Monday, September 17, 2018

Project Year Zero: The National Soccer League



Over the last two weeks Daniel Workman has released 13 episodes of his Soccer Works podcast, with a final installment coming tomorrow, laying out his Year Zero: The National Soccer League. He has put together among other things, the reasoning behind why it is important for every independent club in the United States to work together to create a pyramid like this, the fact that he talked to a TV executive that said a 300 club pyramid would generate $100M per year in TV and sponsorships dollars, and answered many of the questions about how we can help fix the youth development system in the US via this project as well.

Now with the NPSL Pro planning in the works... it is imperative that these leaders of lower division INDEPENDENT soccer go above and beyond just creating a professional league outside of the PLS. They must be actual agents for system change in the United States.

There is never going to be another time like right now to actually do what is necessary to change how soccer works in the United States. I know that these club owners are doing what they think is right for their club, the fans, and I'm sure even the game. That said... these men and women could be remembered as something much more than that. They can be remembered as the brave souls who created the first open pyramid in professional sports in the United States. They can be remembered as the people who broke soccer wide open and created the system that allows us to win the World Cup in our lifetimes.

I've personally talked to dozens of club owners/directors who are begging for a project like this to come to fruition... I've talked to several leaders of State Associations across the nation who are 100% on board with a project like this coming to fruition... and social media is full of scores and scores of fans and Supporter Groups who are practically begging for a project like this to come to fruition... I've even talked to leadership of LEAGUES who want to join a system like this.

Every day we wait to get to the hard work of creating this pyramid is a day that we let the establishment put in more work killing successful independent clubs like what is happening in Chattanooga. Every day we wait to get to the hard work of building the pyramid is another day that the establishment is given the gift of a disjointed American soccer landscape to exist in. One that every community isn't pulling in the same direction. One where they can sell dreams and not have to deliver a single positive result.

Now... are you going to be a bold leader who says we are going to put a man on the moon? or are you going to say that we can still wait years to attempt to get there and miss this opportunity in front of us right now?


Listen to the first 13 episodes below.














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