By Jason Davis – WASHINGTON, DC (Mar 23, 2016) US Soccer Players - The new North American Soccer League begins its sixth season on April 2. As has always been the case with a league that makes no apologies for its attempts to change the American soccer landscape, it enters the new campaign awash in change and possibility.

The most visible change is in expansion, with the NASL adding three new teams over the course of its 2016 schedule. Miami FC, owned by ambitious media rights mogul Riccardo Silva and Italian soccer legend Paolo Maldini, begins play in the spring. So too does Rayo OKC, a club in Oklahoma City being bankrolled by Rayo Vallecano of Spain’s La Liga. Puerto Rico FC, based in the US territory that was once home to an NASL team called the Islanders, starts play in the fall. Its owner is NBA star Carmelo Anthony, who has Puerto Rican heritage through his mother.

Rayo OKC’s inaugural roster is solid, with a mix of veteran American players, former MLSers, and incoming internationals on the list. Miami FC, in addition to the rich and famous ownership, has Alessandro Nesta coaching the team. Puerto Rico FC has Tom Payne as club president, a man who once directed business operations for the LA Galaxy. NASL’s new batch of expansion clubs has impressive pedigree behind each endeavor.

Each individual circumstance is an indication of the inroads NASL is making into the greater soccer world with each passing year. Having established itself as the “alternative” to MLS in more ways than one, the league with the nostalgic name has managed to pique the interest of wealthy individuals who can help drive the league forward.

"Our owners are investing in the game," NASL commissioner Bill Peterson said on a Wednesday media call. "They're making soccer stronger and they want to grow the game from the amateur to the professional level. Our owners have focused on player development with six of our clubs having teams in the NPSL as reserve clubs now and contributing even more resources to the development of the game here in North America."

Don’t expect the NASL to stop expanding anytime soon. At the very least, the league needs to find replacement for teams that have left for MLS or simply ceased to be. 2016 actually represents a net gain of one from last year’s club total of 11, as both the San Antonio Scorpions and Atlanta Silverbacks ended operations in the winter. In the near future, NASL will suffer another blow when the Minnesota franchise leaves for MLS. They’ll expect to replace Minnesota, and move on past 12 teams, without much trouble. Soccer is a growth industry, and NASL is riding the wave just like everyone else.

Still the nominal second division, the NASL is well behind in many of the areas that will determine whether it can ever compete with MLS. Progress in some areas is slow, though in others, it’s rapidly picking up steam. On the stadium front, the NASL has a venue problem in many markets that is years away from being addressed. Like MLS in its first decade, the NASL is rarely in a position to ask for, much less receive, stadium help from the cities it operates in.

However, there’s reason to hope that the area of television is a different story. Improved reach through a national television partner of reasonable availability is a crucial next step towards relevancy on the American soccer scene. So far this year, the NASL has announced a relaxing of the access rules for its One World Sports broadcast each week, which means fans without a cable subscription that includes One World Sports will now be able to watch the game through the network’s website. It’s not a major advancement, but it gives the people most interested in the league a chance to see its games.

Rumors have the NASL in discussions with another TV broadcaster, one that could raise the profile of the league dramatically. That might give millions of new fans a chance to see the NASL on television. Full maturation doesn’t happen overnight. Should it happen, there would be no other way to see the deal than as a positive.

A fair assessment of the NASL is one that identifies the league as growing and getting better. Right now, the NASL remains the “other” league, a competition as notable being “not MLS” as for being worthy of attention on its own merits. It’s home to the new Cosmos, the new Strikers, and a host of other nostalgic brands. It also has fascinating new projects in places like Miami, Oklahoma City, and perhaps soon, San Francisco. For reasons that have nothing to do with its chosen business model or the commissioner’s occasional mention of promotion and relegation, the NASL is worth watching.

Jason Davis is the founder of MatchFitUSA.com and the host of Soccer Morning. Contact him: matchfitusa@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter:http://twitter.com/davisjsn.

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