With the maelstrom of confusion that has enveloped the State of Florida in the past couple of weeks it's easy to see why the entire nation has become focused on the Sunshine State. This weekend, though, soccer fans have their own reason to become enthralled with the scenarios that may or may not unfold in the land where Mickey Mouse is king. Of course I'm referring to the USL's annual meetings that will determine the future course for the entire league. They'll discuss many issues down in sunny Florida, get a bit of sunshine, and maybe even garner a little relaxation time with a trip to Busch Gardens or some such thing with their families but first and foremost they're there to work out the kinks in the league. This is definitely one of their busiest times of the year, if not the busiest, and they've certainly got some sticky situations to discuss. One of the most enthralling situations happens to be the matter of clubs dropping like flies of late. So far the death toll, as it were, covers the Raleigh Capital Express, Boston Bulldogs, Orange County Waves, Bay Area Seals, and Hampton Roads Mariners who are still officially "too close to call". With Raleigh dropping out the league decided to promote Charlotte and will also have that issue to contend with among the myriad of issues that aren't quite as high of profile as the situation with the previous mentioned clubs. Either way these leaders of our niche in the soccer world have gathered in Tampa to decide the fate of many things in the league from top to bottom and it will be a task made up of hard work and tough decisions.
The first matter up for discussion this week concerns what to do with the situation that has developed in California with Mr. Peacock's clubs. First of all the decision to move both Bay Area and Orange County will more than likely turn out to be beneficial over the next year. Clearly with both teams competing in D3 next season the bar will be raised for the competition. With the raising of this so-called "bar" it will also bring some extra attention to the D3 since many will be keeping an eye on how Orange County and Bay Area do. Some will likely expect the Waves and Seals to run off with their part of the competition in the Western region of this competition but I have different ideas. First of all I think the Waves will do well for themselves but I hardly see them getting involved in a runaway from the rest of their division. They'll be one of the teams to beat and I'm sure some of their rivals will have a slight chip on their shoulder as they attempt to knock off what may seem like an interloper to their division. Further North in the Bay Area I see the Seals playing as a middle of the pack squad as they work more on steadying their fortunes off the field and eventually consolidating that into a slight modicum of success on the field. The remaining sticky situation for Peacock Sports, as it were, would probably be the matter of the Riverside Elite. The Elite are already installed in the D3 but in my very humble opinion I have to wonder if it might be of more use for this club to take a step down to the PDL. This would serve two purposes, the first of which goes hand in hand with the reasons for the Seals' and Waves' demotion, to save money and make the club more viable from a financial standpoint. The second reason for this voluntary step would be to extend the "feeder" system to San Diego that is beginning to take shape with the two other clubs taking a step down. In the end I think these things could help Mr. Peacock's efforts immensely to increase the abilities of his soccer clubs. If these things did occur we would have two examples to look towards for the beginnings of a true reserve system with the goings on in New England right now.
This brings me to the second matter I'd like to make mention of and that is the demotion and possibly diffraction of the Boston Bulldogs. The Massachusetts soccer organizers decided to demote Boston to create their own feeder system for their MLS affiliate, the New England Revolution. The Bulldogs have yet to make a final decision as to whether they'll be in D3 under a new name or have separate PDL clubs or… well your guess is as good as mine. Either way this move will eventually be more of a benefit to the club at the very top of their hierarchy while helping the organization(s) in Boston become more stable. With the manner in which we've seen Hampton Roads and Raleigh beat hasty retreats from the ranks of the A-League in the past months the bottom line has become an ever present concern for all clubs and for the Bulldogs, Waves, and Seals I think we can safely say that they have taken what will ultimately be successful defensive measures to assure their survival. The management in both of these situations has averted possible disaster by admitting that they may have been slightly over their heads instead of blindly pushing on and risking folding in a few years.
Speaking of averting possible disaster two clubs have to be stricken from that list. While many of us may lament the loss of the Express in Raleigh there are a number of people who might agree with my assessment of the Hampton Roads fiasco. Personally, while I respect the fans, players, coaches, and community there I think the way in which the clubs leadership waited until the last moment to declare their intentions one way or another was nothing short of ridiculous. They have a beautiful place to play in Virginia Beach but they should've realized long ago that if they were going to enter into a 20-year lease on the joint that they'd darn well better be prepared to take on that responsibility. Financially it appears that the moneymen weren't quite as aware of how the funds were going to shake out as they'd hoped for and when they felt that they were beginning to hemorrhage money too quickly they took the low road. They strung out the league for a very long time and the patience of the men in the "home office" should be commended for even allowing the club entrance to D3. That being said I'm glad to see that there will still be soccer in that area next season but fans of Indiana and Hampton Roads should talk considering what their management has probably done to their blood pressure in the last 6 months.
