The MASL is using the NFL model and letting the suspense and excitement grow! Seriously, what a way to kill any interest that the playoffs may have had among the few of us left following the sport. Take a week off and see cares anymore.
The Mexican team is coming in on Wednesday , The will be going back and forth to Training and press conference Thursday, back and forth to game Friday and to airport Saturday. To play again on Sunday. This will take a toll on everyone of them.
I don't know Cardshop, I kind of think what Sonora is doing is the best way to do it. Travel day Wednesday, driving around in a rented van on Thursday to practice, Game on Friday, Travel day Saturday and Game on Sunday. They are pro athletes, this should not be an exhausting schedule. Still plenty of seats available. Doesn't look like a sellout yet.........looks to be about 4000+ left and they aren't selling the end seats.
I get they are pro athletes, They are only coming in on Wednesday evening because of the press conference on Thursday afternoon. Actually it takes longer to get here because you have to go through chicago to go through customs to get a flight to BWI. The Blast got the better end of the deal since we only fly 1 time instead of twice. As for the ticket sales I would expect them to pick up over the next few days. The blast have not started pulling tickets yet , They will do that on Thursday I believe. With it being the beginning of the month a lot of people will be getting their checks this week. I think we may get 6300 tops The Orioles are playing the Yankees and that always sells out.
To me, I hate baseball so much, I'd never consider watching it over soccer. I'd go to an MASL game over Game 7 of the World Series. And I saw Sam Kinnison in the '80s, that was the last comedy show I've been to.
I would argue a Sonara home field advantage in Game 2 (and possible mini-game) outweighs whatever jet lag or bother comes from 2 flights in 4 days. At first when I read this I shook my head and thought WTF. I figured you meant Welfare checks going out at the beginning of the month and the Blast are spending effort to attract the people from the Welfare rolls. That's too crazy even for this crazy sport. I get what you mean now. What is the capacity when they block off and don't sell those end seats?
I would agree Sonara has a huge home field advantage in Game 2 (and possible mini-game) with that pinball floor. , Baltimore Must win game one , if not you can etch the Sonora name on the trophy. I honestly don't see the blast winning this one this year. No not welfare checks hahhaha. Retirement and pensions and stuff like that. , Also paydays for a lot of people are on the 1st and the 14th of the month. I would say 9K is the capacity , when you look at ticketmaster the large obstructed view section in the middle concourse is only used for overflow and for box office walk up sales.
You brought back a very distant memory for me Card. I remember the Baltimore Skipjacks were always cognizant of the scoreboard in that rink. It generally hung too low, they always wanted it fixed higher up and for whatever reason the arena had to keep it lower. The girl that was telling me the story about it brought it up during some event, we were talking about an indoor/arena football team starting to play there and she figured the scoreboard would need to be raised to the very top. This was about 20 years ago so I could have mixed up my cities, is that the obstruction, the scoreboard?
NOTE: Not actually true. (As usual.) Oriole Park seats 45,971 officially. Over the last three seasons, they've played the Yankees at home 27 times and have drawn 44k+ three times, two of them on consecutive days in July 2014. They've averaged 31,757 against the Yankees the last three years.
Actually no , Its on the side you can not one goal. If you look at ticket master its on the left of your screen. Now for years people bitched the scoreboard was to low. The Brand new one that was installed last year is even bigger. & it was lifted up about 10 feet . We have only had 1 Superstructure violation called in a soccer game since it was installed.
Well they kept it higher for about half the games this season. When they do that you cannot see the clock on the scoreboard in the press box.
FYI - Tomorrow's press conference will be streamed on MASLtv Plus we just announced both games will be broadcast in English and Spanish. Details: http://bit.ly/2obFgcu
Just to make things worse , Sonora came in on Wednesday on 2 Different Flights , They will all Leave on several different flights and when the Blast return home they will Also be on 2 Different flights. That is insane. I guess thats why you need better planning.
