North American Soccer League (1968–1984)
 |
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Other club(s) from | Canada |
| Confederation | CONCACAF |
| Founded | December 7, 1967 |
| Folded | March 28, 1985 |
| Number of teams | 24 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Promotion to | None |
| Relegation to | None |
| Last champions |
Chicago Sting (1984) |
| Most championships | New York Cosmos (5 titles) |
The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It was the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the United States. The league final was called the Soccer Bowl from 1975 to 1983 and the Soccer Bowl Series in its final year, 1984. The league was headed by Commissioner Phil Woosnam from 1969 to 1983.
The league's popularity peaked in the late 1970s. The league averaged over 13,000 fans per game in each season from 1977 to 1983, and the league's matches were broadcast on network television from 1975 to 1980. The league's most prominent team was the New York Cosmos. During the mid-to-late 1970s, the Cosmos signed a number of the world's best players —Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto— and the Cosmos averaged over 28,000 fans for each season from 1977 to 1982 while having three seasons of the average attendance topping 40,000 spectators per game. Other internationally well-known players in the league included Giorgio Chinaglia, Johann Cruyff, Johan Neeskens, Gerd Müller, George Best, and Rodney Marsh.
The league additionally sanctioned indoor soccer in 1971, and 1975–1976 and from 1979–1984.
The surprisingly large North American TV audience of over 1 million for the 1966 FIFA World Cup and the resulting documentary film, Goal!, led American sports investors to believe there was an untapped market for the sport in the U.S. and Canada. In 1967, two professional soccer leagues started in the United States: the FIFA-sanctioned United Soccer Association, which consisted of entire European and South American teams brought to the U.S. and given local names, and the unsanctioned National Professional Soccer League. While the USA had FIFA sanction, the foreign teams which were rebranded as American for the summer 1967 season viewed the league as little more than a training exercise for their off-season, and most did not field their best players. The NPSL had a two-year national television contract in the U.S. with the CBS television network...referees were instructed to whistle fouls and delay play to allow CBS to insert commercials. The ratings for matches were unacceptable even by weekend daytime standards and the arrangement with CBS was soon terminated. Bill MacPhail, head of CBS Sports, attributed NPSL's lack of TV appeal to empty stadiums with few fans, and to undistinguished foreign players who were unfamiliar to American soccer fans.
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