Moving on to Raleigh I must say that I can understand where their ownership was coming from in dismantling the club but I have to wonder why it took so long for their owner to figure out that he was losing more money than he'd have liked to have seen going out. While losing a cool $2 million a year, at least that was the latest figure I'd heard, is anything but pocket change I, as well as others, have to wonder just how long it was going to take for him to admit that he didn't like seeing these kind of losses. With respect to this I have to ask why didn't he take the route of moving down to D3? The fan base was negligible in some areas and the players' salaries were probably a bit too high near the end and these two things are extremely lessened once steps are taken in moving a club down to D3. The average crowds in Raleigh combined with the average players' money in D3 could, in my estimation, easily have kept the club afloat if the move had been made at least two years ago. It's hard to blame an owner who says he wanted pro soccer to work there but with what transpired the question begs to be asked just how well were they watching their finances the past couple of seasons? Overall I have to express my condolences to the great fans in Raleigh who have helped bring about the Southern Derby. Hopefully those guys can help show Charlotte the ropes in getting that club and their fans into the Derby.
So the bottom line of all this is what you ask? Well as far as good moves by clubs in the weeks ahead of the Meetings Bay Area, Orange County, and Boston get a thumbs up that is partly contingent on how willing the fans of those clubs are in taking the step down with their teams. My hunch says that they'll still be up for the games involving their club no matter what level as long as it is, and I can't stress this enough, affordable entertainment. In Raleigh's situation I have to give them a sympathetic thumbs down for the pure reason that if someone somewhere were watching things more carefully there the club would've made a similar move to that of the Seals, Waves, and 'dogs. I can't help but feel that someone fell asleep at the wheel over there. Hampton Roads gets an overwhelming thumbs down for their treatment of the league, their players, fans, and even their rivals for some of the same reasons that saw Raleigh fold and then some. This situation is the potential headline "grabber" of the meetings this week and it will be interesting to see what the official word is out of Florida. Either way the fellas have their hands full and we should all give our appreciation for their efforts this week even while some of us are probably thinking why couldn't we have gotten a trip to Florida this time of year?
Looking Forward to Matchdays?
Now that we have seen the "official" re-alignments we need to talk about how and when the clubs will play each other. One thing we already know is that the playoffs will be over two-legs with a moratorium, of sorts, covering a decent amount of time to allow teams to get some form of rest between each game and that the home-goals tie-breaker has been stricken down. Both moves prove that the league office has been listening and showed their willingness to change the format ever so slightly to accommodate a system that just makes more sense. Now on to the matter of scheduling as we take note of the new seven club conferences. My first suggestion would be to make each club play four matches against their conference rivals. This effectively gives clubs an opportunity to have their opponents play them on their turf twice and will breed more familiarity as well as fostering more rivalries across the conferences. In the matter of the six extra matches that it would take to fill the schedules of each club I would suggest that each club play three games against clubs from each of the other two conferences according to the strength of their squad from the prior season. This would give teams like Cincinnati and Tennessee a chance for some sort of parity while Minnesota would get to look forward to matches against the likes of Rochester and Charleston. This is the way in which I would handle doling out schedules for the teams for next season as I would think no matter which way it turns out it would probably be positive for all involved. Hopefully the league will come out with a schedule somewhat similar in content as I'm sure they'll be burning the midnight oil in preparing next season's schedules.
U.S.A. Bonks Barbados!
Final congratulations to the men's national squad who left it late in scoring their four goals in the final half hour Wednesday in Barbados. My suspicion was that the real team was still on a Bajan beach during the first hour because it was quickly turning into one of the worst displays of American soccer I've seen in a very long time. Either way the boys, with former A-Leaguer Chris Armas a rock in the center of the midfield, got the job done but now things get a lot harder and I urge each and everyone who can to get out to the home qualifiers next year. Our boys need our support. The last item on my agenda is an apology to Dan "the Man" Barnes for making him and all of the readers out there wait for such a long time for this article. Either way, as always that's the view from here. Thanks for reading.
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