Photo credit: World Soccer Talk

First of all , can we start MNGA (pronounced MANGA) — Make NASL Great Again?

Second of all, this article assumes that NASL will be awarded D2 status.As long as NASL has D2 status, Indy XI, FC Edmonton, Puerto Rico FC, San Francisco Deltas, North Carolina FC and Miami FC are firmly in the NASL camp. That’s SIX teams. Six stable franchises that NASL does not need to worry about supporting. This leaves us with Fort Lauderdale Strikers, NY Cosmos, Jacksonville Armada and Rayo OKC. So here’s the quasi-not-really-update:

FTL — As many have reported, Strikers likely have new ownership. However, was informed today that the new ownership might not want the team to playing in Spring 2017. They would like to sort out money situation, work on PR and join the league once they had the requisite time to get it right. Status: Very likely to play (sometime) in 2017.

JAX — As of this afternoon, they do not have new ownership. However, there are rumblings that the club will be sold soon or the team will be supported by the league (as suggested by Brian Straus of Sports Illustrated on twitter). Status: Likely to play in 2017, pending sale.

Cosmos — As of this afternoon, only rumors about new ownership. People associated with the club remain optimistic. Status: Still unclear beyond rumors, but I cannot foresee an active 2017 team.

Rayo OKC — The OKC project is over (I will be writing a full article on this in the future, exploring reasons why and TRUST ME, there’s a lot to unpack). Status: No team in 2017.

Therefore, the NASL could start next season with as few as six teams, and as many as 7–8. The number 7 is important for financial reasons which were discussed by the best reported article (By Wes Burdine) of what I’m calling the “I-HATE-THE-WORD-SOURCES-WHY-CANT-YOU-GUYS-GET-PEOPLE-TO-TALK-TO-YOU-ON-THE-RECORD-HOW-AM-I-SUPPOSED-TO-READ-THIS-ON-THE-CRAPPER-IF-NO-SOURCES-HAVE-BEEN-NAMED” NASL era. That number truly does have repercussions.

On the other hand, the number 8 is important because depending on whom you speak to, it’s a “magical” minimum number of teams.

Except, it isn’t.

According to USSF requirements, the minimum number of teams for a D2 team past its 6th season is 12. So, anything less than that is subject to waivers. And, NASL is really good at getting those from USSF! As I’ve discussed ad infinitum now, except for the $10/$20 mill requirement, every other “requirement” for D2/D3 seems to be a “Suggestion pending waivers”.

So, let’s not obsess over the “required” 8 teams.

Moving beyond that, the bigger question is, if NASL gets D2, how can it survive in the long-term? This is the more interesting question. Here are the scenarios I have come up with (with the help of conversations with many of you that are reading this):