Ottawa Fury FC may not be averaging the 10,000-plus fans per game that expansion cousins Indy Eleven is seeing, but its already gained the respect of the North American Soccer League's board of directors.

"We were just talking about it in our board meeting," said NASL commissioner Bill Peterson Wednesday. "Nobody wants to play Ottawa (because) you're going to have your hands full when you do."

OK, so Peterson was sitting down with an Ottawa reporter when he said that, so it might be a bit of an exaggeration. But he's not wrong in pointing out that not every expansion team can compete the way Ottawa has in its first season while drawing good, if not Indy-sized crowds, and at least staying in most of the games the side has lost.

As a whole, Peterson said he has "definitely been impressed" with what Fury has accomplished to date.

"Really from top to bottom the effort that's been put into this is amazing," he said between meetings in lobby of Ottawa's Westin Hotel.

League-wide, Peterson is particularly proud of the level of competition between teams. Sides at the bottom of the table have beaten top-placed teams and squads like Fury remain within swinging distance despite a four-game losing streak in the fall season.

"Last year, the fall championship came down to the last two minutes of the season," Peterson said. "I think it's a tribute to the (spring/fall) split season. Everyone realizes that you have to win today. It makes it very competitive.

"We've also got a great group of coaches, so they're matching each other. We've got a free market system so everybody's out on their own trying to figure out their rosters, and they are."

With plans to expand the 10-team NASL to 16 in the coming years -- Jacksonville, which enters next year, has already sold 4,000 season tickets -- Peterson said that could include additional Canadian clubs.

"What we're hearing is there's interest" in Canadian expansion, Peterson said, without getting into specifics, though he said team owners are "very supportive" of the idea. Meetings are planned with interested parties this fall, the commissioner said.

In terms of expansion in general, Peterson said "there's a lot of interest."

"We just have to do our due diligence and make sure we're talking to the right owners in the right cities," he said. "That's a long process and there's no guarantees, but we're very patient about this."

As for the inevitable comparisons to Major League Soccer, Peterson said he doesn't look at his league as being in competition with MLS, but rather as trying to tap into a large pool of soccer fans.

"There's plenty of space for plenty of teams," he said. "We really try to focus on ourselves and do our job, we've got a lot of work to do yet."

Room for improvement in officiating: commish

Asked about one knock against the NASL that comes up regularly -- the consistently inconsistent and sometimes completely horrendous officiating -- Peterson nods like he's heard the complaint more than a few times.

He agrees with the frustration, but only to point.

"We have a good relationship with the (Canadian Soccer Association)," Peterson said. "They understand that there's room there to improve.

"We'll do anything they ask us to do to help them, but I think they're on it."

In a game "where so much power is in the central official's hands, there's more chances for them to mistakes, but it's just part of the game."

He looks at officiating complaints from the perspective of, "did they lose control of the game or did they blow a call?"

"If you blow a call, that happens," Peterson said. "The best officials in the world blew a lot of calls in the World Cup."

Twitter: @chrishofley