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
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

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.

=================================================================

							    *
    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).

   ==================================================================


     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?





			      - 2 -








     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



			      - 3 -








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



			      - 4 -








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



			      - 5 -








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



			      - 6 -








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



			      - 7 -








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



			      - 8 -








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



			      - 9 -








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...





			     - 10 -








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:




			     - 11 -








     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)



			     - 12 -








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,



			     - 13 -








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.





			     - 14 -








     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,



			     - 15 -








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



			     - 16 -








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



			     - 17 -








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



			     - 18 -








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



			     - 19 -








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.




			     - 20 -








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



			     - 21 -








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).



			     - 22 -








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!




			     - 23 -








     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



			     - 24 -








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



			     - 25 -








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.





			     - 26 -








+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,



			     - 27 -








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

=============================================================

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





			     - 28 -








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

==============================================================


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



			     - 29 -








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.

===============================================================

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.




			     - 30 -








			    -------------

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.

			  ----

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.



			     - 31 -








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:



			     - 32 -








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.

			      ---

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.

			       ----

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



			     - 33 -








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.

				 ----

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:




			     - 34 -








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.

				----

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.




			     - 35 -








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.

				 ----

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.

			     -----

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



			     - 36 -








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.

				----

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.




			     - 37 -








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?

			      ----

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.



			     - 38 -








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.

			    ----

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.

			      ----

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




			     - 39 -








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.

			     ----

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



			     - 40 -








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.

				----

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.




			     - 41 -








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.

			     ----

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-



			     - 42 -








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.

				    ---

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.

==================================================================








			     - 43 -

|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 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  |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
Newsgroups: rec.sport.soccer