But again we are not sitting on the MISL soccer ball here are we? Obviously the powers to be think it is a good idea otherwise they would not be doing whatever it is they are doing. I run a kids soccer league and I postponed a bit to accommodate more people and they held me "hostage" however it is now a better league with more kids in it The league obviously want to expand and has teams out there in the wings working on that but if a team wants to join this year and the league is allowing it - you really can't solely blame the team - the league is in charge no?? The league has the final say no?? So if the league thinks it is a good idea and willing to wait - maybe not the smartest thing to do but they are in charge - nothing joe blow or any fan can do about it Will it work?? only time and the future will tell and we can debate it until the cows come home but it is happening regardless of us
And that's why we are where we are. You could say Elvis ate himself to death because he thought it was a good idea otherwise he wouldn't have done it. None of us (including myself) are the masters of the universe. The collective decisions made the last 20 years obviously have not worked out in a positive fashion or we'd be in a lot better shape. You could make a case for letting Chicago in late as a one time individual circumstance, but this is just indicative of a pattern of behavior. And in the Storm's hey day they might have sold 1,800 tickets a game so what are they going to do in 7 weeks when the previous incarnation was riddled with financial problems? They were already the worst-drawing MISL team ever (until Mass came along) and now they have no base and no time. How is this going to work?
The City of Chicago isn't trying to put together anything in any period of time. Idiot. Go tell Grimaldi. I thought the MISL was so well run it was going to take us back to the glory days of indoor soccer. Also, this does not count as criticism, as what you're criticizing doesn't actually exist, so you cannot use this as a chit when someone says you're a shill for the league. Absolute complete and utter bull****. You are not a consensus and you don't know **** about soccer fans across America. Bad franchises don't work anywhere, genius. Here are some other things: Soccer-Man and intelligence. BALTIMORE BLAST and FIVE-TIME WORLD CHAMPION. Ed Hale and salary caps. First Mariner Arena and luxurious. Tim Wittman and calm.
50/50 shot in the dark isn't it and frustrating to say the least yet here we are and the sun will come up tomorrow goofy world we live in but again we are not in a perfect world how will this work you ask - not sure and not sure if even will life is a gamble - good thing we are only on the outside looking in at somebody else's money eh? and yes there is the argument that we are the fans and you are alienating us to a point where we may walk away - but have we?? I loved the Storm and they are gone but I still enjoy the sport - with all the foldings - rule changes etc. but then again maybe I am the exception to the rule I guess I have always wondered - why do you ridicule a larger league? Should this league fold and the teams should just join the PASL or maybe you have sights of growing the PASL and the MISL is in the way? They do have faults but even Motorola or Apple have problems I am sure Adidas is not perfect yet I keep buying their stuff
See, this is the thing. Tickets don't sell themselves. They take manpower and time and need to be conjoined with a marketing effort. Almost no one who does this realizes what it takes. They don't devote the resources to it, they don't have the vision or intelligence to pull it off and it ends up being a disaster. I'm not sure an indoor soccer expansion team has really been what you'd call long-term successful since the KiXX, and they had a long-ramp up and devoted resources to it. The Ignition at least lost less money than most and Hantz could have kept going at it but chose not to. Go back a ways....the Tampa Bay Terror, Toronto Shooting Stars, Florida ThunderCats, Toronto ThunderHawks, Monterrey Fury, (new) San Diego Sockers, Chicago Storm, California Cougars, Detroit Ignition, Orlando Sharks, New Jersey Ironmen, Massachusetts Twisters, Rockford Rampage....almost all were varying degrees of hot mess. I believe the Ignition had a decent run-up (18 months+), but New Jersey had one of the longest gestation periods I've ever heard of (three and a half years). And that didn't work, either. At some point, doesn't somebody start to wonder if their screening process isn't that great, or if it's just nearly impossible to do this?
They're literally too big to fail. Indoor does not appear to be. As do a bunch of other people. Which is why they're still around and why indoor soccer teams are not.
Rapists are people, too. I mean that seems to be your general attitude and it's good to be positive to a point, but on the flip side you can't seem to accept the value of my critical though. And we are making some of the same classic mistakes and it's not black and white. There are strategic reasons to do things, or people say they will give you a final decision on June 1 and then they say they will be away for two weeks and then they say they need to close another business deal before they can proceed and then they say they need to complete a deal with the arena and suddenly it's September 1 and they say we're in and then it's September 20 and they still haven't signed the deal. It always looks like it's on the verge of completion and then it's too late.
