Lower Divisions Preview – Part III: North American Soccer League

Part I - USL Pro     ||     Part II - MLS Reserves     ||     Part III - NASL 

The last professional league to kick off the 2013 campaign will do so Saturday night amidst a lot of excitement… though most of it is for the future.

The third season of the league was supposed to be a big deal with the return of the Cosmos, who won’t debut until the fall, and the new split season, but that has been tempered by the spiraling Puerto Rico Islanders and the limelight stealing deal between United Soccer Leagues and Major League Soccer, which has thus far not led to much player erosion from the NASL. The good news is, however, that the league was able to sell Minnesota to new local ownership, though Traffic Sports still owns its club Fort Lauderdale as well as Carolina and a share of Atlanta - a factor that is significantly affecting player budgets according to RailHawks coach Colin Clarke in a report from Neil Morris of Indy Week.