There are those who say that.

As someone who grew up in Tampa, practically lived at Tampa Stadium in the NASL days, and knows what actually has an impact on such things, I can say I do not agree that Tampa’s MLS team would still be playing if it had been named the Rowdies. We’ll never know, of course, but people throw that out there without a shred of evidence to back it up.

It would still have been a team with no real investor and a crap lease as a secondary tenant in an NFL stadium. The name and the green and gold hoop socks wasn’t going to make fans or an owner just spring out of the woodwork.

The rebirth of the Sounders, Timbers, Whitecaps, Earthquakes and Rowdies are much to build on – however, the “new empire” of DC United, Chicago Fire and Los Angeles Galaxy et al is a nice contrast.

The marketing genius of using past club names – whether mythical or imagined can work to their advantage. american soccer has a long history – it is high time we tapped into it.

There are key elements that were not present before MLS -

* Soccer Specific Stadiums – no more borrowing / sharing of stadiums (hear that New England ?)
* International players who CURRENTLY appear (and are released) for their respective nations.
* Marketing on a grander scale with soccer being imbedded in the American Pysche – from MTV to The Price is Right – owners like Drew Carey and Oscar De LaHoya.

slow and steady and balance betwen the pst and the present will bode well for soccer in America.

You immediately had a brand with a history (including two NASL championships), logo, and fond memories by some of the expected fan base of the new MLS team.

Now, Peter Wilt and Co. did a helluva job in creating a new brand and identity for the Fire. His instructions to the team’s logo designer was that it be as iconic as one of the six original NHL teams. IMHO he was successful there, and with the Fire name and brand and organization.

Not all old NASL team names were winners. I think Philly made the right decision to try something new. That being said, other NASL teams had great names and colors that should not be forgotten if franchises are being considered for cities where NASL teams played.

The Tulsa Roughnecks and Tampa Bay Rowdies come to mind. I would suggest that if the Mutiny had tried to revive the Rowdies instead of inventing their pirate-based brand, they might still be playing. And Miami’s decision to go with Fusion (?!) while playing in Fort Lauderdale, instead of reviving the Strikers, was also questionable.

Look at the MetroStars/Red Bulls fiasco. Wouldn’t Cosmos been a better way to go (if the name had been affordable)?

The decision by some in MLS to completely forget about those years was a mistake in my opinion. People did have fun back then with those teams. For many, it was their initiation into this sport. The Fire have held two Sting reunion nights, honoring both championship teams. They were well attended by both Sting alumni and fans.

So the league had a different offside line and experimented with a better way to settle ties. Perhaps MLS was worried about being tainted by the financial failure of its predecessor but that’s no reason to make believe it didn’t exist and to shun names and colors that people remembered and supported.

I think it’s probably true the Sounders past does get written off a little because of the USL variation. I also think many of us too young (or foreign!) to remember the NASL tend to focus too much on the Cosmos, and there isn’t enough out there about the histories of other clubs. I would love to learn more myself (I feel a series coming on…).

But I also think many newer fans in other MLS outposts write off the tradition of the Sounders because the more recent USL version didn’t draw well. I’m not sure why that happened–I was mostly gone by then (though I did still catch a game or two when visiting my Dad–as odd as it is to see Qwest field full to the rafters for soccer, it was even more odd to see it trying to make an occassion of 1500 or so hardy souls). But I do know that for a kid growing up in Seattle in the 70′s and 80′s the Sounders really mattered. Maybe fodder for a post of my own!