Leagues have traditionally been desperate enough to have teams that they will suspend rational thought and hope that somehow, it'll all work out. It helps when the potential owner has suspended rational thought as well, then you have two sides of delusional people who both nod their heads and say, "Yeah, this can work." It's like "Pay no attention to that pile of folded franchises behind the curtain."
but yee of little faith and you of all people should be there with everybody else who wants to see this succeed. Yes we all have our opinions and we see things and wish that this sport did this or that but in the end we are fans of indoor soccer. we are the little guy. If I own a little hamburger joint I certainly want the meat industry to do well. Or I own a small bar I certainly want the liquor industry to succeed and I am not worried about the national chain taverns as we have different clientele. I am just a fan here in Chicago and I would love for indoor soccer to be more popular. But what I have is what is in front of me. Just like last year - I had the Ultimate Soccer League and the Storm playing in that league so I went to games to watch. Just as if we had the PASL here in Chicago - I would go to those games. Now it looks like we will have an MISL team so I will attend those games. You are very critical of the MISL and those are your opinions but you are also very involved in another league that is not in competition with a larger financial institution not necessarily a larger league. I just think that you would be more positive or at very least less negative about all this. And I know there a lot of folks out there that are thinking - geez - somebody in Chicago is going to try this again - are they nuts? I am thinking - awesome - somebody is going to try this again
Look, I am first an indoor soccer fan(ok 2nd, 1st is Hockey), and any idiot could be a indoor soccer fan(see SoccerMan). Secondly, it appears that any idiot with a checkbook can be an indoor soccer team owner in the PASL pro or MISL3. So combine the two and you have a team and you have the faithful following of maybe 2-300 hundred die hard fans that will show up just because someone opens the doors. However, it is common sense that prevails when questioning the startup of a franchise just weeks before the start of a season. 300 butts in the seats is not going to pay the light bill consumed during a game. I dont care if it's Chicago or Chico , you have to question the rationale. Questioning rationale does not mean your not a fan of indoor soccer. It just means your an indoor soccer fan with common sense. I want another Chicago MISL franchise, however, I do not want another one and done team anywhere in the league. Get all the ducks in a row and shoot for the 11-12 season, and stop the insanity.
I'm thinking that if someone tries it again, I'll have fun attending some games. I'm also thinking that there should be plenty of seats to choose from.
You go to ANY indoor soccer arena and there will be plenty of seats to choose from. Despite this, pro indoor soccer franchises are like cockroaches, you can't stop them from popping up again.
From WTVO in Rockford: Rockford, Illinois-The indoor soccer season isn't far off. We're still not sure if we'll see any soccer here this fall and winter. The Rockford Rampage of the MISL was put up for sale this summer and it remains for sale. Current team partner and team president Oscar Albuquerque tells WTVO that his ownership group has a prospective buyer it's negotiating with. It's a local group that would keep the team in Rockford. Albuquerque says if a deal goes through it will be up to the new owners whether or not the team would play this coming season or wait until next year.
I'd pretty much resigned myself to the idea that the Rampage was gone, so I'm pretty happy with this news. Moving the team to Chicago would double the travel time for me, so I'd be unlikely to continue supporting them at anything more than a casual level.
To be crystal clear, it's really not the "STATE of this game" but the STATE of Illinois that is holding the world of indoor soccer hostage. Sadly, to wait to this extent for the Chicago area to handle its business is down right embarrassing to the MISL and sports in general. I can only guess that the Milwaukee Wave is behind this foolishness. I say that because they stand to benifit the most from having teams in Illinois. SAME OLD WAVE.....Looking out for #1 at the expense of the MISL. SAME OLD WAVE........Looking out for #1 helped destroy MISL2 and the XSL. I guess the Wave truly are going for the hat trick. SHAME
who are you kidding - the League makes decisions as when to start and how long to wait for a team and if the MISL chooses to wait then they do and if they are holding them "hostage" then Illinois must have a lot of pull with your people Guess that sucks eh?? and if it is embarrassing then why is the MISL waiting - hmmm? Guess they feel like it is a good idea eh?? The Powers to be control the ball not the teams Oh ya and how does the Wave control all this - they are prepared and ready to go and working along schedule - how do you drag the Wave into this scenario?? and it was not the Wave exclusively that destroyed anything well except your Blasts hope to be in the Championship - hahahahaha
So it was the City of Chicago and now it's the State of Illinois. You are the biggest effing moron of all time. Because, God knows, Ed Hale never did that. Again, you're the dumbest person here. And with MISL101 around, that's saying something.
The Wave are a great team to have around, you shouldn't be disrespecting them. And you know what kenntomasch you are the biggest loser on these forums. Litterally. You must burn fat off your hands arguing with so many people about pointless stuff. I liked your statistics about all these long dead western teams, very hilarious considering there are only TWO left today and they are playing in practice facilities in a whole other league. Get a life.
Well, you have the Rockford debacle and you have the supposed, delated, on again, off again expansion team, the Chicago Giants. Look, there is no secret that I'm not a big fan of the City of Chicago, but for the MISL to place the lead up to the entire season on pause because of what's happening (or better yet, not happening) in the Chicago area is embarrassing. To make the committed teams wait is a very poor way to run a business. More is owed to the new teams in KC and Omaha. If anything, they need as much time as possible to get acclaimated to the community. How can you sell tickets when you have no dates. How can one buy a ticket when he/she doesn't know when the games are going to take place. Commissioner Grimaldi (whom I do respect) has failed in taking the lead and putting his foot down. I realize that the Milwaukee Wave has the most to gain out of this debacle. I'm sure that they are behind doing whatever it takes to prop up teams in the State of Illinois, just so that they can save on travel. The Wave destroyed MISL2, and the XSL. Now they have their sights set on MISL3. They are really going for the hat trick. Embarrassing. SHAME
