The TOA already made news today with the announcement that they've added Tampa Bay and Baltimore to their league roster, and while that's pretty big in the world of second division soccer, something...

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Max Lipset

Regular IMS readers will know that Max Lipset has been a contributor to the website in the past. Max is a very good writer and an even better soccer player. This past year Max played for the Kitsap Pumas and told us about life in Seattle, his experiences with the Pumas and the burgeoning soccer culture in the Pacific Northwest.

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USSF TOA decision
It has been widely reported that the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) will be meeting this weekend in Seattle, Washington to make a decision concerning the breakaway TOA league and their request for a new 2nd division league in the US. Of course parties from the USSF and Major League Soccer (MSL) (who are often one and the same) will be in Seattle for the MLS Cup final which takes place on Sunday evening.

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Statement tonight from the United Soccer Leagues:

"In response to the Team Owner's Association (TOA) announcement that the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore will be joining a prospective new professional soccer league, United Soccer Leagues (USL) has issued the following statement:

"Both the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore have contractual commitments to USL to play in the 2010 USL First Division (USL-1) season.

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USL News Release Friday, November 20, 2009

TAMPA. Florida – In response to the Team Owner's Association (TOA) announcement that the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore will be joining a prospective new professional soccer league, United Soccer Leagues (USL) has issued the following statement:

"Both the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore have contractual commitments to USL to play in the 2010 USL First Division (USL-1) season.

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This morning, my personal site, the Kartik Report along with partner site Inside Minnesota Soccer was among those breaking the story that Crystal Palace Baltimore and Paul Daglish's Tampa Bay Rowdies were joining the new TOA "breakaway" league . Later it was reported at USL News, Â and discussed at Match Fit USA among other places, today it was revealed that Miami FC purchased the trademark for the defunct North American Soccer League. Click to continue reading...

Colorado Caribous 1978 jersey. Can't wait to see this brought back!

"Party Like It's 1979″, says the usually stone cold sober Kenn Tomasch. "The future of American soccer appears to be the past of American soccer."

Kenn writes this because news broke today that the breakaway second-tier league made-up of nine former USL and new clubs may use the North American Soccer League name for itself, after Miami FC put in two trademark claims.

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The future of American soccer appears to be the past of American soccer.

It's being reported that the new breakaway league consisting of several former USL clubs has registered the name North American Soccer League, apparently with the intent of using it at launch next spring.

There are those of us old enough to remember the original NASL (if you're not, go here).

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According to the Whitecaps website the TOA League is now 11 teams strong!

The addition of Tampa Bay and Baltimore brings the new league to nine teams, as they join the owners of the Atlanta Silverbacks, Carolina RailHawks, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, St. Louis Soccer United and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

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USL News, a web site not affiliated with the USL, has discovered today that the new Team Owners Associations League name might just be a knock off of the most celebrated soccer league to ever operate in North America.

According to USL News, Miami FC Blues, one of the original TOA teams, has applied for the name North American Soccer League.

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Just when we were beginning to wonder if this TOA league would really get off the ground with just seven clubs they go and add two more. Yup, now they are up to nine as Inside Minnesota Soccer has learned they have snatched two prime USL teams away with Tampa Bay rejoining the group and now a new addition in Crystal Palace Baltimore.

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The Team Owners Association announced today that they have added Crystal Palace Baltimore and the Tampa Bay Rowdies to their new league. The two clubs brings the TOA's total up to nine, putting to...

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TAMPA, BALTIMORE TO JOIN NEW PROFESSIONAL SOCCER LEAGUE
Expansion brings new league to nine teams

Nov. 20, 2009 – The Tampa Bay Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore have joined the new professional soccer league announced last week, beginning play in the United States and Canada in April 2010.

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Paul Erickson is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission (MASC), an organization that oversees the National Sports Center (NSC). IMS contacted Erickson last weekend and he agreed to talk to IMS concerning the organizations attempt to start a new professional soccer team in the Twin Cities.

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National Sports Center Confirms Move to Create New Pro Soccer Team in Minnesota

Last Friday, Inside Minnesota Soccer reported that the National Sports Center (NSC) and the United Soccer Leagues (USL) would announce early this week that the Minnesota Thunder would become the newest USL-1 team replacing the Minnesota Thunder.

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The Vancouver Whitecaps have announced the signing of former Minnesota Thunder star Ricardo Sanchez. Sanchez who has been a crowd favorite at Minnesota for the last 2-seasons. It also signals the first of the Thunder players to leave the team for greener pastures. The Thunder released all players from their contracts several weeks ago after not being able to make the teams payroll.

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Allow me to introduce, if you don't know it already, the very worthy Free Beer Movement. The goals and tactics of this movement are simple, but profound:

The success of soccer in the United States depends on a larger and more supportive network of fans that attend games, watch them on TV, and spread their love and knowledge of the game to others.

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I want to apologize to everyone for being down the last couple of days. Quite frankly the blog has been running poorly since last Thursday. I spent hour and hours trying to figure it out to no avail. A very big thanks to Superrookies friend Jeff Austin for spending his whole evening working to get IMS back up and running.

