average team should begin by signing mostly local, promising players and four modestly well-known priced foreign veterans. Every year there are countless "bargain buys" available including these transfers that took place the past season:

+Andy BREHME. A 1986 and 1990 World Cup veteran, the legendary German left back moved from Italian giants Inter Milan to Real Zaragoza of Spain for a paltry $350,000 this summer. A bargain for a player who, even at 32, still is a regular on the German national team. Voted one of the world's seven best by WORLD SOCCER in 1990.

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+Sergio GOYCOCHEA. The Argentina international goalkeeper was the main reason why Maradona & co. managed to qualify for the finals of the 1990 World Cup. His spectacular saves against Italy and Yugoslavia provided some of the few exciting moments in the finals tournament. Transferred to Brest of France for $400,000 and returned to Argentina this summer. Not much for a 29-year-old top-class goalkeeper.

+Carlos VALDERRAMA (midfield, 30 years) and Rene HIGUITA (goal, 26 years). Both from Colombia. Valderrama was the 1987 South American player of the year but failed to settle with Valladolid of the Spanish league, despite possessing excellent technique and organisational ability. His last transfer was $500,000 - a ridiculous sum for one of the game's most colorful profiles. Known as the "South American (Dutch star Ruud) Gullit" because of his Bob Marley hairstyle. Rene Higuita returned home to Colombia with Valderrama from Valladolid, his flamboyant sorties in midfield not being suited for the Spanish game. The transfer fee was a modest $400,000. Another underappreciated World Cup'90 star who might make a wonderful marquee name in America.

+Dariusz "Jackie" DZIEKANOWSKI (midfield, 30 years). Perhaps the most technically gifted of all Polish players, "Jackie" had a fallout with Glasgow Celtic management and was transferred to lowly Bristol City of the English 2nd Division in January 1991 for a paltry 400,000 dollars. Has been a huge hit there and is still playing occasionally for Poland. A veteran international with more than sixty international games under his belt.

Marquee names? The NASL was hell-bent on assembling teams of big stars in the twilight of their careers and why not? Real superstars are significant contributors even in their 30s, and Pele, Beckenbauer, Cruyff, England, Best, Ball, Chinaglia etc. were sound investments as major European clubs dislike signing older players because the European game is physically demanding due to the huge number of games played. Players who will be thirtysomething in 1995 include Maradona, Holland's star trio of Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten and Frank Rijkaard, Italian stars Walter Zenga and Franco Baresi, Brazilian veteran Careca, German legends Brehme, Rudi Voller, Jurgen Klinsmann and Lothar Matthaeus, French superstar Jean-Pierre Papin, England's Chris Waddle, Bryan Robson, Gary Lineker and Peter Beardsley . . . All well-respected and well-known players among soccer fans around the world. Chances are that their current teams are prepared to release them outright for a modest fee by the time the new North American league is a reality. Lineker only cost Grampus Eight of Nagoya $1.5 million, and Beardsley and Waddle moved to new teams for similar sums this year.

As American players improve, persuading the ever-growing contingent of players under contract with European pro teams will not be as easy as it once was. Most of the players can still be bought for relatively insignificant sums of money. Five players are an exception, though. Goalie Kasey Keller (Millwall,

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England), midfielders John Harkes (Sheffield Wednesday, England) and Tab Ramos (Real Betis, Spain) and forward Eric Wynalda (a scoring sensation with Saarbrucken of the German league) are generally regarded as four of the more promising young players on the continent and their value on the transfer market has risen accordingly. Stupidly, the United States Soccer Federation chose to release the players outright rather than retain their rights while borrowing them to foreign clubs. The fifth player, striker Roy Wegerle, cost Blackburn of the English Premier League almost $2 million a year ago although his value probably has gone down somewhat, though his salary is $170,000. Yet these five Americans are more important to the league than any foreigner and must be bought back.

CONCLUSION

Finally, we hope that this article stimulates strong and vibrant discussion among soccer players, coaches, fans and (we hope) soccer owners. The World Cup's coming to the United States offers us a tremendous opportunity to build a solid foundatation for a topflight professional league in the world's greatest sport. Let's not let this opportunity go the way of the NASL or, worse yet, just fritter away.

