Earlier rumors that the NASL has lost its Division 2 sanctioning have been confirmed by the US Soccer Federation (USSF) and NASL.
US Soccer explained to Inside Minnesota Soccer's Brian Quarstad that it was the financial issues that were the final straw to NASL's sanctioning, as the league's financial situation changed significantly since originally being granted provisional division 2 status, with a number of teams now being propped up by NASL parent company Traffic.
The NASL stated that they were determined to fight for Division 2 status:
"The NASL and its member teams are fully committed to establishing a long overdue stable structure and platform for second division soccer in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The NASL looks forward to working closely with Major League Soccer (MLS) at the first division level and United Soccer Leagues (USL) at the third division level and below in developing soccer in North America at all levels."
The NASL will be permitted to resubmit its application for Division 2 status and will look to do so as soon as possible.
Despite the talk of cooperating with the USL, NASL CEO came out swinging taking a swipe at the USL in his defense:
“We have invested a lot of time, energy and resources over the past four years to establish a proper team-owned and governed professional second division soccer league and separate ourselves from the instability and annual team turnover of USL, the former second division. The USSF and the soccer community have realized that it’s time once and for all to launch a new second division with higher standards which finally ensure the stability, growth and prosperity of second division soccer in North America. We are prepared to respond to the USSF’s concerns and look forward to delivering on our commitments to our teams and fans to re-launch second division as the NASL in 2011.”
The situation for San Antonio is still not clear with San Antonio Scorpions, who were slated to play in the NASL in 2012, owner Gordon Hartman stated that "these are technicalities, I'm not worried."
The USL is still making moves with Spurs Sports and Entertainment (SS&E) to launch a team in San Antonio with USL President Tim Holt making a quick stop to San Antonio earlier this week to speak with SS&E and city officials.
What is most clear is that time has not healed any wounds in this battle as the NASL and USL divide is still clearly bitter and hard fought, USL have certainly won the battle but NASL are not giving up the war just yet.
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