While a good point, that's a gross oversimplification on how MLB managed to finally get parity. Luxury tax is only one small piece of it; revenue sharing, minimum salary requirements and online revenues being given only to teams staying within a fairly high cap are all in place in the MLB. The smaller market teams staying within their pay scale are directly subsidized from the top teams. I haven't been able to find out what the PASL lux tax rates are in my googling, nor have I seen where that money actually goes. I'm assuming (which means I'm likely off by potentially orders of magnitude) it's a 100% on all salary above $3k and the fees are spread out among clubs not above that mark. So, if we assume the 6 MISL teams come in and don't significantly drop their salaries (which still means dropping almost half of actual payouts to players with the tax) you have an off the cuff estimate of $50k-160k in fees being split up among teams that are maintaining payroll levels. Assume that we will have roughly 24 teams, minus the 6 MISL teams paying taxes (and really it's likely that several PASL teams will be too so this is low end estimates) and you get payouts between 2.7k-8.8k per team/per game! So, on the low end of the scale you now have the "rich" clubs paying pretty much 100% of salary costs for the low end ones and on the high end of the scale you have teams being potentially 100% subsidized; coach, office staff and all, simply by remaining under the luxury tax. Let's all hope the luxury tax system is a bit more nuanced than that, because otherwise getting a bunch of successful squads into the league all at once is going to do nothing but cause problems. If enough of those low payroll squads exist, they will completely own the voting right too, which I'm sure would end up with another split in short order. Really at that point, it'd be far better for the whole league (imho) if the lower salary teams were officially adopted by the larger more stable squads and just set up a full minor league system, where player contracts for the lower team were paid for and owned by the higher team. The caveat of such a system being that the higher squad both promotes and demotes players as needed. Teams could bid this off season for which squads they want to absorb into their systems, front offices still operate semi autonomously. The influx of cash might enable the now lower tier squads to have better facilities or otherwise focus on regional fan growth and with the cost and risk of salaries taken off their hands they can focus on the marketing/promotion of indoor soccer in their area. Then, when a team goes under in the higher league, you might be able to play "next man up" and promote up a team that already has an established facility, marketing plan and fan support. The added bonus is that you hopefully aren't ever desperately searching for an owner and getting someone who leverages herself to the hilt just to buy a team and ends up doing all sorts of shady things just to keep it going. But that of course is simply a hypothetical example and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental.
Anubis, I was very worried when the Wings folded and the new franchise came in...would we lose all our players? Would no one come back after our move to the PASL? However, despite the change, we brought back 5 or 6 guys, some of whom were our better players. The Brazilian players did not come back, but several of the best local guys did, as well as a couple outstanding players from other parts of the country. The quality of the team we put on the field this year is not much different than the team we had in the MISL. It's not quite as talented, but is playing better as a team, thus is about the same level of performance.
I listened to the March 22 podcast of the Kick This! radio show, where they talked extensively with Rochester owner 'Soccer Sam' and Baltimore owner Ed Hale. You can go to the other topic on this form for the podcast link (and even a summary by another forum member) but one thing that the summary forgot to mention is that Ed Hale says in this interview that the concept of a 'two tier' league is on the table. The best teams from the MISL & PASL would be a 'top' league, and the teams playing in warehouses with 300 fans a night would be in a '2nd tier' league. There is a meeting scheduled in the near future between the former MISL teams (Rochester, St. Louis, Baltimore, Syracuse, Missouri Comets - not sure about the Wave, hope they are around) and the PASL. Hale hints that an agreement is close but we should not count the chickens just yet. I would NOT expect a scenario where the Baltimore Blast (or any of the other surviving MISL teams) will be visiting warehouses and 1000 seat venues to play PASL teams. However, I DO see a scenario where the PASL teams who do play in real arenas and draw 4,000+ fans a game join a 'top league' along with the remaining former MISL teams. I do think Wichita would be a prime candidate to move up to the new 'top league' - the new league should see if that billionaire guy would be willing to help do that again, in the nice arena in Wichita (have not been there but heard good things about it). They are geographically close to the St. Louis Ambush and Missouri Comets, and a Chicago team, if the PASL Chicago Mustangs move to a larger arena. I love the success that the San Diego Sockers have had in the PASL but more west coast teams are needed - San Diego is probably not in the 'top league' initially, but joins later when more top teams are created on the west coast. Travel costs would be too high right now. Another good idea I read elsewhere on this forum is to make the lower-division PASL teams into minor league affiliates of the 'top league' teams. That idea could work later, once the 'top league' gets some TV deals and national sponsorships going. The new league will have to have strict standards for ownership groups to meet, have reasonable league/franchise fees and profit sharing, be able to line up better TV/media deals and national sponsors, and ensure that players get decent compensation and insurance. Currently, the PASL provides no worker compensation insurance coverage for injured players.
I guess I'll just say I'm glad the general populace of this board and Facebook are not running the leagues. I have read a LOT of bad ideas the last few weeks but the suggestion that San Diego wouldn't be in the league might take the top prize.
The thing we all seem to be forgetting is that the MISL is the league which is folding not PASL. As such I do not see the PASL making any major changes in how the league operates. Also the PASL has the PASL Premier league which is a minor league to the PASL Pro league so there would be no needs to make two divisions on the pro level. The one thing the league should be doing is helping those teams that need help in finding better venues to play in. Improving a team's ability to be profitable in the short and long term. The PASL has moved along in moderate steps to slowly make this league stable. Bringing in these teams from a league with larger venues will only help the league. So long as the PASL stays the course they have set forth for future stable growth. TheMISL is dead and we need to except that. For all of us out here hoping and wishing PASL will make changes to mimic the way the MISL was, so that only the strong teams are in a division alone while the so called lesser teams are in separate division keep dreaming it's not going to happen. What should be done is rather then only focusing on where a team plays. The PASL league should also focus on the quality of play of the teams on the field and the fans experience.
SteveCo, Hartman Arena in Wichita (or to be precise, just outside of Wichita, in Park City) is a very nice facility that fits about 4400 people, a perfect size for indoor soccer. We sold it out a half-dozen times in the last few years with the Wings, and filled it up half-way with the B52s. There is a rabid fan group that is quite raucous and travels well. Our atmosphere is outstanding...though there is always room for improvement. The odds of millionaire former owner deciding to get back involved are about 1%. Our new owner is a big improvement. Hartman is happy to rent out his arena to us for B52s games, but not interested in owning an indoor soccer team. There is a deep reservoir of goodwill for indoor soccer in Wichita, thanks to the old Wings...we fans believe our team will continue to grow over the next few years.