SIDEBARS and APPENDIX SECTION

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England's best-paid player last year was John Barnes at #500,000, or about $900,000 at the time. The minimum salary (this was according to THE EUROPEAN) is about #7,500 for deep subs under contract by minor clubs. This isn't good, considering the huge number of games (up to 80 per season) the top athletes have.I believe this is one of the main reasons why there are comparatively few non-British players in the Premier League - they simply get more money from playing on the continent. *IF* a new North American league becomes reality, *IF* the teams are successful enough to sign premier talent from Europe and *IF* standards of play are good enough for ambitious players to move to American and Canada (three big ifs, and it won't happen for some time), it could have a considerable impact on the Premier League.

The "Top Five" in 1991-92:

Highest Lowest (in millions of British pounds) ITALY: 1.4 .020 SPAIN: 1.5* .010 FRANCE: 1.2 .0096 GERMANY: 0.6 .012 ENGLAND: 0.5 .0075

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(*=Real Madrid's Robert Prosinecki, Europe's best paid soccer player last year).

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FOR NASL, SUCCESS TURNED OUT TO BE DISASTER

In 1977, the struggle at last appeared to be over for the NASL. Average attendances had risen by over 200% since Pele was signed in 1975 and the league surpassed the 10,000 mark for the first time, with the New York Cosmos averaging 45,000 fans at the brand-new Giants Stadium. Still, the league was having problems in some markets. The NASL had lost two teams after the 1976 season and another (the New Haven-based Connecticut Bicentennials) went under in 1977. Another three, St.Louis, Hawaii (Honolulu) and Las Vegas had to be moved to Anaheim CA, Tulsa OK, and San Diego respectively because of poor fan support. This meant only one club (Dallas Tornado) had survived from the league's first season in 1968!

Stupidly, the NASL chose to continue the wild ride instead of regrouping and helping the existing clubs by bringing in no less than seven new expansion teams! An enormous gamble (half of the 24 teams had never played in their respective cities before the 1978 season began!) that eventually backfired when ten clubs soon folded. Former NASL commissioner Clive Toye told WORLD SOCCER magazine that this was the most fatal of all bad decision made by the NASL. Most of the new owners knew nothing about soccer and were just interested in owning a major-league sports team. According to Toye, they did not understand that the existing owners had worked like slaves to bring the league to what it was, they were not prepared to hold on to soccer's long- time interests like the "old guard" led by Dallas Tornado owner Lamar Hunt did.

Part of the problem was pressure from ABC, who wanted a stronger national presence to create more interest and better ratings for its nationally televised NASL games. Thus it is understandable that the league wanted to revive Detroit, Boston and Philadelphia - although the latter two had failed to support pro soccer only two years before and would fail again. Houston fit into the same group, but Denver and Oakland were pointless revivals of old teams that had failed to catch on in the past (both moved almost immediately) while Memphis never had had a single pro soccer team before. By 1982, all the new teams were gone and the league lasted only two more years.

What would have happened had the NASL been content with adding only two or three teams while demanding long-term commitments and financial stability from the new owners? Some people argue that the league was doomed anyway, that there simply weren't enough American players, enough fans or enough interest for the pro game to survive on a national basis. Still, the NASL

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just might have been able to survive the recession in the early 1980s had the owners been able to tighten their belts while the league was on a roll in the 1970s. "That's what killed us - success", according to Toye. Fifteen years later, any prospective new league had better take notice.

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Appendix: Site Details - 18 Cities

("NASL RECORDS" lists the highest average attendance by a NASL team playing in the area and the year the record was established. The second part is the single-game record).

I. THE GOOD:

NEW YORK,NY CITY POPULATION: 18054000 (Metro area) STADIUM: Giants(76891) NASL RECORDS: 47856(1978)/77691

PRO: The nation's no.1 media- and soccer market. Diverse population extremely large Italian, Irish and Hispanic minorities. One New Yorker out of four was born abroad. An extensive amateur soccer program, four of American soccer's brightest prospects (John Harkes, Tab Ramos, Claudio Reyna and Tony Meola) are NY/NJ products. The NASL's flagship franchise, the NY Cosmos, played here and had better fan support than any other team.

CON: Not much. Lots of competition from other sports (nine pro sports teams) does mean soccer had better sell itself as a major-league sport right away. Nobody cared about the Cosmos until Pele came to town in 1975.

FACILITY: This is a problem. Giants Stadium, which is where the Cosmos used to play, was built in 1976 for the NFL's NY Giants and its playing field is a bit narrow (73yd.) for soccer. This is not a big problem, but its artificial playing surface is and the stadium authorities have been reluctant to replace it with real grass. The city's two baseball stadium (Yankee and Shea Stadium) cause no such problems but, as most baseball-only stadiums, are far from ideal for soccer.

