Author: Scott Adamson

Getting serious about NISA

I spent so much time over the last several months laughing at the National Independent Soccer Association I never stopped to think that maybe the joke was on me.

Scott Adamson’s column on soccer appears periodically, usually when he’s feeling especially soccerish.

NISA? What does that stand for … the No Information Soccer Association? Or maybe it means Not Inspiring Supporters Attention.

See, for the longest time NISA’s marketing plan seemed to consist of doing no marketing at all.

Well, I take that back. Once a territory was named they put it on a pretty postcard and placed it on their website.

We’ve known a while, for example, that Charlotte would be represented in NISA. What we had trouble finding out was anything else about the club.

However, suddenly I find myself cramming on all things NISA, just in case a pop quiz comes up.

Quick … where is California United Strikers FC located?

Where and what is Stumptown Athletic?

Haven’t I seen the Philadelphia Fury somewhere before?

Not long ago I was all geared up for the National Premier Soccer League’s Founders Cup, which was to be a gateway tournament for the circuit’s pro initiative via the United States Adult Soccer Association. Clubs like the New York Cosmos, Chattanooga FC and Detroit City FC would carry the NPSL banner, and I’d follow.

That being the case, I could chuckle at NISA’s expense.

But lower division soccer is a sports tornado, and sometimes it’s hard to tell what’ll turn to debris and what’ll be left standing. Now that the sky has cleared somewhat, we can survey the damage.

The Founders Cup floundered due to player insurance issues, and several clubs like Miami FC (two-time defending NPSL champion) pulled out. Thus, it was downgraded to the Members Cup, and currently serves as a one-off tournament.

NPSL Pro – or whatever it might’ve been called – is NPSL No. My main hope in the aftermath is that the NPSL (in its traditional form) continues to be a viable circuit for adult amateur soccer.

But the other league – the one I was making fun of? Yep, it survived the storm.

Chattanooga FC and Detroit City FC jumping to NISA is a done deal as of Thursday, and it was a logical next step in light of all that’s happened. Both clubs wanted to go pro, the NPSL’s pay-for-play initiative never materialized, and the United Soccer League’s League One is on the opposite end of their philosophical spectrum.

In other words, if they wanted to compete in a league in which their players got a check, NISA was really the only box they could check. They’ll officially begin play in the spring of 2020.

Oakland Roots SC was also announced as a new NISA member, but gets a head start by being part of the inaugural fall campaign.

(As for my beloved Cosmos’ future, it’s once again up in the air. At this point I wonder if they might wind up like the Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, wandering from town to town playing local clubs).

“Bringing Chattanooga FC, Detroit City FC and Oakland Roots SC all in to NISA at the same time is very exciting,” NISA Commissioner John Prutch said via a news release. “These clubs truly represent their communities and are proof the open system for soccer is the best way forward. Each has built their support the correct way and that support will sustain them and NISA for years to come. Congratulations to each of them (owners, staff, players, and supporters) for taking that step to play professional soccer.”

CFC and DCFC are two of the strongest voices in independent American soccer, and I’m glad they get to be loud and proud together. Oakland has also seemingly done everything right to get up and running, and brings its own indie vibe to the game.

So with the most recent clubs joining the party, I can only hope NISA’s landing is better than its leap.

When it was first announced back in the summer of 2017, I was genuinely excited about the possibilities. Fans could have an ownership stake, by its fourth season there’d be a promotion/relegation system (likely in concert with the North American Soccer League), and it would be more in line with international football – right down to a fall season.

But the NISA that begins play in a few weeks has changed dramatically from the league that was on the drawing board two summers ago.

Not long after the announced launch, co-founder and general counsel Jack Cummins died unexpectedly following a brief illness. Co-founder Peter Wilt later left the league to oversee the Forward Madison franchise in USL League One.

And with the NASL dormant – and on life support pending the outcome of a lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation – a major pro/rel path is blocked.

But apart from that, NISA did itself no favors in terms of introducing itself to American soccer supporters.

For a time it existed as little more than a website featuring the aforementioned postcards. Getting information about coaches, players and venues was like going on a poorly planned scavenger hunt – you didn’t even know what you were looking for.

And with exhibition matches slated for August 31 and clubs still holding tryouts, it all seems like a rush job.

Here’s the thing, though … I bought a piece of Chattanooga FC because I believe in their mission. And that mission – like the purpose of Detroit and Oakland and, hopefully, the vast majority of other NISA members – is to be community-first, community driven organizations.

They want their footprint to be more than a cleat mark, and

NISA offers that chance. With the promise of an open system, maybe the way Chattanooga, Detroit and Oakland promote themselves will inspire the umbrella organization to up their public relations games as well.

The fall lineup, billed as “NISA Showcase,” features Atlanta SC, California Strikers FC, Los Angeles Force, Miami FC, Oakland, Philadelphia, San Diego 1904 FC, and Stumptown Athletic.

Aside from Chattanooga and Detroit, clubs in Baton Rouge, Norwich, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island are expected to start competition in the spring of 2020.

