St. Louis Ambush return for 2013-14 season!

You don't seem like much of an "indoorfan2013"

 

Joey Tree.
Comets resurrected??......the person that resurrected the Comets was screwed over by the team president. He got used!! So dont get me started on that.....they are so lucky to find there new owner. Im hearing its not going to last either.
Waiting for the responses....

 

Ok we or all on these boards have opinions and most of you say that the MISL should just die. And yet you call yourselves indoor fans. I am an optimist and love this sport. Yes history tells us that things are bleak and finances are even worse. Teams have come and gone and teams are sold or looking to sell. Yet you keep going to games and coming to this board sharing your opinions. And yet NO ONE has the answer or the money to put up to fix the problems or own a team for that matter, or even get involved with a team. And oh that it is lame if they play here or there. You are all nay sayers and yet you call yourselves Indoor fans. I have heard as of today that the Soul will be returning. They are looking to the future. For the sake of the league let's hope so. They were a new team this year and they made it into the playoffs. Ok everybody was jumping on the financial downfall bandwagon and yet they played on and finished the season. The season just ended and you are speculating with certainty that the Soul are one and out washed up and gone. What is that? Where is your hope that they will stick around that the league will expand and survive. Yes teams lose money and you wonder how they survive. Well I don't really care as long as they keep playing. I also know that teh Mustangs will be returning and I will once again attend those games as well. The Mustangs put on a good game and on & off the field. Well run.
We have several months until this all folds out on the table. Give it time and hope for the best.

 

That's right little Stevie wonder-the comets-the same team that
has been back for three years with a solid fill % and made the finals
and had an MVP in 2012 and lots of community respect and support.
Those guys you moron...thanks for joining today!

 

I don't recall anyone saying that the MISL should die, although some are suggesting that it could die. The Soul is a different story. Dave Mokry may be a great guy, but I don't think he has any idea how to run a sports franchise, and it shows. Couple that with the difficulty of selling indoor soccer in the Chicago area, and the results aren't hard to predict. I have no idea if the Soul will return next season, and I really don't care that much either way.

 

I would like to see the Cleveland force come back to the MISL

 

I just want my bobblehead because half of them were broken since there was a PR disaster and they arrived late to the game so I only got a coupon.

 

Really? Can you please explain? You seem like a pretty hardcore indoor addict. I am somewhat shocked by a comment like that coming from you. Just curious.

 

I'm tired of seeing Chicago indoor soccer teams flounder and die off. At this point, I'd just as soon make the drive to Milwaukee and watch the Wave a few times a season.

 

I have only been around since the Storm started so I don't have all that history baggage but I am aware of it. The Storm made it 5 years and the Riot was set up to fail and that was pretty much the leagues fault. There was a small ray of light of hope that maybe just maybe somebody would pick them up but they did not. That was the goal but unsuccessful. Now we have the Soul. I am told that they are working on a go for next year and the future. As a fan of indoor and enjoy going to games I hope that they do stick around this time. It is exciting to watch the Blast and Wave and other teams play at this fast paced game and I enjoy it here in Chicago. I have made that trek up to Wave games but gas has been going up and it does make for a long and expensive day.
Hoping for the best. This is not the NFL or MLB and some times it can be frsutrating being a fan of this sport but I wll take what I can get.

 

That's a heck of a way to stereotype the Shoccers, Vultures, Horizon, Sting, Power, Storm, Riot, Kick, Soul, and Mustangs!

 

I think you've expressed the feelings of 95% of the regulars that post on this board.

 

I wasn't talking about the Sting, Power, or Mustangs. The Sting lasted 14 years, were well-financed and had quite a bit of success. The Power lasted eight years and also had some success. And the jury is still out on the Mustangs.

 

I don't knock it, it is tough but it is a GREAT sport to be a fan of and I am proud of it!!

 

But not the feelings of 99% of the public.

 

Well, to be fair the Kick, depending on how you want to classify them, either never played and/or are the Soul. And it is Horizons by the way, not Horizon. But yeah, point made.

Two things I will agree with on the board: 1) the offseason is painful and I hate the uncertainty and 2) I will take whatever MISL (or I guess upgraded PASL) I can get.

