The S.F. Deltas and FC Edmonton on Friday departed the NASL, the "latest blow to the struggling league," according to Clayton Freeman of the FLORIDA TIMES-UNION. The Deltas are folding "just two weeks after winning the NASL championship," and while that club's "likely fate had been known for months, Edmonton's announcement was more abrupt." Just five teams from last season are "set to continue its participation in the league, which lost its Division II status in September." North Carolina FC "announced earlier this month that it was leaving for the rival" USL. NASL is "set to add expansion franchises" for '18 in San Diego and Fullerton, Calif. NASL interim Commissioner Rishi Sehgal said that the league is in "'active discussions' with potential ownership groups to play" in S.F. in the future (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 11/25).
WON AND DONE: Deltas CEO Brian Andres Helmick on Friday said that the club is folding after struggling to "attract fans" to home games at the 10,000-seat Kezar Stadium. In S.F., Ron Leuty reported the Deltas' average home attendance of 2,564 "ranked last in the eight-team league" and was "nearly 2,000 below the league's regular-season average game attendance." Some fans "blamed ticket prices ... difficulty finding parking around Kezar, on the edge of Golden Gate Park" and S.F.'s "famously foggy weather that would often swoop in during games" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 11/24). Also in S.F., Douglas Zimmerman wrote the Deltas "planned to bring tech-inspired innovations to its games, including a virtual-reality fan experience and Artificial Intelligence (AI) ticketing that was never fully realized." To spread the word around the Bay Area, the team "decided against an extensive marketing campaign and instead decided for a pound the pavement approach by reaching out to the potential fans one at a time." But despite the team's "outreach and ambitions, they struggled out of the gate." After 4,400 fans attended the opening home match, the club "went through a period of games averaging just over 2,000 fans through the first half of the season." Helmick "blamed a combination of factors for the club's problems, including the plethora of entertainment options" in S.F. (S.F. CHRONICLE, 11/25).
LAST TO FALL: FC Edmonton's Tom Fath, who along with brother Dave owned the club, said that the decision to shut down is the "direct result of lack of fans in the stands." Fath said, "We would need 8,000 or 9,000 people to be sustainable, and that's not just bums in seats. It's the eyeballs. If you've got people watching, that also captures corporate sponsorship. We've got some great corporate sponsors, but we never captured the heart of corporate Edmonton to the extent we needed to." FC Edmonton was "one of the founding teams of the NASL" in November '09, and the "only original team still involved with it." The Faths in a statement said that they "believed in and supported the league's business model, but 'our franchise has proven to be unsustainable in the Edmonton market'" (CBC.ca, 11/24). FC Edmonton was the "only Canadian entry left" in the NASL. Ottawa Fury FC "quit the NASL" after the '16 season to join the USL (CP, 11/24).
CLOUDY FUTURE: In Miami, Michelle Kaufman wrote NASL club Miami FC staff, players and fans are "left in limbo" due to the league's uncertainty. It is "truly a shame" to see the club in this situation, as it had "begun to create local buzz among soccer lovers." A crowd of 9,004 attended a U.S. Open Cup match against Atlanta United, and that "grew to 10,415" for the quarterfinal against USL club FC Cincinnati. The season attendance average was 5,223 (MIAMI HERALD, 11/25).
