"Wave" Goodbye

[Sodboy13]

From misl.net:

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WESTPORT, Conn. (Monday, June 2, 2008) - The Management Committee of the Major Indoor Soccer League today announced the MISL ceased operations effective May 31, 2008. The MISL Management Committee has begun formal transition planning and restructuring as they consider moves, which they believe will help lower costs and attract additional owner/operators. A decision on the future structure of the League will be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks.

"We are considering structural changes that will bring us greater efficiencies, while also allowing long term growth and expansion of the League," said John Hantz, former Chairman of the MISL, and Owner/Operator of the Detroit Ignition.

This day marks the end of one era and the start of a new era for the sport of Professional Indoor Soccer.

- - - - -

Wild guess here, but I'm thinking "start of a new era" means either "one in which no professional games are played" or "one in which players earn far less money, playing in far smaller venues and markets."

For me, it's surprising that the oddity that is pro indoor soccer has made it for over 30+ years, through the NASL, NPSL, and MISL. It's a niche of a niche sport, after all.

[Mac the Knife]

They're trying to do another restructuring, like what happened when they became "MISL II."

My guess is that a league will play, but that it's credibility (what it had of that) is gone forever.

[Ez Street]

They'll have competition with the new PASL that's supposedly coming on board sometime soon.

[Gothamite]

They'll have competition with the new PASL that's supposedly coming on board sometime soon.

I'm wondering if some of the better-supported teams will simply jump to PASL-Pro. They've moved between leagues before, when the NPSL went under.

[Ez Street]

Caifornia Cougars (now Stockton Cougars) have made the jump to the PASL-Pro.

Stockton and Wenatchee, WA are the only two teams announced so far.

[leopard88]

This morning's Baltimore Sun quoted Ed Hale (owner) and Kevin Healey (GM) of the Baltimore Blast as considering this to be a "restructuring." They believe/contend that the remaining teams (i.e., everyone but the Cougars) are still on board to play in the fall. However, the teams are reportedly considering two-division (East, Midwest) play, with an unbalanced schedule. The hope is that that format will reduce travel costs somewhat.

They also want the commissioner's office moved to a league city, instead of Connecticut. The remarkably logical idea behind that is that the commissioner could then have more frequent face-to-face contact with owners, front office personnel, etc.

My suspicion is that the league will play in some form this fall. However, I won't venture a guess as to what that form will be and/or which teams will be playing.

[GFB]

This is too bad... a guy who trained me for a year (now he trains my sister's team) played for LaRazza (or something like that) this past year... he was planning on retiring anyway, but it's still sad to see the league go...

[Herk]

Ive seen the Milwaukee Wave play and had a blast. The whole restructuring thing does not surprise me, It's gotta be pretty hard traveling nationwide in a league with only about six or eight teams. They would be smart to cut ties with all teams not located in the East and Midwest and keep it a more regional league.

[Gothamite]

Good idea. There's a pretty strong concentration in the Midwest and Northeast - even limiting it to those areas might keep costs down.

This travel schedule must be a killer, with three teams way out:

[leopard88]

Your map really illustrates just how crazy the league's most recent geography was. Orlando isn't too bad a trip for the teams in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, but Monterey and Stockton must have been terrible trips.

If the league could find a way to keep the northern teams and Orlando and, maybe, move back into Cleveland and St. Louis, they might be able to keep things going. Losing the California Cougars may be a blessing in disguise.

[Mac the Knife]

I hate to say it, but if there's any sports league that would actually benefit from an ABA-like model (i.e., franchises everywhere, not gross mismanagement and malfeasance), it'd be indoor soccer. A league that was more geared toward geographic rivalries (Pittsburgh-Philadelphia, Cleveland-Columbus, Raleigh-Charlotte, Tampa-Orlando, LA-San Francisco, etc.) would keep travel costs minimized somewhat, helping teams survive.

Going cross-country for one game in California, or in Mexico, or even Florida, isn't a good plan. But if you can make a road trip swing the way baseball used to do (i.e., making a "west coast swing" through franchises in Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, etc.) it'd reduce costs and allow teams to have just one or two such trips a season.

[DarkJourney]

I think the league should return for 2009-2010 not this fall

My Set Up:

East - Baltimore, Buffalo, New Jersey, Philadelphia

West - Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee, St. Louis

[leopard88]

I think the league should return for 2009-2010 not this fall

My Set Up:

East - Baltimore, Buffalo, New Jersey, Philadelphia

West - Cleveland, Kansas City, Milwaukee, St. Louis

I disagree with you on the timing. I don't think many of the franchises in the league can afford a one-year layoff without losing some fan support (especially in a place like Newark, where the team is only a year old). If they can reach some solution that addresses the travel costs, they should keep going this fall.