KEY TO SUCCESS: Same as anywhere else. Ownership must find a balance between high-priced foreign stars and local, promising players, promote the game hard and try to find its niche on an already crowded sports scene. Reviving the Cosmos nickname might be a good start. Trying to convince Donald Trump to build a second, better football/soccer stadium wouldn't hurt either.

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BAY AREA (San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose),CA CITY POPULATION: 5953000 (metro area) STADIUM: Several/Spartan(30000) NASL RECORDS: 19286(1976)/25048

PRO: Enthusiastic support for soccer dating back to the NASL (San Jose Earthquakes) to present-day US national team exhibition games. "Live and let live" mentality of diverse (large Chinese, Italian, Portuguese and Mexican groups) population has made it easy for soccer to gain a foothold.

CON: Like most American mega-markets, there's much competition for the sports dollar from other sports (five other pro teams). Two baseball teams in San Francisco and Oakland means that San Jose might be a better choice as home for a soccer franchise.

FACILITIES: Spartan Stadium, home of the NASL San Jose Earthquakes and currently the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks of the NPSL, looks like the best bet. This is a natural-grass football stadium owned by San Jose State University that is just the right size for soccer. Other options include Candlestick Park (61000) in downtown San Francisco, although it is a bit cold for summer sports. There is also cavernous Stanford Stadium(86019), another college gridiron stadium that will host some World Cup games in 1994. Both have a natural playing surface.

KEY TO SUCCESS: Soccer is faced with a pleasant problem here. Do we choose San Jose, the affluent, rapidly growing white-collar area south of the Bay that is now bigger than San Francisco itself and still doesn't have a baseball team? Or do we settle for San Francisco and Candlestick Park with its central location and big-league image if the baseball Giants decide to abandon the city? As always, baseball is the key factor.

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WASHINGTON DC POPULATION: 3646000 (metro area) STADIUM: Robert F. Kennedy(53351) NASL RECORDS: 19205(1980)/53351

PRO: Largest city left without a baseball team. America's 9th largest media market. Washington and nearby Baltimore (pop.:2303000) have one of the country's largest youth soccer programs and its large foreign contingent (mainly diplomats and business executives) is a potential fan group. 1990 World Cup regulars Des Armstrong, Eric Eichmann and Jimmy Banks are from the DC Area.

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CON: The NASL Washington Diplomats attracted a lot of fans after signing Johann Cruyff in 1980, but fan support was unreliable both before and after that and the team folded in 1981. Three other sports teams.

FACILITY: No problems here. RFK Stadium (one of the USA'94 venues) is ideal for soccer in every way, and if the new 78,000 stadium is built by Jack Kent Cooke and the DC government by the World Cup in '94, the stadium issue will be even more favorable.

KEY TO SUCCESS:

Promoting soccer among blacks, who make up 70% of Washington's population and provide 50% of the nation's major league baseball, football and basketball players. Yet, soccer is not popular and few African Americans (Armstrong, Banks, Dante Washington, Troy Dayak) are playing for the national soccer team.

---- MONTREAL,PQ POPULATION: 2828349 STADIUM: Olympic(56384) NASL RECORDS: 23704(1981)/58542

PRO: "The only European city located in North America." French is the majority language (66%) with huge Anglophone(16%), Italian and German minorities. Canada's second-largest city, yet there are only two other pro teams (ice hockey and baseball). Familiarity with hockey should create a better understanding for soccer as well. Enthusiastic support for the Montreal Manic NASL team was destroyed only by mismanagement. Baseball -"a silly foreign sport"-isn't the factor that it is in the States.

CON: Still something of an untested market, and the CSL's Montreal Supra have largely been neglected by the sports public. Like most North Americans, Montrealers will look twice only if the soccer on offer is world-class.

FACILITY: Stade Olympique (built in 1976 for the Olympic Games) is definitely a problem. On the plus side, it was built for track & field and soccer - not baseball. But it possesses an awful, hard artificial playing surface, and both fans and players (mainly those of the Expos baseball team) complain that it is cold and unpleasant. It would help a lot if the stadium authorities decide to replace the carpet with the real thing. But that means that the stadium's retractable roof must be kept open, which means soccer games in Montreal will be c-c-cold.

