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| NPSL Chairman Kenny Farrell made the announcement to on September 17th for a move to summer and spring/fall seasons. (Photo Credit: Daniel Mick, NPSL.com) |
On Sirius XM FC on September 17th, the NPSL
announced that they would be making the jump into a two-season system. The
summer season will remain in place and, as NPSL Chairman Kenny Farrell said,
will take precedent when looking at any possible tough decisions, but there
will be a spring/fall season as well. Spring will run in March and April, teams
will then break for summer season, then teams that will continue playing in
fall will resume play in that season from late-August through to November.
Farrell noted that one of the driving forces for bringing
about the change is the influx of teams doing well, but having too short of a
season. Farrell said that teams would have a build-up of people in the crowd,
but only playing five home games or so halts momentum early. With this change,
clubs who want to play full seasons can help build up their community through
more matches, but also the summer season is protected as well.
The protection of the summer season was vital in the process
of making this change to the two seasons. The summer season is one in which, “Every
single team registering in the NPSL has to play in,” Farrell noted. He
emphasized this later in our conversation where he said, speaking on future
plans of the league and the possibility of one longer season, “I think if that
happens there’s a good possibility that there will still be a summer season and
that may end up being two leagues.” The NPSL remain aware that the bread and
butter of the league is the summer season and are intent and keeping it alive
and well at all costs.
In the U.S. soccer landscape, Farrell also noted that there
was a gap for high-level, year-round, amateur soccer. Not only is this for the
community, but also for the players as Farrell said clubs could “build teams
from the community out” in regards to players in any given area. “They still
want to play at the highest level, they still want to train 3-4-5 times a week,
they want to play great games on the weekend in a national league. And we saw
an opportunity to do that.” Whether young players out of college or players in
the area who still want to play, this serves as an opportunity to keep players
active year-round and involved in the community.
The community aspect was vital in the change and this was a
big focal point that Farrell made sure to note. He drew comparisons to the
likes of the Conference in England where teams, “get their communities and they
get their sponsors and local media all built around their team.” He described
the way in doing this as a “creative” way to both keep players playing and
getting communities involved, and the two-season system was decided upon as the
way of doing that.
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| Photo Credit: Daniel Mick, NPSL.com. |
Of course, things could always change in the future. Farrell
noted that in two or three years this system as it currently will stand in 2020
will be reviewed and possibly be altered into becoming a full national league
across the country. “We see the opportunity to become that league,” said
Farrell speaking of the lack of national amateur league. As he touted a good
staff and high minimum standards, he noted that the floor was already set for
something like this to potentially be built up if that is the direction chosen
to go in.
Team news is always what fans desire to hear about, but
there is nothing set in stone yet. Farrell did note interest by NPSL sides saying,
“There’s multiple…that have said, ‘If this is correct, we’d love to do this.’”
Things in this season will be different than just joining the NPSL’s summer
season. Even teams that would join out of the NPSL would get re-vetted for this
new season in order to ensure stability within the new season.
With the way the two seasons are set up, there is the
possibility, perhaps even the probability, that sides who play in the summer
and spring/fall season will see different opponents. Additionally, in terms of
the set-up of the second season, things will be stricter for teams wishing to
apply. “The minimum standards may be a little bit more rigorous,” Farrell
noted. But the compromise is that, “The cost of playing in this league will be
so much below what professional league standards, Division 3, is, that it will
make it, hopefully, a very viable league to succeed in within the community
year-round.”
Looking at possible models, Farrell highlighted the NPSL’s
western teams as being possibilities to model around. Teams in the Golden Gate
and Southwest Conferences play a season that more resembles a spring/summer
year, starting in late-February, and ending with the end of the NPSL summer
season. Farrell also said that Northeast teams could be a target as well, given
the minimal amount of travel that would be required given their proximity. He
also hopes that this will help to create more giant-killing NPSL sides in the
U.S. Open Cup.
The frontier of the NPSL is now immediately changing with
the addition of this second season. We could see another change in two-three
years’ time with a longer season and a summer season. For now, though, the
outlook from Farrell is positive for clubs within their community. “New clubs
will see this as an opportunity to build in a national league over a period of
time,” he said. With a longer season now in motion, the wait begins to see who
will be involved and what the face of the NPSL will look like throughout the
2020 season.
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