BTW - and I know the Chicago indoor market gets shredded a lot, but one can argue the Vultures/Shoccers were on a very solid upswing before, I think, the owner had a accident and pulled the plug. Same w/ the Power, started OK, sunk a little, and then worked with Wilt and began having success at the gate before they ran out of funding and died on the vine a slow, miserable death. Given a Hale type in Chicago, either one could have had a solid run like the Sting did (or Milw and Balt have). You can also note that the Storm lasted longer than 75% of the last 20-30 expansion teams (probably pretty close guess). Chicago is not the bad indoor market it is made out to be. That said, the problem is that there are so few good indoor markets (or so few properly addressed markets).

 

Technically I also left off the NPSL Chicago team that never played a game at the arena at Prospect Heights.

 

When did the accident happen? Because it's kind of hard to argue that about the Vultures/Schoccers as much of a circus as that was. I mean, Luis Dabo was supposed to come in as their coach at one point in 1984-85, took one look and turned around and walked out (not that Luis Dabo is Bill Shankly, and he actually did coach them the next year, poorly). That first year, they had three coaches plus Dabo, the next year they had three more. They got 3,035 for their first-ever game at the Odeum, but they were playing in front of 300 people at Soccer Dome by the end of that first year.

I think we tend to romanticize the Sting a bit. Lee Stern kept it going waaaaaaaay past the point where it was obvious it wasn't happening. And, except for that brief period indoors (from about 1981-85) when they were actually a big draw, they mostly struggled to be relevant in the market. Longevity, yes, they had that. Because of Lee's largesse/ego/pride. And God bless him for that.

You knew I would do this, right? Let's go last 25, which takes us to 1996. The Storm lasted five seasons, which is more seasons than 22 of the 25, so you were actually under-guessing!

Only the KiXX lasted longer (14 seasons), and the second iteration of the Steamers played five seasons, but took two years off in the middle.

Five of the 25 are still active (as of this writing). There were eight one-and-dones and only 9 played three or more seasons. Chicago has had three shots at it in that group, with only Monterrey and Toronto getting more than one.

Well, you can look at it that way, I suppose. I tend to think there are so few good indoor markets because of the product. The product just doesn't work anymore. Why was Cleveland a "good indoor market" for years, but no one's doing it now? Indoor as a product is largely unmarketable. Baltimore and Milwaukee have history and identity. And Missouri has done a really good job. But everything else....well it's not happening there. And it can't all be because there's something wrong with the markets or how they're being addressed.

 

(Oh, and that said, yes, the Storm lasted longer than almost all of them....but come on, they were never on a good path. Things were never really looking up for them.)

 

Oh yeah, great memory; I was waiting for years on that one. That darn arena never got built.

 

Here is a link that talks about it (the story gets cut off unless you subscribe): http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3877414.html

IF I recall correctly, the Vult/Shoccers pretty much doubled their attendance each year before they folded. Well I think they wound up averaging around 2k their final season - so not awesome, but a start..... I always wondered if they have stuck it out a little while longer if they could have reaped the benefit of the Sting folding (like the Power did) while already having a bit of a fan base built in before inheriting Sting fans. I'm sure it is just wishful thinking, and I am not even positive my memory is correct.

 

LOL! I kind of figured you might. Sorry to give you homework.

But let me tell you I kind of breathed a sigh of relief when it fact-checked out in my favor. Beware the wrath of Kenn!

 

Yeah I know. I can't believe they hung on for as long as they did. Outside of that one very bright spot their first game at Sears I was always waiting for the whels to fall off.

 

Zinsy: How about NOT posting what you THINK you know....and just let things pan out before you post. FYI...if we get a team in STL, and you think we should play downtown at Scottrade Center or on SLU's campus at Chaifetz Arena, maybe you can fork over the $20k per game for rent at both places. Also, you can pay for the installation of boards & glass to if you want to play at Chaifetz Arena....and then we'd have to remove everything after each game and store it elswhere because SLU didn't build enough room for additonal storage. So as you can see, it's simply NOT FEASIBLE to play at Scottrade Center or Chaifetz Arena.....not if we want to make money or at least break even.