KEY TO SUCCESS:

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Montreal is a potential success story. The key, as always in Quebec, is to market with the French-Canadian public in mind. Signing Francophone star players France, Belgium and Switzerland and generally being French (something the Expos, with their predominantly American lineup, will never be) is not just a good idea - it's a must. Too bad there aren't many local players to choose from. Patrick Diotte is the only French- Canadian who has seen regular duty on the Canadian national team in recent years.

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MINNEAPOLIS/St.PAUL,MN POPULATION: 2336000 (metro area) STADIUM: Metrodome(55244) NASL RECORDS: 32775(1977)/52621

PRO: Only city in North America other than New York to average more than 30000 fans over one season in the NASL. The Twin Cities area might not rank among the top-10 media markets, but it is situated in the middle of a wealthy, liberal state with a heavily German/Scandinavian background.

CON: This is a comparatively small city with four pro sports struggling to fill the stadiums. The NASL Kicks lost almost half of their fans over the course of four years after the record- breaking 1977 season, so the fans' long-term commitment must be questioned. Then again, baseball, gridiron football and (most recently) hockey have encountered the same problem. As always, the winning team is "in" and gets most of the fans. Also, Minnesota has been out of the ball mainstream since the NASL/MISL Strikers folded five years ago.

FACILITY: A dome. As if there weren't enough of them already. The Metrodome (which was built in 1981) is actually better than most because the Kicks were still a factor when it was on the drawing board. Consequently, the Metrodome is more than large enough to accomodate a full-size soccer field. The drawback is the mandatory artificial playing surface.

KEY TO SUCCESS: Getting the support of the entire state, fielding good teams and reviving the old Minnesota Kick(er)s nickname because of the nostalgia factor and because it sounds German! Building a separate stadium (30,000 seats) for soccer is also inevitable in the long run although the Metrodome does provide a shirtsleeve environment during those spring and autumn snowstorms.

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SEATTLE,WA POPULATION: 1607469 STADIUM: Kingdome(58850)

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NASL RECORD: 24246(1980)/56256

PRO: Another solid soccer community. The Pacific Northwest is one of the main soccer hotbeds in the States and the sport remains popular. The population is largely of British and Scandinavian descent. The NASL Sounders were another great team destroyed by mismanagment. Minor-league APSL/WSA (Storm) and MSL (Tacoma Stars) teams have been the main attractions after the Sounders folded in 1983. The city does have three other sports teams, but baseball is not very popular and the AL Mariners may well be gone by the time major-league soccer returns to the city.

CON: Like Minnesota, the Puget Sound area is not very big so persuading the entire state of Washington to watch is important. It has been ten long years since anything resembling top-class soccer was on offer in the city, so some promotional work will be necessary.

FACILITY: See Minnesota. . . Actually, the Kingdome isn't all bad because Seattle is infamous for its humid climate. But this is another of those cities where a second, smaller stadium in the 30,000 range will be necessary.

KEY TO SUCCESS: Building a good club deserving the kind of fan support that the NASL Sounders had despite fielding cheap teams. Also, signing local stars like Chris Henderson as amateur soccer is popular. Reviving the Sounders nickname would be great because, Like Minnesota again, the original Sounders were popular and because it is a truly "local" nickname (as in Puget Sound area). A new outdoor stadium is inevitable in the long run.

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TAMPA BAY,FL POPULATION: 1569134 STADIUM: Tampa(74137) NASL RECORDS: 28345(1980)/54247

PRO: This is one of the fastest growing areas in the South, with a huge Spanish and Italian population. So far, football and (since 1992) hockey are the only pro sports although baseball might end up here if the San Francisco Giants are allowed to move to nearby St.Petersburg. And this is one of the best soccer towns in America. The Tampa Bay Rowdies joined the NASL in 1974 and was a founding member of the revived ASL that eventually became the APSL. They still play at Tampa Stadium.

CON:

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Not much. The weather is a problem (hot and humid summers with frequent rain and thunderstorms) although playing indoors is an option. Also, the Rowdies had the luxury of being the only team in town for much of the 70s (the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers arrived in 1976) whereas there will be stiff competition from other sports teams this time.

FACILITY: Tampa Stadium has hosted several SuperBowls and is a good outdoor stadium possessing a real playing surface. A minor problem is that the width is only 68 yards. Then there is also the Florida Suncoast Dome in nearby St.Petersburg (40,000 seats), an indoor baseball stadium with its accompanying disadvantages.

