History
After a year of rivalry, the National Professional Soccer League and United Soccer Association merged in 1968 to form the North American Soccer League (NASL), with an unwieldy 17 teams.
The first season was a disaster. A dozen of the teams folded, leaving just Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Kansas City, and St. Louis. To regroup, the NASL became a semi-professional league in 1969 and focused on building a fan base while also promoting soccer as a participation sport for younger players.
Baltimore left the league in 1970, but Rochester and Washington were added. In 1971, the Kansas City team folded, while Montreal, New York, and Toronto joined the NASL. Having a team in New York City brought the league much more media attention, especially after the New York Cosmos won the NASL championship in their second season.
In 1972, the Washington team moved to Miami, and the Philadelphia Atoms joined the league the following year. Like the Cosmos, the Atoms won the league title in their inaugural season. Their championship was even more significant, because they were led by the first genuinely famous American player, Kyle Rote Jr. The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards, Rote was the son of the former star halfback/receiver with the NFL's New York Giants.
The NASL grew to 15 teams in 1974, when it added franchises in Baltimore, Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, San Jose, Seattle, Toronto, and Vancouver, while Atlanta and Montreal dropped out of the league.
The Cosmos astounded the soccer world in 1975 by signing Pele, the great Brazilian star, to a three-year, $4.5 million contract. Pele was a true international celebrity, the Michael Jordan of his day, known even to American sports fans who usually paid no attention to soccer.
Pele's signing led many other international stars to join NASL teams. Among them were Franz Beckenbauer of Germany, Johan Cruyff of the Netherland, and Giorgio Chinaglia of Italy. Average attendance throughout the league doubled in two years, and the Cosmos' average went from about 5,000 a game before Pele to nearly 30,000 in 1977.
But Pele retired after that season and the NASL, with exceptionally poor timing, expanded to 24 teams in 1979. Attendance dropped almost as fast as it had risen and the NASL roster declined to 21 teams in 1981, 14 in 1982, 10 in 1983, and only 6 in 1984. The league officially went out of business in March of 1985.
The NASL championship was usually decided by a single-game playoff. There was no playoff in 1969, when the title was awarded to the team with the best regular-season record. In 1971 and 1984, the final was a best-of-three series. A two-game, total-goal playoff system was used in 1968 and 1970.
