The United States Soccer Federation has seemingly hedged one of the most intriguing items on their preseason to-do list. With the lower division NASL and USL both given provisional Division II status this past offseason, the Federation has decided to decline that status further to NASL in 2018, for the time being.
It’s been an uphill climb for the NASL. The league borrowed the namesake of the original NASL, the historic American soccer league that reached great heights in the 70’s and 80’s before folding, and was the home for many of the historic brands of US soccer clubs like the New York Cosmos, Tampa Bay Rowdies, and Fort Lauderdale Strikers.