NASL has novel plan

Saturday, Jan. 14, 2006 | 7:58 a.m.

More than a few questions remain regarding the new indoor National Alliance Soccer League, which begins next month at the Orleans Arena.

Executives at Margate Entertainment Company, Inc., which owns the TVS Television Network, both of which are based in Las Vegas, are answering them by the day.

But don't look for the NASL to follow the usual model of most major U.S. sports leagues.

Those who run it aren't aiming to profit. All games will be played at the Orleans and the eight teams will not play an equal number of games. The seven Sundays of doubleheaders will be the lure, not playoffs to crown a champion.

And two of the players introduced as Las Vegas Toros at a Wednesday press conference doubted their futures as Toros. One hopes to land with a Major League Soccer team. The other, who played for Blackburn in England, has visa difficulties.

Tom Ficara, executive producer of TVS, said it will cost about $250,000 to start up and maintain the NASL. TVS will include games from the former North American Soccer and Major Indoor Soccer leagues in its production package.

Classics featuring Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Johann Cruyff, George Best and other stars will be highlighted. DVDs of those games, as well as classic jerseys and other items, will be available via those national telecasts.

The profits, if there are any, will be given to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas, Safe Nest and the Lied Animal Shelter. Ficara's English Bulldog named Farnsworth might be involved in halftime dog shows.

"Lots of fun," Ficara said. "Fans will love it."

Soccer chief

Frederic Apcar, 29, owns the Toros. Born and raised in Las Vegas, the former Bishop Gorman High standout owns a tax-resolution firm in town and started the semi-pro Las Vegas Strikers club, with Steve Lazarus, in 2001.

Apcar said it will cost him from the low to middle six figures, annually, to operate his soccer empire. He played professionally for smaller clubs in Austria, Germany and Spain.

At the Wednesday press function, Apcar's eyes welled with emotion when he talked about the sport.

"It's just a different game," Apcar said. "You either have the passion or you don't.

"In Europe, it's more than life and death."

The cut

Sandwiched between Apcar's college playing days at Concordia in Portland, Ore., and Chapman in Orange, Calif., was a brief stay at UNLV, where he was cut by former Rebels boss Barry Barto.

Apcar laughed at the memory.

"We don't need to get into that," he said. "I thought I was better than I actually was. Whatever, he cut me. But things happen for a reason. Maybe it was just his vision of playing, I don't know what it was."

Barto said he did not remember Apcar or cutting him. But he smiled when he glanced at the young man in the dapper suit who has become quite successful.

"Look how well he's done," Barto said. "I probably did the right thing."

The library

"Futebol," the brilliant Alex Bellos tome mentioned here before, is an in-depth look at Brazil and its "beautiful game."

Bellos talked with Vidomar Porto, a former night watchman for Avai, a club that could not afford to pay him back wages. So a judge gave Porto the rights to striker Claudiomir, whom Porto sold to rival club Joinville.

Details of Ronaldo's poor play and ill health in the 1998 World Cup finale in France, which emerged in a congressional commission, are fascinating. As is the country's 90-year-old custom of bestowing nicknames on its players.

The Portugese equivalent of Ant, Mustache, Nose, Butter and Dopey (from Snow White) have all been used.

* "Football Against the Enemy," Simon Kuper's look at how a country's football team affects, and reflects, its culture and politics, is now on the night table. Stay tuned for a review.

Match of the week

Burton Albion at Manchester United, Wednesday

The Brewers play four divisions below the Premiership, which the Red Devils call home. But this third-round replay is what the FA Cup is all about. Burton usually plays before 6,000 at Pirelli Stadium. This time, the audience will be more than 10 times that at Old Trafford.

330

The record number of La Liga games Brazilian international Roberto Carlos has played for Real Madrid, passing Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano.

$3,500

The amount offered in Cartagena for information leading to the arrests of the four men suspected of killing Colombian striker Elson Becerra on Sunday.

Rob Miech can be reached at 259-4087 or miech@lasvegassun.com