European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 13, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Doil Magazine a missionary by Steve Wilstein United press International All Street May be nervous about the Economy but the Man who directs one of America s fastest growing industries is feeling extremely bullish these Days. Phil Woosnam commissioner of the North american soccer league confidently predicts the assets of the league will multiply from a current $100 Mil lion to Over a half billion dollars in the next eight years while soccer grows into the no. 1 sport in America. In a rare lengthy interview at Nail Headquarters in new York City Woosnam discussed the business and marketing philosophy behind the Nail s dramatic growth the sudden interest by major corporations the Competition with the National football league and major league baseball the use of television the future of legalized gambling and the development of a top flight world cup team. At times Woosnam spoke As if he were on a divine mis Sion Baring his Teeth and clenching his fists. He is a 44-year-old welshman who gave up teach ing High school physics and math to play profession Al soccer in England for 12 years. He coached the now defunct Atlanta chiefs to the first Nail title in 1988 and was named executive director of the league in 1969 just after 12 of the 17 teams folded. As Woosnam contemplated what he and his colleagues have wrought Over the last 10 years and where they Hope to go Over the next 10, More than a dozen Pink message slips Lay scattered and unanswered on his desk phone Calls were held up and the outer offices were being expanded and renovated. What Are the current values of the Nail franchises and where Are they headed at this time 18 of our 24 franchises Are probably valued Between $24 million and there Are six Over that Between $4-10 million. The new York Cosmos Are obviously on the top of the pile. Some corporations like Gulf and Western Are talking to us now but they can t buy new franchises. We won t be expanding again for 3-5 years. All they can do is go to our existing owners and try to buy into them and some of these things Are happening. They realize that if they give it the big push now the whole volume of the operation would shoot ultimately into a $20 million  your whole business philosophy seems extremely aggressive As Well As optimistic. Are you concerned you might be trying to push top fast you Force the growth As fast As possible. You could always get there in 20 years but we be tried to develop the growth at its fastest Pace. That involves very Subtle decisions in terms of expansion or growth of operation or importing Talent versus developing native Talent or How much to allocate to develop the world cup team. Lots of factors go into this. We re trying to make every aspect of it go up together at the right Pace so that eight years from now we will be the world Center of soccer and the number one sport in this  where is the Nail today we Are where the nil was in 1964-65. They were really beginning to hit the Jackpot and get Good crowds. Every sport seems to Roll along for a period of years and in the Case of the nil it May have been 30-40 years of gradual growth and acceptance of overcoming barriers. Their Barrier was professionalism. We overcame the Barrier of being a foreign sport and it s Only taken us 10 years. We be now got the credibility so we re on the verge of the explosive period. The track record of sports is that they suddenly take off and for 6-8 years there s a phenom enal growth in Media coverage marketing attitudes at Tendance operating costs and franchise values. Now we re probably in the first or second year of that explosive period. Five years from now Well be in the same position the nil is in today. I see us emulating exactly whatthenfldidinthemid-60s." nearly All the Nail franchises continue to show losses each year. Who owns these franchises and How Long can they keep it up ownership varies from corporations to single owner ship to group ownership. How Long you can continue to absorb losses depends on How much financial strength you be got behind clubs. The majority of private investors form subchapter s corporations or limited partner ships where there Are tax considerations to write off losses. All sports developed this Way. The potential for growth is enormous and yet there s a tremendous risk involved. I Tell everyone coming in to be prepared to lose $500,000 a year throughout this seven year upgrading  most of the Nail s revenues Are now derived from at Tendance while the nil s largest source of income is National television. Will the Nail go the same route the nil is entered on the three networks. Baseball with a far greater number of games has a combination of network and local coverage the networks have priority Over certain games but the locals put their own packages together. We fall somewhere in Between these two. While we re developing the sport we have to develop a local package and create the right atmosphere for a network package. We went from 35 games in 1977 to Over 160 games in 1978 on local television. We re making the local Public familiar with the sport and the stars around the league and used to watching the sport on television. So the emphasis for another one or two years will have to be on the local