Tampa Bay Rowdies make right decision moving from NASL

This is rare commentary on the recent TBR move from NASL to USL that I can completely agree with. 

"It is worth noting San Antonio had little drop-off in attendance this season despite the league change."

The "I don't want to watch MLS B teams" crowd are plugging their fingers in their ears and going "la la la I can't hear you".

"NASL has voiced the ambition to challenge the top-flight MLS but has shown little discipline or planning in its quest to match the established top league in this region."

The anti-MLS, pro-promotion/relegation crowd don't want to hear this point, either. The NASL is a train wreck and has no chance of challenging MLS. MLS has a 15 year head start, and a much more stable business structure that ensures that the entire league doesn't collapse every time there is a downturn in investor confidence. The current NASL is well named as it has all of the vices of the original NASL, with none of the virtues.  

"On the contrary, NASL has created a culture around it of fans who profess free market principles and “freedom” without understanding the practical aspects of the sports business in North America."

Exactly. None of these fan critics as far as I can tell have ever run a business or had to make payroll every two weeks. Their arguments for promotion/relegation are purely theoretical and based on the examples of foreign countries where promotion/relegation evolved naturally at a time when the sport was run by civic minded amateurs and not as a pure business; where the local football club was a social club and a social institution, and not simply a money making enterprise in competition with other sports entertainment businesses. 

Ideally I would love to see American soccer organized like German soccer, with clubs being 51% owned by their fans and with promotion and relegation and all of that. But that isn't how professional sports works in the USA and American soccer cannot survive under that model in the current sports business climate. 

Maybe some day things in American soccer could be more like Germany, but a lot of things would have to change before that could happen, and that is a political discussion which takes us far beyond the fields of our current situation in American soccer. And that's the problem with the soccer purist argument: it is essentially political, made by people who aren't putting in their own money to keep things running.

"The Tampa Bay media market is the largest in the country without an MLS team."

This is incorrect, if the writer means TV markets, but close: Tampa-St. Petersburg, 13th; Phoenix, 12th; Detroit, 11th.

http://www.stationindex.com/tv/tv-markets

Edit to add: In recent comments at a USF lecture, Don Garber also mentions Tampa Bay as largest market without an MLS team, so I presume there is some other measure of market size being referred to here?

Edit again to add: Nevermind. I see that the TV market rankings have changed: Tampa Bay is now 11th, Phoenix 12th, and Detroit 13th:

https://www.tvb.org/Portals/0/media/file/DMA/2015-2016-dma-ranks.pdf 

(Follow link for full article.)

 http://saintpetersblog.com/tampa-bay-rowdies-make-right-decision-moving-nasl/

Tampa Bay Rowdies make right decision moving from NASL

Peter Schorsch

The Tampa Bay Rowdies announced Tuesday a move to the United Soccer League (USL) from the North American Soccer League (NASL).

The move — anticipated for weeks — sent shockwaves through American soccer fandom.

NASL is a designated Division 2 league while USL is a designated division 3 league by the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF). Divisional designations aside, USL currently looks a much safer long-term bet for a club like the Rowdies with a rich history and unlimited ambition.

It is also a safe assumption that divisional designations matter little to casual fans and it is possible USL will soon be a Division 2.

.  .  .

Arguably the single-most successful NASL owner, Edwards invested heavily in his team, and attendance has basically doubled since he bought the club in 2014, while the fan experience and ambience is far greater than before.

But NASL is a league whose biggest spending clubs in New York and Miami have created competition regarding spending, and for a practical businessman like Edwards, the stability provided by USL is far preferable.

Currently, NASL has no league revenue streams of note to distribute among its teams, and the cost of travel, TV production and league dues imposed by the league is difficult to offset with local sponsorships and ticket sales.

Add to that, a hands-off approach by the league office, and you have a dysfunctional situation. Many clubs in NASL are bleeding cash and last year San Antonio and Atlanta left the league, with the former shifting to USL.

It is worth noting San Antonio had little drop-off in attendance this season despite the league change.

NASL has voiced the ambition to challenge the top-flight MLS but has shown little discipline or planning in its quest to match the established top league in this region.

On the contrary, NASL has created a culture around it of fans who profess free market principles and “freedom” without understanding the practical aspects of the sports business in North America.

For a businessman like Edwards, a move to USL surrounds his club with similarly pragmatic and practical businesspeople whose focus and emphasis will be on developing a sustainable and successful model.

The NASL currently does not offer Edwards or the Rowdies that option.

.  .  .

The Tampa Bay media market is the largest in the country without an MLS team. Edwards long-term vision may include a move to MLS. Regardless of whether the Rowdies make the trek to MLS, the club is in safer hands and a stronger position after the move to USL than they were in NASL.