Future of Jacksonville Armada, North American Soccer League uncertain

The future of the Jacksonville Armada is hazy with the North American Soccer League on the verge of folding.

Suela Puci spends Tuesday evenings at Losco Park on the sidelines while her oldest son runs up and down the field during soccer practice, and when she's not at the field she said she enjoys taking her family to Community First Park to watch the Jacksonville Armada play.

"Very big Armada fans and we hope they are going to grow because we having so much fun on Sundays," Puci said.

But with reports saying the North American Soccer League's biggest franchise, the New York Cosmos, in a financial crisis, some people are worried for what this means for the Armada, a team that is in the same league.

"It's very sad, we hope not. We hope something changes so we keep the team here and the people are enjoying and love it," Puci said.

This offseason, the NASL has lost three teams with the possibility of more jumping to a rival league or shutting down, which would leave the NASL with too few teams to compete.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors postponed the decision on sanctioning and recertification of leagues for Division 2 and 3, which includes the NASL. They said there will be further discussions within the upcoming 10 days.

"I would hope there would be some way to keep them, how we go about doing that, but if we could keep them that would be wonderful," Armada fan Brian Damico said.

Action News Jax reached out to the Armada's spokesperson for comment on the franchise's financial situation, but hasn't heard back.