Market. We then will have created a National identity for the sport and that is the time when the net works will come on in a big  do you see the rules being changed to allow for timeouts for commercials that s somewhat of a problem with the world organization about us changing our rules and i Hope Well be Able to find another Way. We May use the split screen superimposed ads or the ticker tape running  the nil recently passed a Rule prohibiting owners from having interests in other leagues such As the Nail claiming it could produce conflicts of interest. Do you agree and do you feel the Nail represents a threat to the nil or major league baseball the nil is showing us a lot of respect with the com ments they be been making lately. I think they recognize that the potential for our sport is to accomplish exactly what they have. We Don t feel there is any conflict of in Terest in owning teams in both leagues and we do have concern for the Steps they Are anticipating taking. I Don t think an owner of an nil franchise should be forced to sell his ownership in an Nail franchise. I think there s a place in this country for All sports. People have said we re competing with baseball because we both play the same season but in the last 2-3 years while we be been growing baseball s been growing  would t a successful soccer franchise sharing a stadium with an nil team actually be to the nil s advantage i would think from their Point of View it s very Posi Tive for us to grow. I Don t see any justification for the nil not to work with us. In the Long term we will be play ing twice As Many games As the nil in the same Staci wednesday september 13, 1978 Nail Nail commissioner Phil Woosnam urns. Our ticket prices won t get As High but with twice As Many games we do have at least equal potential for Gate receipts. Therefore a soccer franchise might be Asim portent to a stadium or More important than any other sport. If you go through the income generated in baseball and football you might find that seven years from now soccer might be generating More income. With increased incomes bigger and better stadiums will be built in Sev eral places around the country. That will be As much to the Benefit of the nil As to the  do you see any further overlap of the Nail and nil seasons with future expansion ultimately i expect Well expand to about 30 teams probably about the same As the nil. Football has the Best time of year to generate income with the higher Cost of advertising during the period september through de Cember. Well probably become a six month season but i Don t think we d extend our season further than the end of september. I think soccer could Well become a prime time sport during the  nil commissioner Pete Rozelle has fought against legalized gambling on nil games claiming among other things that it would create Security problems. On the other hand soccer pools Are very popular in european and latin american countries. Do you see a future for soccer pools Here with the gambling Laws rapidly changing in this coun try some form of gambling is going to come about. It s better to be realistic about it and discuss it openly. But we Haven t yet discussed it with anybody in Atlantic City or Las vegas. I do know that pools have been organized in other countries and in Many cases the profits have gone to build facilities. They be also been done As a govern ment run National lottery where All the profits go to the Benefit of the youth and to sports in general. The sport itself has not lost any integrity  How soon will american players be at world level when we started in 1967, at Best one per cent of the players were american. Now 48 per cent of the players on rosters Are american and 38 per cent of the starters Are american. Well be increasing the ratio of american players to foreign players on a year by year basis. We probably will get into some Reserve team format some sort of farm system to develop the raw Talent to take it up to world level. We have made provisions already for All our clubs to sign 30 players and with 30 players you can really run two teams. It la get to the Point where the majority of players will be american but i think the door will always be open for top players in the world to come to the states. That s Why i say this will be the Center of world  How much Effort is the Nail putting into developing an american world cup team we re in the final stages of discussion with the . Soccer federation about a major project Here. The league is prepared to invest a considerable amount of Money into a program during our off season to develop the world cup team so it could play together something like 12-15 games a year against top Quality Competition. We want to Start immediately. We re hoping to get started this fall and throughout next season. In the first year it will get into the millions of dollars. But it s also a question of scheduling the games at the right cities at the right time and getting the right marketing behind the team so that this country recognizes exactly what the development of a world cup team is All about. It s not the peles and Beckenbauer of our league it s our top nation Al players. Four years from now i think Well have a very Good National team. Eight years from now i think we could have the ability to win the world  the stars and stripes Page 13