the absence of a salary cap

Pretty much: Haisley writes a long screed about how MLS/USSF/The illuminati/Crab People are secretly holding down the NASL when the reality is that this was basically SoccerHouse telling the NASL “hey, your league is a financial trainwreck. Quit wasting our fucking time.”

It already exists.

This. NASL is a league with serious financial problems that this quixotic quest to take on MLS is going to make even worse. As conservative as MLS’s approach is, it’s done the best in a long time for growing the sport here.

Boosted by the inclusion of historically significant clubs like the New York Cosmos, a handful of rich and ambitious owners, and the absence of a salary cap, the league’s threats of attracting and paying great players that could eventually result in a collection of teams better than what the self-neutered MLS has to…