NASL’s USSF Division 2 Sanctioning May Be In Trouble, Report Says

Lower division soccer in the United States has never been particularly stable. Sure, there have been teams that could count on a certain number of fans to show up to their games every year, but those fans were doing so often not sure what league their team would be playing in.

Among the teams caught up in this mess, and of particular interest to Massey, are the Montreal Impact and FC Edmonton. As such, Massey says this is just the latest reason for Canada to sanction its own league.

While acknowledging that USSF has, indeed, pulled its provisional Division 2 sanctioning, the NASL has promised to continue to work with the governing body to improve its standing in time to start their season on time. The league will have an opportunity to address concerns prior to the USSF Annual General Meeting Feb. 11-12.

“We have invested a lot of time, energy and resources over the past four years to establish a proper team-owned and governed professional second division soccer league and separate ourselves from the instability and annual team turnover of USL, the former second division,” NASL CEO Aaron Davidson said in a release. “The USSF and the soccer community have realized that it’s time once and for all to launch a new second division with higher standards which finally ensure the stability, growth and prosperity of second division soccer in North America. We are prepared to respond to the USSF’s concerns and look forward to delivering on our commitments to our teams and fans to re-launch second division as the NASL in 2011.”

The NASL might be in trouble before it even plays a match. According to a report at Inside Minnesota Soccer, the fledgling league’s Division 2 sanctioning from the USSF could be in jeopardy.

The story goes on to say that it’s not know whether NASL might be allowed a chance to address USSF’s concerns. The reborn league was given provisional sanctioning in November, but there have been some significant changes since then. On the positive side, the San Antonio franchise has officially announced its intentions to begin play in 2012. Of more concern is the fact that Traffic Sports USA has taken an increased ownership in the Carolina Railhawks, who were reportedly nearly dissolved. Traffic already owns Miami FC and owns part of the Atlanta Silverbacks.