As for teams, Cleveland and St. Louis would be good additions, assuming any ownership issues can be resolved. However, you seem to have forgotten that there already are/were teams in Chicago and Detroit.

[Brian in Boston]

The problem that professional indoor soccer faces as a business entity in North America is that it is a niche sport of a niche sport.

The outdoor version of soccer - via Major League Soccer's strides both on and off the field - is just beginning to establish itself as a legitimate proposition in the eyes of North American sports fans, certain pockets of the sports media and corporate entities. That said, MLS still has considerable ground to cover in order to be mentioned in the same breath with the likes of MLB, the NBA, the NFL or even the NHL on the North American major-pro sports landscape.

Given that reality, pro indoor soccer is seen as little more than a bastardized version of the sport that appeals to a rapidly shrinking core audience. Further, in an increasingly crowded pro sports marketplace, indoor soccer franchises often find themselves struggling to secure dates at arenas where major and minor-pro basketball, ice hockey, arena/indoor football and indoor lacrosse teams are given priority in scheduling.

Bottom line? The sport's heyday is long since past. It is a dying entity. Whatever "reorganization" the former MISL's franchise-owners think they are going to engage in is likely to do nothing but put-off the inevitable demise of the sport as a legitimate professional entity.

[Burning River]

I think the MISL needs to take a step back and realize who they are. Figure out who they want to be. Do not try to measure against the NBA or NHL. The ideal situation is to try and become a league similar to AHL Hockey. Many markets are mid size and have newer mid-size arenas (8,000-10,000). I like the idea of looking at the Grand Rapids type of cities. They have a nice arena, good following as well. There are some major makets with secondary arenas such as Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Milwaukee that the MISL uses. Those seem to work... to an extent. For NJ, is Prudential Center too big? Should they have looked in to Trenton instead? Philly is having arena issues from what I understand. Maybe they can move to Giant Center in Hershey.

As far as new teams: Cleveland, St. Louis, Dallas, KC all sound good and might work... again. Yes, they were successful before. The thing is, they need to play at the smaller and less glamorous arena where leases are more affordable. Cleveland played at CSU' Wolstein Center (12,500), Dallas needs to play at Reunion Arena... as long as it will be around. Can St. Louis survive at Scottrade OR Family Arena?? KC has Sprint Center. Can they good a fair lease?

I tend to feel that the MISL may need to look at smaller cities to stay around. Wichita was ideal... they LOVED thier Wings. Other Examples: Rochester not Buffalo, Reading not Pittsburgh, Bridgeport/New Haven not Long Island, Springfield/Hartford not Boston. West: Tacoma not Seattle, Anaheim not LA, Reno not Vegas... and so on.... Yes, many of these cities already had SUCCESSFUL MISL teams which I think is something lo look at. They were successhul "Why?".

The things is that you need to have interested owner groups. We can say which cities are ideal, but the ideal cties are really the ones who show interest. Maybe now that the League Plan will be more clear, NEW (or old) owners may be willing to join.

[Mac the Knife]

Burning, while I don't disagree with the gist of what you're saying, the fact is that if they were successful in some of those markets, the teams would still be there.

Indoor soccer as a whole needs to focus its efforts in markets where there's no real competition from MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL or even MLS for corporate sponsorship dollars and disposable income. They need to place franchises in facilities that have low rents, ones that hold maybe 5,000 - 8,000, tops. If they sell out there, they can raise additional revenue by raising ticket prices.

Ticket prices themselves are a problem as well. As a niche of a niche, $10 should probably be the top ticket price for a game, offering a family the opportunity to have a nice night out at a reasonable cost. To accomplish that though, they have to pay reasonable salaries ($1,000 a game per player, tops) that make it possible for franchises to break even.

[Burning River]

I think part of the problem in being a niche sport is that if your a good team and a contender, your going to draw well. There can only be one Champion per year, though. The league seemed to have a lot of fans that lost interest after their teams get booted from the Play Offs year after year. Those were the PLAY OFF teams. The teams that started to struggle in the standings lost most of their fan base. Now with MISL II... I have seen people (as a lurker) on Big Soccer talking about a great crowd of 3,500!!! I would laugh. That really is NOT good at all for a "top level" league.

You have a few hundred... maybe a thousand die-hard fans. Many casual fans are looking for SOME kind of Championship. Cleveland was incredible during the late 80s. (A LONG time ago!!) The fans wanted a championship SO bad that they really got involved with the Force. They may have averaged 16,000 or so, but that was basically 12,000 on week days and Sell-Outs or SRO of 17,500-18,500 on Fri/Sat nights!! The losing was hard t otake...fans lost interest.

The new league has to make eople interested from the beginning. Ticket prices and "smart" area sizes. I brought up the 80, I know. The league though, can not look at that and say "See, what we once had!!". It's so different now.