A very difficult task to fly a large amount of people to another country at the last minute. Unless either team was willing to spend $40k+ on travel, there really was no other way. It is not like either team had loads of choices and decided to pick the least convenient option.
I rhink you are being too hard in both. You try flying 20 guys to Hermosillo next week. Flights are booke months out man.
I'm enjoying this broadcast. The interview with the commissioner, though, went on a bit too long. And it's a pity to hear more "let's make it like the '80s again!" chatter. If that's the goal, they're going to fail. If their goal is to grow the league so that players in maybe 24 cities can make a reasonable living and devote much of their time to training, that's a bit more realistic. Indoor soccer in the 80s filled a vacuum that is now filled by multiple outdoor leagues from around the world. That genie isn't going back in the bottle.
Ok. I saw this in real time and have watched it 3 times on replay. With 6:40 on the clock in the 3rd period a Sonora player kicks the ball it hits the side glass inside the penalty box and comes back to a Sonora Player. The referees let this go the play continues and it leads to the 3rd Sonora goal with 6:30 on the clock. Did I miss something or did the officials blow this one. That 3rd goal turned out to be the game winner.
I got to meet Josh Schaub & Jeff Husted last night , Josh seems to be a level headed person and has his eye on one goal and that is to improve the league. I believe we can bring indoor soccer back to the 80's. Where we will see more fans at the games better pregame shows, TV Productions and even Weekly TV shows for some teams.
Improving the league and bringing back the 80s heyday of indoor soccer are not intertwined ideas. Improvements should be a constantly ongoing idea. Bringing back the 80s might be a nice goal, but not something anyone should be focused on. Build the league super structure first. This PASL type of league is working. Just keep organically growing and improving thinvs.
Exactly. After this season, I feel more confident in indoor's viability than I have in quite some time -- maybe a decade, maybe more. But there's a ceiling. (Of course, there's a ceiling -- it's indoor, right? I'll show myself out ...)
No, you can't. The league won't average 8,000 a game. They won't be on actual cable television. And the best players available will not be playing in the league. You are absolutely, 100% wrong.
I would have to agree with you. Now that teams are a franchise and things are moving forward I want to see what the off season brings. Honestly I think the MASL 2 should be playing during the MASL off season to keep the fans engaged , But I doubt that will happen
If the MASL can get to the stability level of pro lacrosse or AA baseball, that is a reasonable goal. If the MASL can get some basic levels of league wide sponsorship (free uniforms and soccer balls to teams, travel related discounts and vouchers, from a hotel chain, airline, vehicle rental), and stop the traditional churn of teams folding every year, that is a reasonable near term goal. Eventually, make sure teams pay players a stable minor league wage and healthcare benefits (say guaranteed $300-400 per-game minimum pay for active roster guys plus small stipend for living expenses, and salary cap to control pay for the 'star players'). To make that happen, the MASL will probably need to centralize some aspects of team operations around paying the players. Everyone should be resolved that Chicago Riot/Wichita situations of players 'playing for free' never happen again. With the trend towards streaming broadcasts of everything, the MASL could find a way to monetize the streams with sponsor funding to help fund fair wages and insurance for players. This won't happen for a while but if the sport is competently managed over time (asking a lot, I know), it could happen.
This 2nd level MASL league is not necessary, each team could inexpensively run an amateur men's indoor team in their home cities and not have to worry about road game travel outside the state and local area. The Ambush are considering 'partnerships' with a couple of existing amateur men's indoor teams. The Ambush could easily relegate most of last season's roster to an amateur team(which is what level a lot of those guys are still at anyway). They can have these guys play real amateur indoor soccer games, and the amateurs can develop in a recreation center for free, instead of losing 19 games a year in the MASL. Our coach and part-owner Tony Glavin already runs a PDL team in summer, so those guys can always develop there too. Tony loves developing players but regular season MASL is not the place to do so. No more than 2 or 3 or 4 MASL roster spots should be occupied by 'developing' young players.