NASL goes back to the future with return to CBS

Bill Peterson
NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson said the CBS TV deal is a 'huge positive statement about where this league is going' Credit: NASL

The North American Soccer League will bring in something old and something new when the Fall Season kicks off this weekend.

The second tier division welcomes the arrival of Puerto Rico FC, who are owned by New York Knicks superstar Carmelo Anthony.

And the league also begins a TV deal with CBS, who were the broadcast partners of the original NASL in the Seventies and early Eighties.

Millions of Americans tuned in to see the likes of George Best, Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Rodney Marsh on CBS in the league's heyday.

From this weekend, the NASL begins a two-year deal with CBS Sports - who will be showing Rayo OKC v FC Edmonton on Saturday - as the league goes back to the future.

"We've always embraced the history of the league and to go back to CBS is another link to the great past the league has had. But it's today - we're proud to have them as partners," NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson told The Telegraph.

"Having CBS and beIN as partners is a sign that people in the industry are seeing how good the soccer is and that we're continuing to grow. It's huge positive statement about where this league is going."

The other arrival is Puerto Rico FC, who face Spring Season champions Indy Eleven at the Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium in Bayamon.

Neil Sillett, the club's technical director, recently told The Telegraph that they had realistic expectations of immediate success.

But Peterson, who is on the island for the opening game, is confident of long-term success.

"The mood is pretty good [in Puerto Rico]. I think everyone is very optimistic that it's going to go very well," he added. 

"People recognise that soccer is growing on the island in what has traditionally been a baseball and basketball territory. Everyone has been pretty excited about what team Carmelo Anthony will produce - and so are we. 

"I wish them the best. New teams have struggled in this league in the past couple of years. It's become such a competitive league and the teams continue to get better so it's hard for a new group coming in to figure out where the league is going to be when they get there. 

"The challenge of signing players during a non-traditional time period, getting those players together, getting them enough of a pre-season where you can evaluate all of them. There's a lot of challenges - but there's no reason why they can't do well."

Another talking point of the league has been the big spending of Miami FC. The club co-owned by media magnate Riccardo Silva and Paolo Maldini brought in four players in recent weeks to recover from a hugely disappointing start.

This week Miami signed Kwadwo Poku and Gabriel Farfan, joining Ryan Richie and Michael Lahoud, all for reportedly huge sums by the league's standards.

It is highly possible that more players will come.

Peterson points out the NASL does not have any restrictions on spending, unlike Major League Soccer, and the club are free to spend however much they want to improve their chances of success.

"We're a decentralised league and the owners are responsible for their own success - and they will deem what is necessary for their own success," Peterson said.

"Miami are a new team and got off to a slow start on the field and they are trying to correct that - they are trying to build a very strong club. They have been forced to do things in normal circumstances that wouldn't have done but it's their business. 

"We take a great effort to stay out of our teams' business."

The league is also on a high after the Fort Lauderdale Strikers progressed to the quarter-finals of the US Open Cup, a sharp contrast to its teams' failure in the competition last year.

"Some years it's going to go your way and some years it's not," Peterson said. "Last year when we didn't do so well we had a measured response that this is sport, you're going to have good years and bad, we know how good we are, we know we can compete.

"And so this year when it went better, we'll say the same thing. We love this competition and we have one team remaining and we'll see if they can go the whole way. That's the goal."

One issue that has caused some concern, however, has been low attendances from some of the teams, particularly the Strikers and Miami FC. 

Peterson admits work needs to be done in this regard.

"I put some of it to growing pains in some regard. We have five new owners in the group - sometimes it takes longer to find out who you are going to be in your local community than maybe it should," he added. 

"We had some weather issues, some games on vacation periods - and I don't want to use those as excuses but when you play from April to November you're going to have these issues. 

"You are going to need to find ways to overcome them but we didn't overcome them this year. I don't think it's a trend - soccer is not losing popularity, the teams are not losing popularity. 

"I think we have to spend a lot of time and resources in building up a fanbase and supporters' groups and find a way to fill these stadiums and it's going to take a bit of work in some places."

With the arrival of Puerto Rico FC, the NASL has risen to 12 teams and that will go up to 13 in 2017 with the arrival of the San Fransisco Deltas, the league's first team on the West Coast.

While Minnesota United are due to join Major League Soccer in 2017 or 2018, Peterson believes a 20-team league is not too far away.

"We're in a number of conversations about groups joining the league - we're getting to the point where we can see the finish line of 18-20 clubs by this time next year," he said.

"There's more than a half-dozen conversations happening right now. I can't predict how many of those will be admitted - we're hopeful that a few of them will be. Maybe by the end of the year, we'll have admitted a few more teams."

License this content