You might not have heard, but there's a new football league starting up in April. And it could save the sport in this country.

I'm not talking some NFL wanna-be like the failed United States Football League or the World Football League (also known as the WLF, for We Laugh Football).

When I say football, I'm referring to the sort played here in the United States in the summer of 1994. You remember, it was a little tournament called the World Cup. I'm talking about soccer.

Major League Soccer chairman and World Cup organizer Alan Rothenberg announced last August the league would kick off its inaugural season with a game in San Jose, Calif., on April 6, 1996. The 10-team league is the United States Soccer Federation's first try at a top-flight soccer league since the North American Soccer League folded in 1984. Games will be televised by ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.

The teams will compete in two divisions for the right to play in the championship match Oct. 20. As for team names, they sound like they might have come from the WFL.

In Columbus, Ohio, there will be the Crew. Its Eastern Conference foe, the Tampa Bay Mutiny, sound like a bunch of rough customers. In the Western Conference, the Los Angeles team actually took its name from a WFL franchise: the Frankfurt Galaxy. And the Kansas City Wiz may inspire bewilderment, if not funny looks, when it comes to town.

Team names aside, the league is seen by many American soccer advocates in make-or-break terms. They perceive it as panacea which could rid the world's most popular sport of its second-class status in this country.

That argument is not without merit; despite the recent successes of both the men's and women's U.S. National Teams and the interest generated by the World Cup, soccer is still the red-headed stepchild of American spectator sports, played by millions of kids but ignored by even more sports fans. Pundits can't comprehend how a sport which so thoroughly dominates the global scene still can't hope to compete with football, basketball, baseball or even hockey.

The question is, can MLS save soccer in America?

I think it can. The lack of a first-class professional league is the highest hurdle facing the USSF in its battle to push soccer into the world of big-time spectator sports.

Sure, there are several so-called professional leagues operating right now in the United States, among them the outdoor American Professional Soccer League and the indoor Continental Indoor Soccer League. There's also the 90-team semi-professional United System of Independent Soccer Leagues, of which the Tucson Amigos is a member.

But these leagues don't have the talent to field quality teams or the resources to run a truly world-class professional league on par with the NBA or NFL. They are comparable in level of play to other countries' minor leagues and can't promote or merchandise on a major scale.

While the kick-off of MLS next April is a good sign, simply starting a league and hyping it doesn't guarantee anything. Just ask the NASL or WFL. Avid soccer fans will pay attention, but MLS needs to draw fans.

So, Mr. Rothenberg, here's some unsolicited advice from someone who wants to see this thing fly.

• Don't repeat the mistakes of the NASL, which were numerous. Expansion must be slow and steady. Salaries of foreign stars must be in line with the rest of the players, not overinflated.

• Keep the elite American player - who now has no option but to play overseas € at home. American World Cup stars Tab Ramos, John Harkes and Alexi Lalas have signed on, which is encouraging. Americans will want to see their own in the MLS, and the continued development of the U.S. player is directly related to the league's strength.

  At the same time, soccer in this country has a huge ethnic flavor to it. So to raise the level of play, foreign stars of the highest caliber must be signed. Mexico's flashy World Cup goalie Jorge Campos and teammate Hugo Sanchez, an international legend, have signed on, as have Colombia's Carlos Valderrama and Bolivia's Marco Etcheverry. But unlike the NASL, MLS is taking a cue from other countries' leagues and allowing only three to four foreigners per team.

• Don't mess with the game. In an effort to draw more fans the league is considering tinkering with the rules. Among the proposed changes are: kick-ins instead of throw-ins; allowing timeouts; shortening the clock; and a running shoot-out instead of penalty kicks.

Any attempt to bastardize the rules to make it more exciting is wrong-headed and will turn the true fan off. Like any other sport, soccer can be a awful bore to watch if played badly, but the solution is on the field, not in the rulebooks.

So there it is. I hope you take this advice, Mr. Rothenberg, because Major League Soccer can help the sport turn the corner in this country.

Here's to hoping that by next year, when someone asks you what you thought of last night's Los Angeles Galaxy-Kansas City Wiz game, you won't look at him or her funny.

Ron Parsons is a Wildcat sports reporter.