KEY TO SUCCESS: Above all, reviving the good memories of the original NASL Rowdies. Soccer must show that it means business by signing good players, which in Tampa's case means Roy Wegerle more than anyone else. Roy's brother Steve Wegerle is perhaps the most famous Rowdie product ever as a player and as a manager. Getting Roy, currently a star for the US national team and English Premier League contenders Blackburn Rovers would be a great coup.

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VANCOUVER,BC POPULATION: 1266152 STADIUM: BC Place(66000) NASL RECORD: 29166(1983)/60342

PRO: This is Canada's no.1 soccer community. The Vancouver Whitecaps were one of the most successful NASL clubs both on and off the field and, now known as the Vancouver 86ers, recently joined the APSL from the Canadian Soccer League. Joining the NASL in 1974, the Whitecaps/86ers have been operating continuously longer than most major North American soccer teams. A diverse population from all parts of the British Commonwealth and a booming economy guarantees there will always be enough fans. No major league baseball team either.

CON: Same as Seattle, namely lack of a suitable stadium. Vancouver, being a comparatively small Canadian city, might not sound that exciting to American fans - although there should be a built-in rivalry with Seattle and Portland.

FACILITY: BC Place, a domed stadium built for the Canadian Football League's British Columbia Lions in 1982. Will not be good enough as the permament home for a soccer team because of its artificial playing surface, but could be useful for occasional games because of Vancouver's humid climate.

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KEY TO SUCCESS: Putting on a good show, and building a 30,000 seat outdoor stadium for soccer. Burnaby Stadium (capacity:6,000), where the 86ers currently play, won't be good enough for a major league team. On paper, this is one of the strongest franchises.

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PORTLAND,OR POPULATION: 1242594 STADIUM: Civic(25000) NASL RECORDS: 20515(1976)/35548

PRO: This is one of the smaller cities but still big enough to support a pro soccer team. Underrepresented as far as pro sports are concerned, Portland has only one major league team (basketball's Portland Trail Blazers) so there is not much competition here. Located right in the middle of one of American soccer's hottest areas.

CON: The NASL Timbers sold out only during their first two seasons after joining the league in 1974, although that probably was due to a lack of success on the field. The team was briefly revived in the 1980s, now playing in the Western Soccer Alliance before folding in 1990.

FACILITY: Civic Stadium, a comparatively small outdoor stadium. A minor league baseball team, the Portland Beavers, currently play there. There's been talk about building a domed stadium as part of a bid to get an NFL expansion team.

KEY TO SUCCESS: Becoming a big attraction in a city of small attractions. As in Seattle, using Oregon's strong youth soccer program as an advantage is no bad idea. That means signing famous native players such as Brent Goulet, currently playing professionally in Germany.

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II:THE(comparatively) BAD...

LOS ANGELES,CA POPULATION: 13471000 (metro area) STADIUMS: LA Coliseum(92516)/Pasadena Rosebowl(102000) NASL RECORDS: 14333(1979)/48483

PRO: The nation's second largest city and a pleasant climate. The largest Mexican colony this side of Mexico City calls LA home, and there are huge foreign-born minorities everywhere. 38% of all Angelinos are Spanish-speakers. No stranger to top-class soccer

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as both the US and Mexican national teams play many of their home games here. The 1984 Olympic soccer tournament was a sellout, and LA will host the 1994 World Cup final.

CON: For all the hype, Los Angeles has never really been enthusiastic about pro soccer. The LA Aztecs (with current USA'94 czar Alan Rothenberg in the background) lost a fortune, signing Dutch star Johan Cruyff to a $4 million contract - a move that was rewarded with single-game crowds of 5000 in the cavernous LA Coliseum. Part of the problem is stiff competition from other sports. Greater Los Angeles has seven pro teams in all, baseball being a particularly difficult adversary. The LA Dodgers and California Angels play home virtually every day from April to August in front of regular crowds of 30,000 fans.

FACILITY: Not a serious problem. Two alternatives exist: LA Coliseum (the 1934 and 1984 Olympic arena) and the Rosebowl (a famous college football stadium) in nearby Pasadena. Both are old but will be upgraded for the World Cup(The Rosebowl) or the NFL's LA Raiders (LA Coliseum). They might be unnecessarily big but are technically OK for soccer.

KEY TO SUCCESS: First and foremost, getting better fan support from the Latin population. A bilingual team name and marketing in Spanish would be a great start, but avoiding to put off other groups in a city troubled by ethnic unrest is even more important as the ever- increasing Latin population is seen as a threat by some. Finally, trying to find a niche despite being squeezed between two baseball teams. Not as difficult as it sounds because this is a big city with enough fan interest for most sports.

