NASL Notes: Bill Peterson Not Worried About South Florida Attendance Disparity, more

by JAKE NUTTING

This year’s entrants to the North American Soccer League took a decidedly shorter path to their first kick in comparison to recent expansion sides, Ottawa Fury FC, Indy Eleven and Jacksonville Armada.

Unlike those clubs, both Miami FC and Rayo OKC had less than a year from their official unveiling until they had to take the field. Meanwhile, this year’s third newcomer, Puerto Rico FC, will have had slightly over a year by the time they debut in July for the Fall Season.

Despite the shortened lead up time, Miami and Rayo OKC succeeded in drawing impressive crowds in their first home matches. After only being introduced by the NASL in late November of last year, Rayo OKC welcomed a capacity crowd of 6,416 opening night and followed that up with 5,851 in week two, the same night of a home match for USL cross-town rival OKC Energy.

Miami had to wait until week two to host their first match, but the patience was rewarded with the largest gate of any NASL team so far this year, as 10,156 fans came out to see them take on the Tampa Bay Rowdies at FIU Stadium.

NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson was on hand for each club’s debut and expressed his pleasure at seeing the communities already demonstrating passion for the young franchises.

“It’s very exciting. I wouldn’t call it a relief, but it’s very exciting,” said Peterson. “They’ve done a great job in both cities, putting in a lot of work together late and last night [in Miami] was just incredible, same as the week before for Rayo OKC.

“I think the most impressive part is how quickly they got behind the clubs,” he continued. “After literally 20 or 30 minutes they were behind them, they’re rooting them on, they’re oohing and ahhing and the whole thing. That’s important. You want to develop those relationships. That’s probably what I was most proud of. But both groups have done a tremendous job in a short period of time and hopefully they can keep it going.”

While the league might be content with the strong launches in Miami and Oklahoma City, there is a question of what impact the introduction of Miami in South Florida will have on an NASL original, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, who drew the smallest crowd of the year so far with only 2,129 on opening night.

From Peterson’s perspective, though, the league isn’t concerned about any potential cannibalization of the market in South Florida. He’s sticking with the mantra that competition within markets can force teams to work even harder to thrive.

“No, these things are gonna work themselves out,” he said. “Fort Lauderdale’s done a lot of work behind the scenes to build their infrastructure out and to put themselves in a position where I think you’ll start to see them going forward now.”

“Look, you’re constantly working on how to expose this to more fans,” he elaborated. “How do you get more fans into the stadium? It’s a constant job, it never ends. They’re just at a different place now than maybe some of the other clubs are. But they’ll be alright.”

New York Cosmos Attendance Drop-off

The Fort Lauderdale Strikers aren’t the only team in the league dealing with disappointing numbers in the stands. Despite the fact that they’ve lifted the Soccer Bowl trophy in two of their first three seasons, the Cosmos had their smallest opening day crowd in the modern era this year, with only 5,904 showing up for a rematch of last year’s championship final with Ottawa Fury FC. Week two saw attendance at Shuart Stadium drop down to 3,685.

Peterson doesn’t think the shrinking crowds for the league’s marquee club isn’t cause to reach for the panic button yet. In fact, he blames it on a familiar explanation for locals — scheduling.

“It doesn’t bother me,” he said. “Look, nobody’s satisfied with it but its pretty obvious we’re struggling to find the right days and times to play here. That’s something that’s been going on, and it seems to be maybe a little more difficult this year then it has been in the past. It’s hard to think that on a Sunday night at 6 o’clock you’re going to draw well.

“I think they’re going to keep working with the university and try to find some days and slots that work better. Ultimately the big prize is to get their own stadium.”

Timeline for Westward Expansion

At the moment, the only sure thing for expansion in 2017 are the San Francisco Deltas, who will mark the league’s first foray onto the West Coast. While Peterson shied away from naming any of the specific markets the league is in “deep discussions” with for further expansion, he did reveal that the Deltas could be joined by another startup in the western states as early as next year.

“There’s a real possibility, maybe not in 2017, but there’s a chance of 2017. It’s starting to look more likely 2018, but there’s interest in the western states and the West Coast, and I’m pretty confident we’ll get something done.”

No Ongoing Expansion Talks in Canada

With the league on the brink of western expansion, Peterson acknowledged that the league isn’t in active discussions with any Canadian markets. He says the long-rumored Canadian soccer league might be a reason why expansion has stalled north of the border, but he also admits he’s not sure if that league will ever actually come to fruition.

“Currently we’re not in any discussions with any other Canadian cities, which is a little bit disappointing because I think we’d love to see more teams added in Canada,” said Peterson. “But all these things, they ebb and they flow, and it’s a little bit of a process where an ownership group has to bubble up to the top.

“Right now we’re not talking to any other groups but that could change tomorrow morning.”