by JAKE NUTTING

NASL Beat Writer

OP-ED: No one in the NASL front office is shocked by the news that MLS is reportedly close to announcing Minnesota United FC as the next expansion franchise — and fans of the NASL should not be caught off guard by this development either.

The hands of Minnesota United and owner Bill McGuire were forced from the start. All the way back in 2011, MLS contacted the Minnesota Vikings ownership group about expanding into Minneapolis. Minnesota United wasn’t even Minnesota United at that time. Back then, the team was league owned and was known as the Minnesota Stars.

When McGuire rescued the team from life support at the end of the 2012 season, the writing was already on the wall; put together a strong bid for MLS as quickly as possible or risk being overshadowed by a Viking’s backed MLS team.

So over the past two years, little tidbits of news have leaked about the jockeying between United and the Vikings. In 2013, McGuire stated his interest in building a MLS level stadium in the downtown area. In 2014, McGuire brought in owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Twins to bolster his MLS bid.

United even made an official pitch to MLS officials late last year.

All this is to say that the NASL had ample time to prepare for Minnesota United making the jump to MLS. And in fact the league still has ample time – two full season at least – while United attempts to make that downtown stadium a reality.

Now is not the time to panic. The league was in a precarious spot before the Loons-to-MLS became a virtual lock and that fact still remains. Nothing has changed.

The league is still without a presence in the Pacific Time Zone; a USSF Division II standard that must be met in 2016. Along with a west coast franchise, the league needs more expansion success stories. Indianapolis and Jacksonville are tremendous examples, but Virginia’s proposed team appears dead on arrival and Oklahoma City is gaining zero traction in the market after multiple delays.

Exposure for the league is also a major issue. Soccer in America gets limited coverage as it is, so it goes without saying that mainstream coverage of the league is just a notch above nonexistent. The lack of exposure means the conversation about the league is mostly stuck on a local level. Perhaps keeping Minnesota United in the league helps with the issue of exposure. But it is unrealistic to hope that a Midwest market like Minnesota can single-handedly bring the NASL up to the national stage. It would even be disingenuous considering how overlooked Midwestern markets are in the other American sports leagues.

Like Bill McGuire and his team did in 2012 when they took over in Minnesota, the NASL could benefit greatly from starting to play the hand they have been dealt, rather than the one they hope to deal in the future. MLS and the way it does business is not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, they continue to evolve. Previously, the cap for MLS expansion was set at 24 teams by 2020. Commissioner Don Garber now says that the league will explore the possibility of expanding past 24.

This leaves the door open for another NASL franchise to make the jump — like the San Antonio Scorpions, who have frankly been much more front and center about their desire to join MLS than Minnesota ever was.

If the undeniable fact is that MLS will continue to expand while some NASL owners will undoubtedly explore the possibility of joining the top tier, then why bury your head in the sand about it? An NASL team leaving the league to jump to MLS does not have to be an indictment of the NASL. It only becomes an indictment if the league continues to – either directly or indirectly – position itself up as direct competition for MLS. If the league gives that impression, than the obvious question from the public becomes “Well then why did a marquee NASL franchise like Minnesota choose MLS over NASL?”

That is not a question that the league and Commissioner Bill Peterson can afford to waste any time answering.

Instead, the NASL should highlight the story of the Loons as a NASL success story. The complete turnaround of the team in such a short amount of time is nothing short of a miracle in American Soccer. At the end of the 2012 season, Minnesota soccer fans faced the real possibility of losing their team. Now, they have one of best franchises in America, both in terms of quality of play and professionalism in the front office.

That happened in the NASL.

Perhaps the league is already doing this, but this fact needs to be heavily emphasized to potential new ownership groups. Showcase how the unique setup of the league made the revitalization possible, but do not shy away from the fact that Minnesota will be joining MLS. The single entity system in MLS takes a lot of shots – many deserved – but at the end of the day, most investors will always be enticed by the possibility of moving up to the top division.

This notion has been proven the past few years with the drastic increase in expansion for the USL in the third division. Many of the owners of the new independent USL teams, such as Sacramento, St Louis and Austin, explicitly stated that the direct connection between USL and MLS was a big reason why they chose USL over the NASL. Owners dream of making it to the top division and the perception is that the USL currently provides the best avenue to do that. Dangling that carrot gives the USL a decided advantage when talking with new potential investors.

Before the Commissioner Peterson and the NASL Board of Governors can take on MLS for the top spot in American soccer, they need to first take ownership of the lower divisions. They may view the USL as a “reserve league,” but the truth is that perception has not hurt the USL when it comes to bringing in new investors. If they are concerned with competition, then now is the moment to turn your focus on competing with the USL. Many casual fans, or MLS-only fans, would have a hard time pointing out which lower division league holds the higher division ranking. That distinction will likely become tougher as the USL improves its league standards in a bid to receive Division II status.

Losing an organization with the quality of Minnesota United is bitter sweet. But for the time being, this is the environment in which the NASL finds itself. MLS is entrenched and will continue to expand for the foreseeable future. Before the league can hope to compete with MLS, it must first recognize that there is still a battle to be fought in the lower divisions. Embracing Minnesota’s success story could go a long way towards winning that battle for investors.

The NASL was in a vulnerable spot before MLS put priority on United’s expansion bid. It’s still a young league in flux with many major issues hanging over it. MLS anointing the Loons as worthy of inclusion over the Minnesota Vikings is the type of public relations win that the NASL cannot afford to ignore.