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CHICAGO,IL POPULATION: 8147000 STADIUM: Soldier Field(66814) NASL RECORDS: 12089(1981)/39623

PRO: One of the classic American "melting pots" as far as ethnical groups are concerned. Chicago is the world's second-largest Polish-speaking city after Warszaw and the Mexican, German, Irish and Italian communities are also very large. The city is no stranger to pro soccer, currently only indoor soccer (Chicago Power) is represented but there have been countless outdoor teams as well - including the Chicago Sting which survived the NASL to play indoor soccer in the MISL before folding. The youth soccer program has been successful - two of the more famous American strikers playing overseas (Frank Klopas and Steve Snow) are Illinois products. The nation's third-largest city and a USA'94 venue.

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CON: Questionable fan support, Chicago was the only city that failed to draw at least 30,000 fans for its US Cup games this summer - only getting 10,000 for the USA-Portugal game. The NASL Sting played their home games in front of mostly empty seats before winning the championship in 1981 (the first by a Chicago sports team since 1960) at last brought some much-needed attention. Like LA, a crowded sports scene (including two extremely popular baseball team that are the local kings of summer) is a huge problem. The cold climate is another.

FACILITY: Soldier Field (where the NFL Bears play) will host the 1994 World Cup opening game and is a decent stadium for soccer. A former war memorial(!), its artificial grass was replaced with the real thing. A lot better than in the NASL years, when the Sting were forced to shuttle between the city's two baseball parks and often got lost in the shuffle.

KEY TO SUCCESS: Above all, being patient. This will not be easy. The first thing to do would be to try to find a place in the city's busy sports schedule. Building a good team with modestly-priced but well- known foreign stars (hm...Andy Brehme, Hugo Sanchez, John Aldridge, Antonio Cabrini, "Jackie" Dziekanowski?) is important - this is basically what Sting GM Clive Toye was doing fifteen years ago. A patient owner with deep pocket is absolutely essential, but then where is it not?

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PHILADELPHIA,PA POPULATION: 5891000 (metro area) STADIUM: Veterans(62382) NASL RECORDS: 11784(1974)/25311

PRO: One of those essential markets all pro leagues want to have a team in. A huge population (America's fifth largest), including large Italian, Irish and East European communities. Sheffield Wednesday's visit to play the US national team last year brought over 40,000 to Veterans Stadium so the potential is definitely there.

CON: Mixed fortunes as a NASL member. Their first franchise, the Atoms, won the championship in their first year of existence back in 1973 and captured the imagination of the fans. But the team failed to qualify for the playoffs after that and attendances fell off drastically. In 1978 (two years after the Atoms folded), the Paul Simon-owned Philadelphia Fury entered the league but failed to draw despite signing former England star Alan Ball to a contract, moving to Montreal in 1981. As in most major cities, there are many established sports competing for the fans.

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FACILITY: Veterans Stadium, built in 1977, is a decent, all-purpose stadium and would be acceptable if it were not for its synthetic grass. The main tenants (baseball's Philadelphia Phillies and the NFL Philadelphia Eagles) and the stadium authorities did promise to replace it with real grass for the 1994 season if Philly's World Cup-bid had been successful. The other two teams would undoubtedly prefer to play on grass, but convincing the stadium owners is a different matter as AstroTurf is easier and cheaper to maintain in a cold-weather city like Philadelphia.

KEY TO SUCCESS: The standard recipe for success applies here - signing good players, winning championships and generally being a class act in a city that's full of them. Building a separate stadium will be expensive but might pay off in the long run.

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DETROIT,MI POPULATION: 4629000 (metro area) STADIUM: Pontiac Silverdome(72794) NASL RECORDS: 14058(1979)/32319

PRO: Motown is one of the classic sports towns. There are pro teams in baseball, basketball, football and hockey. The city is no stranger to soccer either as a significant part of the population has European roots. The NASL Express did quite well at the gate, never averaging less than 12,000 during their three seasons in Detroit. No wonder Motown was one of FIFA's World Cup'94 selections.

CON: A relative lack of previous exposure as far as soccer is concerned. Last year's USA-CIS game was the first major soccer event here in years, although it did attract 34,000 to the Silverdome. The after the CIS-USA game. Tiger Stadium (in downtown), home of baseball's Detroit Tigers, could be an option during the summer months although it is the wrong shape for soccer.

