Any Calgary NASL bids are completely separate from Calgary Foothills PDL and their ambitions to move up to USL. This thread was started way before any Calgary Foothills professional aspirations were made public.
Long term, Calgary Foothills wants to move up to USL, and then eventually MLS. NASL is not even in the question based on everything I've heard. Their reasoning for this is two fold:
1. Cost. USL expansion fees are $750K, whereas NASL expansion fees are $1.5M. NASL players make much more than USL players (although neither league has had salaries disclosed). NASL travel is much more expensive as well since the closest city outside of Edmonton would be Indianapolis once Minnesota United moves to MLS. For a youth club with no large financial backing keeping costs low is paramount. Not to mention, standards for NASL (Div 2) are much higher than standards for USL (Div 3), as for example all Div 2 clubs need a 5000+ seat stadium but Div 3 clubs only need a 1000+ seat stadium.
2. There is a defined development pathway from USL PDL to USL to MLS, and this is the pathway that the club eventually wants to move up. Calgary Foothills wants local players to get noticed and eventually get on MLS teams. NASL is outside of this pathway.
I have no idea how the recent FIFA busts will affect NASL long term, but it will be interesting. Personally, I greatly prefer the quality of NASL play to USL, but with the cost factor it's kind of a no brainer.
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