NASL Los Angeles club likely to begin play in the fall season

The NASL is rumored to be expanding to the city of Los Angeles shortly, fulfilling the U.S. Soccer D2 requirement to have clubs located in all of the Eastern, Central, and Pacific time zones. On Thursday, Brian Straus of SI shared some more interesting news that he's been hearing:

On my way to LA. While laying over in ATL, heard a fun rumor that the NASL is headed to LA as well. Expansion news could come soon.

— Brian Straus (@BrianStraus) December 4, 2014

One more note on NASL expansion to LA: New team likely to join league for fall season. Similar to NY Cosmos in 2013.

— Brian Straus (@BrianStraus) December 4, 2014

It's not clear from reading this whether Straus means the club would begin play in 2015 or 2016, but unless the potential club can avoid the sort of delays several future NASL sides have run into lately, I'd have to assume he's talking about the 2016 fall season. Regardless, joining in the fall leaves a far more difficult path to the playoffs, as the club would need to top the fall table in order to join the four-team party.

Hopefully the league will announce its plans soon, and we'll see significant expansion in Canada in addition to the move to Los Angeles.