Nomads Go Pro to Retain WSL Membership

The owner of the San Diego Nomads said Tuesday that the outdoor soccer team will give up its amateur status and turn professional in order to maintain its membership in the Western Soccer League, which last week announced it will be part of a new national venture.

The American Professional Soccer League is the result of a merger between the WSL and American Soccer League. The two 11-team leagues will go through separate 20-game regular season schedules and playoffs to determine champions who will then meet in the APSL title game Sept. 22.

“We tried to make it work (with amateurs),” said Jerry Burwell, Nomads owner. “But after we examined it, we decided it was in the best interest of soccer in the United States to help support full professionalization.”

Burwell said player salaries will be similar to minimum salaries in the Major Indoor Soccer League, in which first-year players are paid $2,000 a month for the length of the season.

Players who have already agreed to contracts with the Nomads include current Sockers Rene Ortiz, Arturo Velazco and Thien Nguyen as well as Cleveland Crunch player Paul Wright. Last year’s leading scorer Jerome Watson and goalie Anton Nistle will also be back.

The WSL was formed in 1985 as the Western Soccer Alliance. This season teams will be in Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake City, Denver, San Francisco, Albuquerque, Santa Barbara, Redlands, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Diego.

The ASL is entering its third year. Teams will be located in Albany, N.Y., Boston, Jersey City and Trenton, N.J., Columbia, Md., Fairfax, Va., Washington, D.C., and four Florida cities, Orlando, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

Derek Armstrong, Nomads coach, has begun scouting players.

The Nomads will begin WSL play April 7 on the road against the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks, who lost to the Nomads in last summer’s WSL championship game.

The Nomads’ first home game will be May 12 against the expansion Salt Lake Sting.