As a soccer fan, I am thoroughly interested and intrigued by the return of top-flight soccer to Canada. When Toronto FC were awarded an Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise, it immediately conjured up for me images of the defunct North American Soccer League (NASL) - as well as bad New Wave hairdos, Ninja Turtles, and the Chia Pet.
Comparisons between the two leagues are inevitable. A cynic will dismiss the MLS and conclude it will probably head the route of the NASL. An optimist will obviously arrive at a different conclusion. Who will be right?
We should be careful how we compare the NASL and MLS. The NASL fell under the weight of its impossible dreams. It was a league that wanted to run before it could crawl let alone walk. No one could doubt that there was a natural niche market for soccer on the continent. It was just a question of tapping into it with a sound business plan predicated on commitment and will.
The NASL used a marketing strategy to legitimatize its product that proved its ultimate demise. It impressively managed to attract some of the world's greatest players: Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, George Best, Hugo Sanchez, Giorgio Chinaglia (who was the NASL all-time leading scorer), and of course Pele.
In a nutshell, attendance and revenues were not sufficient enough to justify such extravagance. Average attendance began slowly in the late 60s from roughly 5,000 per game to 15,000 by the time the league shut down in 1985. (The New York Cosmos did skew the figures a little as they attracted upwards of 40,000 per game.)
Laugh all you want. I hear Florida pro teams would sell their pet alligators for numbers like that. I shouldn't single out such a popular tourist destination for Quebecers.
It's easy to dismiss the figures. But remember that the NASL was a new experiment. It was not going to grow overnight. Within the soccer world, don't think that Europe was drawing huge numbers either. While Italy, Spain, and England attracted 25,000-30,000 fans, France averaged 15,000 during the 70s and 80s. Figures were not all that impressive in other countries either. That said, there was and is enough of a sizable niche soccer market in North America.
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