Oh, and as for my homework, I found out that California Strikers FC is located in Irvine; Stumptown Athletic pays homage to Matthews, North Carolina, which was once known as Stumptown; and the Philadelphia Fury’s roots go back to the original North American Soccer League.

Obviously, I have no idea whether NISA will flourish or flop – no one does. But I have to give it a chance.

It’s here, and it’s no longer a laughing matter.

Happy birthday, AFL

If you glance at the history of American professional football, you’ll find as many tombstones as you will milestones.

Scott Adamson’s sports column appears pretty much whenever he feels like writing it.

While the National Football League has grown into the most lucrative sports league on the planet (it takes in roughly $13 billion per year), upstarts such as the World Football League and United States Football League drown in red ink.

But 60 years ago today, a competitor decided to challenge the status quo.

And although it now exists as part of the NFL, the American Football League rattled the establishment by establishing itself as gridiron equals.

On August 14, 1959, Dallas millionaire Lamar Hunt led a meeting in Chicago that created a second major pro football league in the United States, one that would begin play in the fall of 1960 as the AFL.

Hunt announced that Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver and New York would have franchises, and there was a possibility two more cities could join for the inaugural campaign.

“We have definite commitments,” Hunt told the United Press International news service. “A kitty (pool of money) is being set up to assure the financial success of the league.”

The other owners – including Barron Hilton, who bought the L.A. franchise, and Bud Adams, head of the Houston entry – dubbed themselves the “Foolish Club” because of their audacious plan to take on the established NFL.

“We’ll try to beat the National Football League on their draft,” Hunt said, adding that the AFL would also bid against the NFL and the Canadian Football League for the best available talent.

The NFL had 12 teams in 1959 and was still playing second fiddle to Major League Baseball among sports fans. But the senior circuit got a huge popularity boost due to the 1958 championship game, one that saw the Baltimore Colts defeat the New York Giants, 23-17, in the league’s first-ever sudden death overtime game.

Featuring 17 players who went on to be inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, that contest turned the NFL into a television hit. It’s widely considered the single event that ultimately propelled the NFL to its spot atop the American sports food chain.

That being the case, trying to go head-to-head with it seemed like a losing proposition.

What’s interesting, though, is there was little opposition among NFL officials when the formation of the AFL was first announced.

Hunt discussed the idea with NFL commissioner Bert Bell, who “gave the league his blessing” and said the franchises of each league would respect each other’s player contracts.

Even Vince Lombardi – about to embark on his first year as coach and general manager of the Green Bay Packers – was in favor of the AFL.

“There is plenty of talent around to support two leagues,” Lombardi told UPI.

While the movers and shakers of the AFL had only a year to get it up and running, they pulled it off, although the lineup was a bit different from the one proposed at the Chicago meeting.

The 1960 season featured the Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Texans, Denver Broncos, Houston Oilers, Los Angeles Chargers, Oakland Raiders and Titans of New York.

The cordial relationship between the NFL and AFL ended quickly after the older organization announced that it would expand to both Dallas and Minneapolis. It also moved into Miami when the AFL was targeting a team for South Florida.

But the new league managed to add Boston, Buffalo and Oakland to the lineup, and started with eight teams instead of six.

AFL Commissioner Joe Foss negotiated a package TV deal for the league that guaranteed each team $225,000 for broadcast rights, and 70 percent of the players drafted out of college were signed by the fledgling organization.

“Even competition is the most important thing for our success,” Foss told the Associated Press on September 7, 1960. “One-sided games would be the worst thing that could happen and it is hoped that our plan has made that unlikely. We do not expect to be up to the standards of the National Football League, but inside the league the competition should be good.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

The relationship between America’s two major leagues got more acrimonious over the years (the Texans couldn’t compete with the Cowboys in Dallas and moved to Kansas City, where they were rebranded the Chiefs), but the AFL was proving to be on par with the NFL on the field.

On June 8, 1966 – three months before the start of the AFL’s seventh season – the two leagues announced a merger in an effort to end the bidding war for top talent. They would play four more seasons as separate leagues before joining forces as a unified National Football League in 1970.

It made perfect business sense, of course, but I hated to see the AFL loses its identity.

It was the league that made me passionate about football, and I found it far more entertaining than the NFL. Its games were high-scoring, its players free-spirited – it was everything I wanted as fan.

The AFL was the last real threat to the NFL, and proved that members of the “Foolish Club” were anything but.

It’s a league worthy of a monument, not a tombstone.

College playoffs a hot topic in 1966

With college football season fast approaching, it’ll soon be time to cuss and discuss your team’s chances of making the College Football Playoff.

Scott Adamson’s sports column appears pretty much whenever he feels like writing it.

First, though, I’d like to salute a trio of playoff visionaries – Bud Wilkinson, Duffy Daugherty and Walter Byers – who were way ahead of their time.

In fact, their vision dates all the way back to 1966.

While playoffs at college football’s highest level have existed only five years, the debate has gone on for as long as I’ve followed the game. But until doing some research, I didn’t realize there was a real push for it in the mid-1960s.