KEY TO SUCCESS: Building a new stadium for soccer could become inevitable in the long run. Other than that, the same requirements regarding marketing apply here as well.

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BOSTON,MA POPULATION: 4093000 (metro area) STADIUM: Foxboro(61000) NASL RECORDS: 11859(1978)/30126

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PRO: Another "must" as far as demographics are concerned. America's seventh largest city with a sizeable Irish and Portuguese population. Three international soccer games have been played here since 1991, all drawing at least 35,000 fans! The city has had several NASL and ASL teams and the New England area has an extensive youth soccer program.

CON: Same as in other mega-markets, namely gruelling competition from other sports, Boston has teams in all four North American sports. Also, no NASL club survived for long here. The New England Tea Men, backed by big money courtesy of Lipton Tea Company, did try to assemble a good team but (save for a few 30000+ crowds) never caught on and had to move to Jacksonville after just three seasons because of poor fan support.

FACILITY: Foxboro, some 25 miles from downtown. The stadium is so-so for soccer, there's a real grass pitch but its location and lack of comfort has been one of the reasons why the city's NFL team, the New England Patriots, has been trying to move.

KEY TO SUCCESS: Being a class act (lots of Irish players, please!) and building a medium-size soccer park in downtown. Marketing will be extremely important as the Red Sox baseball team is generally considered Boston's most popular team.

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TORONTO,ON POPULATION: 2998947 STADIUM: SkyDome(50000), Exhibition(55000) NASL RECORDS: 15043(1980)/36976

PRO: Canada's largest city and a sophisticated international metropolis. The Italian community (500,000 people) is the largest in North America percentage-wise and there are countless other minorities. The CSL Toronto Blizzard (who joined the NASL as the Toronto Metros back in 1971) are North America's oldest pro soccer team still in existence.

CON: Only half-decent fan support while playing in the NASL, although this could have been because of fielding lowly teams. Only three competing sports, but the extremelt popular baseball Blue Jays are a huge obstacle. The Jays always sell out the 50,000-seat SkyDome and do it 81 times a year!

FACILITY: The SkyDome, completed in 1990, provides everything and more - except a good soccer field. Though it possesses a retractable roof, the stadium authorities decided to choose AstroTurf over

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real grass as it is cheaper to maintain. But the SkyDome is a wonderful building and no doubt both fans and players will prefer playing there to the freezing conditions outside when playing early- & late season games. As for the summer months, old Exhibition Stadium provides a decent alternative. This was built for Canadian football's Toronto Argonauts (who have moved to the SkyDome) and is suitable for soccer in every way. Old and ugly it may be, but the only thing seriously wrong with it is the artificial playing surface and replacing it shouldn't be a problem.

KEY TO SUCCESS: Above all, luring some of those lukewarm baseball fans away from the Jays. Watching baseball at the SkyDome is currently the "in" thing but there's no reason why a successful big-league soccer team featuring many local players (something the Jays don't have) shouldn't be able to have the same kind of fan support.

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DALLAS,TX POPULATION: 3725000 (metro area) STADIUMS: Texas(63855), Cotton Bowl(72000) NASL RECORDS: 16511(1977)/23904

PRO: One of the "hot" rapidly growing southern cities. The Dallas Tornado was one of the NASL's longest-serving franchises, playing fourteen season in Texas before folding in 1981. The outdoor game then gave way to MISL indoor soccer (Dallas Sidekicks) in the 1980s. Maintaining an excellent youth soccer program, Dallas hosts the annual Dallas Cup - one of the world's largest international youth soccer tournaments. Will host one semifinal game in the 1994 World Cup. There are other sports teams (three) of course, but the baseball team plays in the suburbs and not in a soccer stadium so this is less of a problem than elsewhere.

CON: Soccer is still something of a strange bird in a state obsessed with American football. The Tornado did so-so at the gate, except for a brief period in the mid-1970s when watching Pele was still new and exciting. Lack of exposure to top-class soccer in recent years is a problem here as well, although a recent USA-Costa Rica game did attract a reasonable crowd of 24,000.

FACILITIES: Texas Stadium was built in the 1970s for the famous Dallas Cowboys NFL team and, save for the narrow playing field, would make an ideal soccer stadium. Cotton Bowl, a famous old college football stadium, will be the World Cup site and is to be completely upgraded over the next two years, After the World Cup, it will become the ideal (if somewhat big) home for a pro soccer team.