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I want to apologize to everyone for being down the last couple of days. Quite frankly the blog has been running poorly since last Thursday. I spent hours and hours trying to figure it out to no avail. A very big thanks to Superrookies friend Jeff Austin for spending his whole evening working to get IMS back up and running.

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Montreal inches closer to a MLS expansion bid.

By now we've all seen the lovely quote from MLS commissioner Don Garber yesterday about future league expansion.

"We've had productive conversations with Montreal to be our 19th team," said Garber.

With all the issues going on with the USL/TOA crap you have to think that Montreal owner Joey Saputo is trying to figure out the best way to get his club into the top-tier league instead of a new breakaway league.

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Jason and Zach debut the new American Soccer Show discussing USMNT friendlies, MLS playoffs, and the USL/TOA fallout.
The American Soccer Show is part of the Champions Soccer Radio Network.
Visit the American Soccer Show website for more info
Subscribe to the new iTunes feed here. Click to continue reading...

• If the Canadian Men's Team Plays a Match, and Nobody in Canada sees it, Does it Make a Sound? http://tinyurl.com/yz9kce2 #
• Canada prepares in Skopje http://bit.ly/1SZrEb #
• Johnson, Onstad & Hainault set to play key roles in MLS final four http://tinyurl.com/yckve6x #
• Stephen Hart looking forward to Canada friendlies http://tinyurl.

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• The Galaxy's win over the Dynamo was dramatic but in many ways tainted. A strange call when against Houston, and the rolling power outages that swept Southern California seemed to unfortunately coincide with upsurges in Houston play.
• Chicago vs Real Salt Lake was a better match than the Galaxy-Houston game.

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Jason and Zach debut the new American Soccer Show discussing USMNT friendlies, MLS playoffs, and the USL/TOA fallout. The American Soccer Show is part of the Champions Soccer Radio Network. Visit...

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Inside Minnesota Soccer learned this evening from several reliable sources who both wished to remain anonymous, that there will be a USL-1 First division team playing in Minnesota in the summer of 2010.

One source close to the Team Owners Association (TOA) and United Soccer League (USL) impasse did not want to expound on who the owners of the team would be but did indicate that it would not be the current ownership group of the Thunder.

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Inside Minnesota Soccer learned this evening from several reliable sources who both wished to remain anonymous, that there will be a USL-1 First division team playing in Minnesota in the summer of 2010.

One source close to the Team Owners Association (TOA) and United Soccer League (USL) impasse did not want to expound on who the owners of the team would be but did indicate that it would not be the current ownership group of the Thunder.

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Miami FC President Aaron Davidson was on WQAM 560 yesterday and spoke a little to the Big O about the new, yet to be named TOA League. He Speaks about Miami FC, Traffic Sports and the Miami World Cup bid.
Check it out:
All South Florida Soccer Fans need to listen to the Big O (Orlando Alzugaray) everyday from 2pm to 4pm. Click to continue reading...

USL releases statement regarding USL-1 and TOA's filing of papers to create new Division II league.

While yesterday was an eventful day with the Team Owners Associations (TOA) releasing an official statement saying it had filed papers with the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) to start a new Division II league in the US, it seems today could also be full of fireworks.

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USL releases statement regarding USL-1 and TOA's filing of papers to create new Division II league.

While yesterday was an eventful day with the Team Owners Associations (TOA) releasing an official statement saying it had filed papers with the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) to start a new Division II league in the US, it seems today could also be full of fireworks.

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Yesterday's announcement of a breakaway league from USL-1 had a great symbolic significance. It seems after many false starts and false hopes, outdoor soccer may finally be coming home to St Louis.

November 10th, 2009 could very well be remembered for future generations as the day Soccer came home.

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In the game of back-and-forth-and-back-again between the United Soccer Leagues and the clubs aligned with the Team Owners Association, it seems that nothing can be said without a response from the...

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Thanks to Miami Ultra Robert Scorca who sent us some of the following information concerning Miami FC players on the move.
With the announcement of a New League in the works; Miami FC needs to start rebuilding and so far it seems we have already lost a few players.
Note: Some players still appear on the Miami FC roster. Click to continue reading...

Many who read this blog know me personally. They know my past, my passions and my current job. Those that don't might not understand that the reason that I will be working on arrangements for the Supporters Summit, and contacting people in the TOA, the USL and MLS concerning the drama of pro-soccer in North America is because I don't work on Veteran's Day.

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Today has been a day to say the very least. The news from the TOA group that they are forming their own league certainly took over a lot of folks reading and writing today. I know it did for me as I am still going to be talking about it tonight and maybe more for the coming days. I have some more thoughts about it as well as some other items to discuss.

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I'll be honest, I can't seem to get much done today because of this news about the TOA group starting their own league. We knew this news would probably come down eventually in one form or another but I honestly didn't expect it to consume me as much as it is.

If you aren't reading a couple sites like The Kartik Report or Inside Minnesota Soccer for news on this matter then you are certainly missing out.

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