Wilkinson, the legendary Oklahoma coach who guided the Sooners from 1947-63 – wrote a syndicated column that appeared in newspapers across the country on Oct. 19, 1966.

Even though OU teams had claimed three “mythical” national championships under his guidance, he longed for a system where it was determined on the field.

“No single football playoff plan is being advocated now, but it would probably follow the pattern of the basketball championships,” Wilkinson wrote. “Some conference champions would qualify automatically for the playoffs. Other teams would be chosen by a selection committee.”

Wilkinson also quoted Byers – then the executive director of the NCAA ­– in his column.

“Organizing a national collegiate football championship, under NCAA supervision, would have to follow the principles which govern the conduct of other NCAA championships, and result in no appreciable dislocation of the current bowl games which are a colorful part of our American tradition” Byers said. “I believe both of these necessary prerequisites could be guaranteed.”

Wilkinson said the playoffs would “probably involve fewer than 16 teams,” and suggested the semifinals and title game be rotated among bowls.

In the mid-1960s the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Cotton were the traditional New Year’s Day bowl games, while secondary postseason contests for major colleges consisted of the Bluebonnet, Gator, Liberty, and Sun bowls.

A couple of weeks after Wilkinson’s piece – on Halloween – Michigan State coach Duffy Daugherty proposed an eight-team playoff that included the champions of the Big Ten, Big Eight, SEC, Southwest, Pacific Coast and Atlantic Coast conferences, plus two leading independents (there were 20 in 1966).

“The television revenue from an NCAA playoff would be tremendous,” Daugherty told the Associated Press. “I would cut in all 120 NCAA member schools on the television receipts and let each school do with the money what it wants.

“It’s the only way to determine a national champion.”

Texas coach Darrell Royal and Arkansas boss Frank Broyles were among the coaches who went on record in support of the idea.

What’s really interesting about Daugherty’s take is the timing of it. When he unveiled his plan, his Spartans were ranked No. 2 behind No. 1 Notre Dame, and three weeks removed from playing the Fighting Irish to a 10-10 tie in what was deemed the “Game of the Century.”

That was also the season Alabama finished undefeated but ranked third in the final poll, denying the Crimson Tide a third consecutive national crown.

In the pre-bowl Associated Press poll – which determined the unofficial national champ – Notre Dame was No. 1, followed by Michigan State, Alabama, Georgia, UCLA, Nebraska, Purdue and Georgia Tech.

Notre Dame Coach Ara Parseghian later defended the final ranking by pointing out that the Irish had played five Top 10 teams (finishing 4-0-1 against them) while the Tide’s only Top 10 foe was Nebraska, Alabama’s Sugar Bowl victim.

Had the “Daugherty Plan” been in effect, Notre Dame and Georgia Tech would’ve made the playoff as the top independents while Michigan State (Big Ten), Alabama (SEC), UCLA (Pacific Coast), and Nebraska (Big Eight) would’ve qualified for winning their conference titles.

Clemson won the ACC with a 6-4 record while 8-3 SMU was champion of the Southwest, so the Tigers and Mustangs would’ve snatched away berths from higher ranked Georgia and Purdue, thus completing the field.

Some coaches and university officials expressed their skepticism, but Byers remained bullish.

“We’re now playing postseason football from the first week in December through the first week of January,” he told the Associated Press. “I can’t see that a playoff would add greatly to extending the season if it could be worked into the bowl games.”

The NCAA initiated a feasibility study of an eight-team playoff in 1967 and it drug on for two years. Finally, NCAA President Harry Cross said the governing body had “discharged” the special committee studying the proposal.

“Which means the possibility of playoffs being presently developed is ended,” Cross told the Associated Press in 1969. “My guess would be there was some concern from the bowl game persons. I think any of us could expect there would be.

“I don’t know of any person or group that intends to recommend it again.”

After that postseason playoff plans ran hot and cold through the years, from “maybe” to “absolutely not,” until the CFP was implemented in 2014.

So in just a few weeks, 64 members of the Power Five conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 and SEC) plus Notre Dame will begin a new football season they hope culminates in a playoff berth.

The 65 programs comprising the Group of Five conferences (American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West and Sun Belt) have no chance to make the playoffs under the current format, and must hope for a New Year’s Six bowl as a consolation prize. (Technically all 130 schools are eligible for the playoffs, but you might want to ask Central Florida how realistic it is).

Yet as lucrative as the CFP has become, the logical next step is to take a cue from ol’ Duffy and expand the field to eight teams (the current four-team contract runs through 2026).

Once that’s done, all Power Five conference champions will get in, plus three wildcards. And in the CFP executive committee’s benevolence, every now and again they might even let the highest ranked Group of Five team join the party.

I personally prefer an inclusive 16-team playoff (all 10 conference champions and six wildcards), but that’s a big ask and nobody asked me. The next best thing is doubling the current field, and that would be a major step forward.

And should it happen, that step can be traced back to 1966.