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KEY TO SUCCESS: Although Dallas isn't as Latin as its southern neighbors Houston and San Antonio, making the team sound attractive to transplanted Mexicans might not be a bad idea. Oil magnate Lamar Hunt tried to do just that by choosing a bilingual nickname ("Tornado") for his NASL club.

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MIAMI-FORT LAUDERDALE,FL POPULATION: 2954000 (metro area) STADIUM: Joe Robbie(75500) NASL RECORDS: 14279(1980)/19850

PRO: If APSL soccer is the yardstick, Miami is a sure bet for a major league team as the area has two teams (Ft.Lauderdale Strikers, Miami Freedom) out of a possible five! 42% of Dade County residents are Spanish-speakers and Miami is one of the fastest growing cities in America. The Strikers have what passes for "tradition" in American soccer, they transplanted from Washington in 1972, becoming the Miami Toros. They moved out of downtown in 1977, changed name to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and signed European stars Gerd Muller and Jan van Beveren while becoming one of the NASL's best teams. After a brief spell in Minnesota, the team was revived for the ASL/APSL.

CON: Pro soccer has never drawn well in southern Florida. After Joe Robbie Stadium was built, Miami has hosted several international tournaments but only rarely had crowds in excess of 30,000. There are several factors involved, the city is hot and humid in the summer when watching outdoor sports is generally unpleasant. Moreover, the huge Cuban community prefers baseball while, as in L.A., bad relations between the various ethnic groups could cause difficulties for soccer with its "foreign" reputation. The sports climate is far tougher now than when the NASL was still in operation. Pro football used to be the only sport on offer in Miami, now there are brand-new basketball and baseball teams as well - one of the reasons why the city was dropped from the USA'94 list.

FACILITY: Joe Robbie Stadium, built by the late NFL Miami Dolphins owner who also happened to be a soccer fan, is possibly America's best soccer stadium but will host National League baseball (Florida Marlins) from 1993 onwards. Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale (where the Strikers play) is too small at 20,000 seats.

KEY TO SUCCESS: Obviously, merging the two APSL teams would be the first step ("Florida Strikers?"). The second important thing is to assemble a team that has appeal to all the various ethnic groups and market is so that people notice what's going on. On the plus side, the baseball team won't start winning until the year 2000 or so, so a successful soccer franchise playing in a well-

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respected league will have an edge in this department. Trying to get around the problems with the weather by playing many home games in the spring and autumn could be another key. Still, history suggests operating a soccer team here won't be easy.

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SAN DIEGO,CA POPULATION: 1861846 STADIUM: Jack Murphy(59022) NASL RECORDS: 14802(1981)/40211

PRO: San Diego is one of the more pleasant American cities and has been growing rapidly during the past three decades. The climate permits playing outdoors year-round so it's no wonder California has emerged as the main producer of American soccer players (40% of the players on the US Olympic soccer team calls California home). If the new league is serious about using local players, a third team in America's largest state is a must. The sports scene is less crowded than in other comparable cities (just two pro teams), although there is baseball. San Diego boasts one of North America's best soccer clubs in the Sockers, winning eight M(I)SL championships before the league folded last year. The Sockers originally joined the NASL in 1976 and are perhaps best known for briefly fielding Mexican superstar Hugo Sanchez who later went on to become one of the world's best players.

CON: Only so-so fan support for outdoor soccer, although there were occasional sellouts as well. Both the football (Chargers) and baseball (Padres) teams are using "our" stadium. Also, the pleasant climate does mean a losing team shouldn't expect much support from the fans as people prefer staying on the beaches rather than watching goalless draws at Jack Murphy Stadium.

FACILITY: Jack Murphy Stadium is a nice and tidy soccer stadium in every way, another plus for San Diego considering how difficult it is to find good buildings suitable for soccer.

KEY TO SUCCESS: Getting the San Diego Sockers to join the new league certainly would be a good idea as they have great financial support (at one time they were planning to sign Diego Maradona in an attempt to boost the MSL). The Sockers are currently with another indoor league, but persuading ownership to move outdoors shouldn't be impossible.

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|--------------------------------------------------------------------| | Prof. Christopher S. Allen Voice: (706) 542-2984 | | Political Science Department FAX: (706) 542-4421 | | University of Georgia Bitnet: csallen@uga.bitnet | | Athens, GA 30602 - USA Internet: csallen@uga.cc.uga.edu | |--------------------------------------------------------------------|