NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson has severely put his foot in it, telling one fan to "go watch another league" over twitter on Thursday night.
For a league where the highest average crowd is 7,000 and the league average is closer to 5,000 suggesting that statements like this, intentionally damaging relationships with fans, is something the league can scant afford.
The comment came as a response to a comment from a member of Tampa Bay's supporters group who was upset at the treatment of the visiting fans at New York's Hofstra Stadium.
The statements from that side were not rude or offensive, although they were consistent, Peterson's response is certainly wrong, inappropriate and over the top.
Peterson began his response expressing his disappointment that the fan didn't mention other discussions held, which would have been fine if he left the statement there but he carried on and instead of inviting further discussion he shut off and told the fan to go watch another league.
It's a reflection of the state of the NASL, either you get on board with the way things are run, split seasons, a ten game tournament being more important than a 20 game tournament, focusing on the past rather than looking forward and giving more press to a team in Europe than to their own clubs or you can leave.
As of time of writing no apology has been issued for Peterson's hastily deleted tweet and it would seem none is forthcoming with every minute without one digging himself a deeper hole.
Peterson is due to appear at the NASL fans summit, bizzarely scheduled to take place in Atlanta this weekend when the Silverbacks are on the road and the biggest rivalry in the league takes place, it seems doubtful that he will be making an appearance at that event in light of the grilling he will receive.
Peterson and the NASL firmly believe they can compete with Major League Soccer, indeed there are many who think they already are competing with MLS but it's hard to imagine MLS Commissioner Don Garber making a comment like that. Indeed the NASL will struggle to be anywhere near competitive as long as a commissioner with the thinking of Peterson is at the helm.
The commissioner seems to be saying that the league doesn't need fans who don't like the way they are treated, who don't like the status quo, who don't want a throwback league.
Unfortunately for Peterson that statement could not be further from the truth, the NASL desperately needs every fan it can get.
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