Rumor: Misl Expansion teams

The only reason that I play indoor soccer is because it gets cold in Rockford Illinois, and playing soccer outdoors is out of the question. Please don’t get me wrong, I’m a big time Rockford Rampage fan but to write,”The MISL has held off any announcements as to not upstage and /or compete with the World Cup. I find that noble and classy.” Well that’s crazy Soccer-Man. I hope that you are not serious, and that you only write stuff like this to make people mad. You cannot believe that FIFA is afraid that the MISL is going to some how steal the spot light from the World Cup. Come on Soccer-Man, I know some of us find some of the stuff you write amusing and entertaining in a watching a car crash sort of way, but writing stuff like this, well… you’ve lost me Soccer-Man.

I am done.



Puma out..

 

Might be the best post you've made so far. All six indoor fans who also follow the outdoor game have indeed gone on record as saying this move by the MISL has in fact raised their level of enjoyment for the World Cup ten fold.

 

Did I mention you're an idiot?

 

Because if the MISL DID make an announcement during the World Cup, it would TOTALLY upstage it.

You are a total idiot.

 

Well, we find you delusional and generally a tool.

 

I have a choice between believing Mr. Balthrop or believing you. Based on your respective track records, that's an easy choice. Alan, I'm very sorry that Dallas won't be getting an MISL team this season.

 

That's right. Sepp Blatter was very relieved when Ed Hale informed him that the MISL would be holding off on announcing its expansion teams until after the World Cup was over. Imagine the deafening noise from all the vuvuzelas if Hale and Grimaldi had announced the expansion teams during the World Cup!

 

This may be the funniest thing I've ever read.

 

Ahhhh....but I assure you, an announcement is coming very soon from the MISL, maybe as soon as this week.

 

Thanks for keeping us up to date with the MISL information. I can't wait for the new look MISL to be unveiled to the nation.

Like I said before, if the MISL's facelift, by way of league expansion and schedule expansion goes well, look for more cities to come on board in the years to follow.

 

I don't think I explained my comments as clearly as I should have. What I was trying to say, is that to believe that Dallas won't join the MISL because of arena finance, is hard.

The information on the arenas that are available, has been known about for at least 2 years now; with the Allen Event Center being the last to come on line. Therefore the business plans that the prospective owner crafted HAD to take into account the seating capacity and relative rent of each arena. I'm not an accountant, but this would seem like the most rudimentary steps that any league application should require. It's a strectch to believe that Dallas' prospective owners just realize that Allen only seated 6,000. It's a strecth to believe that they just realize that American Airlines is fairly booked. They couldn't have just discovered that Dr. Pepper had 3,500 seats for hockey. I've got to believe that they are smarted than this.

Now, in trying to express this point, I may have ripped Balthrop's story in a way that I shouldn't have; and for that I'm apologize, but my point remains.

The Dallas Sidekicks may have at the last minute decided not to join the MISL, but it challenges every aspect of logic for anyone to believe that they based their business plan on arenas, that they didn't know the capacity of or the availability of. I'm sorry, but I just can't allow myself to believe that. There may be more to the story, but the arena finance part is hard to believe.

Hope this clears everything up.

 

That does make sense Soccer-Man.

 

it really does...

 

There has to be a first time for everything....

 

So I figure on July 12, we'll have all those backlogged announcements coming out. Maybe they'll space them out over the course of a week or two, since, you know, there's so much going on behind the scenes that they're just itching to announce. To their credit, they've been noble and classy and deferred to that little organization in Zurich so as not to upstage their cute little party with the latest news from the MISL.

That would be ignoble and classless. Surely that won't happen.

 

That is a crock. Let's see....thinking about returning to the MISL. Yep all ready to go. Oh wait, WHERE ARE WE GONNA PLAY???? I doubt if he was ever serious about it. Venue would be in the top 5 on yer desicion list I would think.

 

It may well have been a crock but would you have preferred it if he had said that he wasn't joining the MISL because the league isn't going anywhere but down and he would have no chance to turn a profit?

 

Done

 

Now, let me explain this to you in terms you can understand...

1-The letter of credit is an insurance policy protecting a) the other teams in the league should a team not show up for a game or b) if a owner decides to pull out and the league decides to run the team for the remainder of the season. You buy car insurance, right? You don't want to have an accident, but you want to be covered if you do.

2-The annual league assessments are used to run the league office, pay the staff, referees, develop a website, create a league-wide marketing effort, buy soccer balls and the league championship vase, etc.

3-Those names would draw fans if the league and it's member teams knew how to market them. You need drawing cards. In the sport of indoor soccer as it is today, you can't just have a bunch of local guys who are part-timers....if you want that, go watch a men's A league at Du BUrns or Sports Plex.

4-With all the sponsors that they have, it wouldn't surprise me if la Raza de Monterrey (who draw more than 1500 per game, numbnuts) were the only team who might be close to, if not making a profit. MISL 3.0 does need teams who would give la Raza a travel partner.

Sometimes, your lack of understanding is astounding. But then again, who am I to argue with a man who has made a dynasty out of coaching u-7 travel teams.

 

I found what you said interesting and I'm not trying to be sarcastic or flip in this response. You emphasize the need to contain costs and I agree with you there. What you seem to be calling for is what the PASL-Pro is trying to do, yet you are very critical of the PASL-Pro. Am I correct in saying that you agree with the PASL-Pro's basic philosophy but just don't feel it has been executed very well?

 

Skip- yes... except they do need to get into 'major' arenas period.
You cannot play a game that you call "professional" or at least expect people to pay to watch inside a rec building that only has bleachers for seats. NOBODY will ever take you seriously, regardless of who is playing the game..

IE- Greg Howes, John Ball, half the Sockers roster etc.... I'd pay to watch them play now, but it's hard to take it serious playing in front of 300 people.....

I'm not talking about 18,000 seat arenas where the rent is $30,000 per game. 7,000-8,000 should be the standard.

If the Stockton Cougars cannot make it work in a 9,000 arena in Stockton, then they should not have a 'professional' team.
There needs to be standards set and work your way up.

Farm Show Arena is perfect & rent is cheap. The cell is great.

 

Personally, I don't mind seeing a game in a small dumpy arena, but I definitely see your point. I think it would be good for the PASL-Pro if there were more arenas like the Odeum near Chicago, which has 3,500 seats. The Odeum is a nice enough arena to make the team seem professional, but it probably doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I think even DelMar is acceptable, but I remember seeing the Denver team's arena in a webcast, and I thought that place was horrible.

 

Well, the names we have NOW aren't going to draw fans, no matter how you market them (for the most part). The level of available talent for indoor c. 1983-1989 was way, way, way higher than it is today. Anybody who is a good enough player to really move the needle plays outdoor.

With apologies to Greg Howes, who was a terrific player, and guys like Cabral and Jamar Beasley...nobody's really buying a ticket because they just have to see those guys. And you can put them on posters and buses and billboards and print ads all you want...they're not going to sell tickets by themselves the way Tatu and Zungul and those guys did.

 

But this is a marketing argument not a talent argument. A lesser star will still look and score like Zungul against comparitively weaker talent. There are CHL hockey players who could run for mayor in their towns.

If MLB had used replacement players in 1994 some nobody would have hit .340 and would be considered a star.

But besides talent and scoring we used to go to see the unique personalities. So right about now I would take more antics over more talent.