NASL adds franchises in Jacksonville and Oklahoma City… but teams still needed in MT and PT zones

The distance from Edmonton to Jacksonville, Fla.: 3,092 km.

The distance from Edmonton to Oklahoma City: 2,355 km.

Neither of the two new NASL expansion cities, announced Thursday after a league Board of Governors vote, is a puddle jump from the Eddies. And the new round of expansion still doesn’t address a pressing need to get teams into the Mountain and Pacific time zones.

Of course, former FC Edmonton director of soccer Joe Petrone continues to work with potential investors in a new Calgary franchise, and there are whispers of teams in New Mexico, Calfornia and Spokane, Wash. But none of those have got to the green-light stage from NASL. So, as the league expands, so does FC Edmonton owner Tom Fath’s travel bill.

The Board of Governors met with four groups, and approved the Jacksonville and OKC bids. Both teams will join the league in 2015. NASL spokesman Michael Preston said that the league won’t identify the other two cities that had bids in, but they didn’t receive flat-out rejections. See them more as being at the beginning of NASL courtship.

As well, Preston said there is no update on the Puerto Rico Islanders’ status for next year. The Islanders, thanks to financial issues and governmental change, went on hiatus for 2013, and as each day goes by there is more and more cynicism when it comes to the hopes for the franchise’s 2014 return to NASL.

The Ottawa Fury, Virginia Cavalry and Indy Eleven boost NASL to 11 teams next year, without Puerto Rico.

FC Edmonton owner Fath, who also sits on the NASL’s Executive Committee, said the two new groups will be great for the league.

“Obviously, with my role on the committee, I knew about the bids, but I hadn’t met the people personally. I made a point to do that at the meetings and, I have to say, they are a great group of guys. They are coming from cities that really like their sports, to support their sports, and they are going to be great teams for our league in the future.”

Of the two markets announced Thursday, there will certainly be some fireworks. Some will no doubt see the OKC confirmation as a declaration of all-out war between USL and NASL.

Sold Out Strategies was part of a bidding team beat out a USL group, headed by Prodigal Sports Management, for the rights to host pro matches at the city’s Taft Stadium. But, last month, the NASL group and USL group were in court. The USL group contends that the NASL bidders were breaking a USL no-compete clause. Why? because some of the NASL bidders are partners in a PDL side, and PDL is a division of USL. The NASL group says the USL had decided to go with another group with its USL-Pro franchise, leaving those PDL investors out in the cold — which should make the no-compete clause null and void.

And, there’s an issue of whether or not a no-compete clause is even legal in the State.

In simple terms, you have USL-Pro and NASL groups going toe-to-toe in an open battle. There are no niceties here. There is no “for the good of the soccer pyramid” chat. This will be the stuff that fuels the USL vs. NASL vitriol that clogs up the comments sections of every lower-division soccer blog in North America.

Read between the lines of comments from NASL commissioner Bill Peterson:

“The Board of Governors has recognized a carefully crafted bid from OKC Pro Soccer LLC, who waited patiently to build a strong platform that will ensure NASL soccer thrives in Oklahoma City. Like their Jacksonville counterparts, they have almost two full years to prepare an unrivaled coaching staff, player roster and venue to create a team that local fans will be proud to support.”

That’s clearly a shot at the USL group, which wants to be first to the post by getting a team — a franchise that was just confirmed last month — launched by spring of next year.

But Fath said NASL isn’t expecting lawsuits to be an issue. The team was awarded to OKC Pro Soccer LLC, led by Tim McLaughlin. And McLaughlin wasn’t involved in the PDL side, so isn’t part of the dispute. He’s the face of the bid. If he’s in the lead, NASL feels there isn’t a worry about the no-compete clause. And, the members of the bid who were part of the PDL team have taken a step back while the lawyers sort things out. (CLICK HERE)

Peterson, via phone, later confirmed to The 11 that McLaughlin is spearheading the bid and the silent partners now in the group have no connections to the PDL team or the lawsuit. The group, as it has applied for the team, is free and clear of that USL baggage.

Mark Frisch and former FC Dallas goalkeeper, Dario Sala, led the Jacksonville bid.

From Peterson: “I have seen firsthand the desire the Jacksonville community has for a professional soccer team to call its own and believe this is a great move for soccer in Florida. The Sunshine Soccer Group is creating another in-state rivalry for our teams the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Fort Lauderdale Strikers, appealing to the global soccer passion for local derbies that are always special occasions.”

Now, to work on the teams out west.

“There’s no doubt we need to have more teams in the West,” said Fath. “The league really needs to add a western component, but there is plenty of room to grow over the next five years.”