New York Nationals (USL)

The early 1980s were a lean and difficult time for professional outdoor soccer in the United States. The North American Soccer League was in significant decline following the "boom years" of the late 1970s, undone by a period of over-expansion and overspending that created an unstable environment in which teams were constantly folding or moving to new cities. By 1984, only nine teams were left in the league (down from a peak of twenty-four in 1980). The de facto second division American Soccer League had likewise doomed itself to instability and difficult economic realities when it expanded beyond the northeastern United States, where it had operated very modestly since 1933, and tried to establish footholds in the midwest and west coast in the '70s and southern states in the '80s. These expansions produced a string of short-lived franchises, and the league had contracted to only six teams in 1983.^[1]

At the ASL's annual league meetings in January 1984, two of the remaining six teams announced plans to go "dormant" for 1984. Despite this, the league rejected a proposal for an expansion team in Fort Lauderdale, which prompted the owners of the Jacksonville Tea Men and Dallas Americans to break away and start planning a new second division league, which they named the United Soccer League. Their vision was a stable league in which teams could operate within their means and take a more "grass roots" approach to building a fan base in their communities. Year-round operation (with an indoor season in the winter), a strict salary cap, a focus on American players and a mostly regional schedule to reduce travel costs were all pillars on which this new league was to be founded. Three ASL clubs would end up coming directly to the USL, while two other clubs were re-organized and renamed for USL membership. Four new teams also joined the league, one of which would be the New York Nationals.^[1] The Nationals were founded by a group of mostly Greek-American owners and executives and had connections to the defunct New York Apollo/United (in the form of head coach Jimmy McGeough and players Andy Papoulias and Michael Collins^[2][3]). They planned to host home games at Hofstra University on Long Island.^[4]

The club was able to sign several players with experience in the MISL, ASL or NASL including Jim Gabarra, Franco Paonessa and Rich Reice,^[3] and they nearly secured the services of Rick Davis, the top American-born player of the day. He was willing to come lend his support to the upstart league, but their strict salary cap left the Nationals unable to afford to sign him.^[5] Despite this, the team had a strong roster and got off to a 5-0 start. What followed, though, was a spectacular collapse. Head coach Jim McGeough's resignation was announced on June 18th.^[6] Top players such as Collins, Reice and Paonessa were no longer listed on roster shortly thereafter, and the team started to field a smaller squad featuring lesser-known local Greek-American players.^[7] The team also changed home venues mid-season from Hofstra University to a stadium in Mt. Vernon, NY.^[8] The club would go on to lose fourteen of their remaining nineteen games, and they did not qualify for postseason play.^[9]

The Nationals were one of several USL franchises that ended the first season on shaky ground. Despite the league's conservative fiscal structure, owners were losing money. A last-ditch set of USL/NASL merger discussions to shore up USL team finances and keep the NASL from shrinking to non-existence was called off on March 5th of 1985, and the Nationals were one of five USL teams that chose to end operations.^[10]