[NASL] The decision by the expansion New York Cosmos to delay their entry into the NASL until the fall 2013 season -- the league will play fall and spring seasons and take the winners of both halves for the Soccer Bowl championship -- was met with almost universal disdain from supporters around the league.

The This is Cosmos Country Web site  surveyed supporters groups such as San Antonio's Crocketteers, whose president James Hope said, "This action cheapens the league. Makes one think the idea of a spring and summer season was exclusively made just for the Cosmos."

Said Charles Cole, president of the reigning champion Tampa Bay Rowdies' Ralph’s Mob, "If the NASL and the Cosmos truly have the best interests of the club in mind, both parties should strongly consider postponing entry into league play until the spring of 2014."

"Why commit to the 2013 season at all if their not prepared?" asked Pieter Brown, the founder of the Miami Ultras. "I think an organization needs a solid 18 months to ramp up a solid front office and team."

But Jarrett Campbell, founder of the Carolina-based Triangle Soccer Fanatics, countered that if giving the New York club more time allows it to start on more solid footing, then "NASL fans everywhere need to both appreciate and respect the franchise’s decision to wait until the fall season to join the league."

The fear of some groups is that the move to allow the Cosmos to enter in the second half of the season shows a willingness by the NASL to go with what the Cosmos want to do, sort of like what happened in the old NASL.

Said Jim Oliver of Dark Clouds, a Minnesota supporters' group, "The big concern, I think, is that the league might be losing credibility by coddling an organization that hasn’t proven much of anything to anybody."