News: Indoor Professional League ( IPL )

I know this is getting way ahead of myself but if theere is a 2017-18 MASL Season and the MASL2 has been established, the MASL should do what NCAA football currently does and what the USL used to do in the 90's.
That is allow each team in the MASL to play a limited number of games against MASL2 teams that would count in the standings of both leagues. I would suggest a team be allowed to play-down for a maximum of 4 games in a 20 game season.
Since scheduling is not very structured and there are really not many opportunities for Eastern teams to play-down, teams could decide to not play MASL2 teams.

 

The PASL did this the first couple years. A lot of blowouts though. I remember Stockton beating Wenatchee 17-0.

Having a MASL 2 would probably decimate the MASL and PASL ranks enough that interleague play would be necessary at some point.

 

With the current state of the MASL, I agree with CFL that some games against the lower division will be necessary. These 'non-league' games can help provide funds to the rec center teams (who will play in the MASL team's larger arena), and can fill holes in the MASL schedule when other teams inevitably fold. Indoor football teams commonly schedule 'non-league' games against lower level teams for those purposes.

An MASL team can use such games to audition new players, especially if scheduled earlier in the season or before the regular MASL season. It can be a great way to see how the better players from open tryouts perform in a 'real' game without risking a regular season league loss. Teams can perhaps offer discounts on tickets to such games, since they are not league games and are likely to be blowouts.

 

Does anyone else have to take some Excedrin BEFORE trying to read Lewis' thoughts?

I will say.. he was accurate about ref pay- Bump up the $50 a bit though

 

http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/hale-announces-new-league.2028587/page-10#post-33741518

This still reminds me of the MILL/NLL and baseball's proposed Continental League in the 1960s. Force an issue, and maybe dominios will fall in a way to keep things flowing. I hope that the sides can come to a lasting agreement and play together, under a unified scoring method. Hopefully not with any MASL2 or PASL crossover results either. That is not a good way to project a stable league.

 

Unfortunately, no indoor soccer leagues have had real stability for decades. Even the NPSL in the 1990s had its share of teams coming and going. The late 1980s were volatile times for the MISL amid financial stress caused by high player salaries, lower attendance, and teams folding. We would love to have indoor soccer reach a modicum of stability, perhaps like AA-level minor league baseball. With the current hot mess that is the MASL (and would-be competing IPL that is not looking like it will ever play a single game), stability isn't going to happen.

As Kenn aptly described it, indoor soccer was/is existing at the 'subsistence farming' level of professional sports. Almost anyone who has tried to make it in larger arenas has lost lots of money and some teams folded (save for a few successes like Baltimore, Missouri, St. Louis, Milwaukee, though even Milwaukee came close to folding under a recent former owner). The PASL rec center teams were holding their own, tilling their proverbial patch of peasant dirt.

 

I doubt that anyone on this board realistically expects indoor soccer to get preferentially booking at any 20,000 seat arena in the foreseeable future. Still, there are things which should be avoided to project stability and perhaps promote growth. Playing non-league games against weaker divisions is one. Having m,multiple scoring methods is another. Add playoffs with inconsistent formats. Some will add playing in rec centers should be on the list., but that one at least has counterarguments. I like the sport, I wish the league (whatever it may be this year) well, and andI am willing to plop down some bucks to catch some games. Am I optimistic? Sometimes, but not overly. The end of MISL2 could have been the deathbed of the professional sport, and even just over two years ago did any one us really think that the MISL and the PASL could join forces? The road has been bumpy, but it still winds on for now.

 

In the words of late NFL coach Dennis Green, 'they are who we thought they were'. The MASL schedules games, puts their logo on team jerseys, and sometimes updates their website. Outside of that, they are worthless as a professional league (even that is overstating their value). The best I can predict is that games will be played. Which teams start and end the season can't be predicted accurately at this point. I have come to accept the MASL as a continuous train wreck. I will see some games too but my days of attending every single home game are through at this point.

 

A very good description of a very mediocre league