We are three months from the start of the 2018 professional soccer season, two months from the start of training camp, and San Diego’s 1904 FC has a temporary home venue in USD’s Torero Stadium, ambitious artist renderings for a new stadium in Oceanside, high-profile investors, a front office, social media accounts, even merchandise for sale on a slick website.

What it doesn’t have: coaches or players.

Tough to hire a staff and assemble a roster when you don’t know what league, at what level, you’re playing in.

“It’s no fun being in this sort of hybrid situation,” club President Bob Watkins said. “We’re sort of stuck. It’s not just us. We’re all sitting in this never-never land.”


Technically, 1904 FC is a 2018 expansion franchise in the rapidly-shrinking North American Soccer League. Three teams have left since the season ended last month, including, ahem, the champion. That was the San Francisco Deltas, who folded after one season. Edmonton FC disbanded as well, although it could be resurrected in a new Canadian pro league. North Carolina FC and its allegedly turncoat owner moved to the rival United Soccer League.

That leaves five existing teams, plus expansion franchises in San Diego and Orange County (Cal United FC).

For now.

It could be zero teams after Friday, when a New York federal judge is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the NASL’s last-ditch effort to secure an injunction granting it second-division status while its anti-trust lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation is litigated. The NASL sued in September after the sport’s national governing body denied its application to remain second division.


A month ago, U.S. District Court Judge Margo Brodie denied the NASL’s request for an injunction despite her acknowledgment that it might constitute a “death blow” to the struggling league. The NASL appealed, and its fate now rests in the hands of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

“The USSF seeks to eradicate that (second-division) status for the upcoming 2018 season,” the NASL’s appeal argues, “in order to eliminate the NASL as a potential competitor to Major League Soccer — the Division I league that the USSF is economically bound to favor and protect.

“If the requested preliminary injunction is not granted, the NASL will likely cease to exist within weeks.”

The decision likely hinges on the type of injunction the NASL is seeking. The league’s attorneys claim it needs only a preliminary injunction, which compels a lower level of potential damages than a mandatory injunction. Brodie, in a 49-page decision, ruled the NASL required the latter type and, while sympathetic to its plight, didn’t meet the heightened standards.


A mandatory injunction generally seeks to alter rather than maintain the status quo. U.S. Soccer argues in court documents that it determines league standing on an annual basis and, because it didn’t designate the NASL as second division for 2018, the status quo would indeed be altered — hence the necessity for a mandatory injunction and its loftier burden of proof.

“While the NASL offers no shortage of excuses and finger-pointing,” the USSF says in court documents, “it has no one to blame for its situation but itself … (It) is a classic example of self-inflicted injury that cannot establish irreparable harm.”

In the meantime, 1904 FC presses forward with whatever preparations it can make since its introductory press conference Oct. 25 with primary owner (and Senegalese soccer star) Demba Ba. The website began selling merchandise — hats, T-shirts, hoodies — on Tuesday. The front office has been a regular presence at community events. Fan clubs are forming. Watkins admitted that a potential coaching staff has been identified, and it has been quietly watching film of players.

There are even plans for two player tryouts in the coming weeks.


“Everything we need to do is ready to go,” Watkins said. “We’re just waiting for the court decision. Most of the teams are in the same boat. When you don’t know what league you’re in, it’s hard to sign players.”

Without an injunction restoring second-division status, 1904 FC and other NASL teams will be left to choose between several options, none of them particularly appealing:

Convince the USL, which does have second-division status, to add them on short notice despite already having 34 teams for 2018 and holding its winter meetings last week in Florida. (A USL spokesman did not return several emails inquiring whether the league is open to additional expansion for 2018.)

Play as a third-division league, which NASL officials have repeatedly said in court documents is not financially viable.

Form an independent league outside the jurisdiction of U.S. Soccer, which would entail finding its own referees and not entering in the annual U.S. Open Cup against USL and MLS teams. That might be tough for 2018 with such a short turnaround.

Reach a settlement with U.S. Soccer that allows the NASL to survive in some form but probably means dropping the lawsuit. There were murmurs last month of that happening, but talks fell apart and the appeal proceeded.

Sit out a year, instead waiting for 2019 when the pro soccer landscape is more settled.

Fold before playing a game, which 1904 FC insists is not on the table.

Whatever its fate, the clock is ticking.

Said Watkins: “I’m just sick and tired of waiting.”


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mark.zeigler@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutzeigler