The problem with indoor soccer in a nutshell

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Post by Pounder » Thu Feb 12, 2015 3:51 am

...and to make it worse, when I thought I was responding to myself (which was intentional, BTW), instead I edited my last post.

Get off my lawn, indeed.
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Post by nksports » Thu Feb 12, 2015 8:06 am

I don't want to be a hater in all this.
I've played the game at the rec level and I've watched the game for a number of years. It has its charms.
When I first came to Kansas, the Wings were a big thing. They played to almost capacity crowds every night in a building that held just under 10,000 fans — and lost money (this was in the day when top players could draw six-figure salaries).
The crowds dwindled with each team sale, each "Save the Wings" campaign and each year of falling league stability. The team finally collapsed the season before the league (NPSL by that time) did.
It's been about four years since the indoor game was brought back. The team now plays in a building about half the size of the old Kansas Coliseum (which makes sense). The attendance was decent the first year, but has declined each year since.
The original owner was an oilman, but he's gotten out of pro sports the last couple of years (he did keep the arena). I don't know much about the B-52s owner except that he's young and worked in ticket sales for several pro teams, as well as for a couple of bowl games. This year's average attendance was under 1,000 until Sunday's game (and what's sad is that's middle of the pack in the MASL). There are four teams averaging under 500 a game.
The upside of indoor soccer is, at least here in the central plains, weather resistance. Outdoor soccer here is only comfortable for players and fans for about six months out of the year — March through May and September through November. (I've been to many a baseball game in August at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium, watching the time and temperature board in left-center field start at 105° at game time and still be in the upper 90s 2 1/2 hours later when the game ends. This isn't Europe where summers are cooler and winters warmer.
I give the fans and management of teams like Sporting KC and FC Dallas props for getting good crowds in really hot weather. The downside was the women's pro semifinal last year in KC, where it was 134° on the turf at game time (ESPN wanted an afternoon start time in August. I think that's why the FC KC is moving to Sporting's training ground and will play on grass.)
If the MLS ever decides to modify it's season, it needs not adopt the European season, but the Liga MX season, with most of its games in the fall and spring.
The downsides of indoor soccer is backwards looking marketing (which I addressed in my first post) and training and tactics that don't translate well to outdoor. It's good for high school and youth players just to keep them active when it's tough to play outside. It doesn't really help with outdoor fitness (since players are constantly going on and off). It's so much one-touch passing, which has it's place in the outdoor game, but you still have to be able to dribble and shoot. It's really good for goalkeepers, since they are kept on their toes the whole game.
Finally, I've met Kim Roentved on a number of occasions through the years with the Wings (and a few times with the Comets). He has done so much for soccer in this area, but to put him on the field in anything more than an alumni game or old-timers game really doesn't help grow the sport.
The metro area is over 607,000, so it is ready to try for an outdoor pro team (I think just right for a USL pro team). We're getting a National Premier Soccer League team (semi pro fourth division), so that could be a stepping stone, but they really haven't done a lot of marketing (I have yet to get a press release from them at work). We've had a couple of PDL teams in past years, but those have been low budget and nothing stuck.

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Post by Pounder » Thu Feb 12, 2015 8:47 pm

A lot of this belongs in an outdoor soccer discussion, MOSTLY because the current MLS player negotiations and virtually every other part of the equation by which MLS operates put the league at a crossroads. I will say this: Liga MX kicked off the Clausura on January 9.

I can't help anyone's indoor aspirations... unless you end up like the PDL Michigan Bucks. A different meaning of "indoor" to be sure.
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Post by nksports » Tue Feb 17, 2015 7:35 am

[quote=""Pounder""]I will say this: Liga MX kicked off the Clausura on January 9.[/quote]

I was watching a college basketball game on ESPN2 the other day, and they were giving Liga MX scores right along with the PL, La Liga and Serie A scores.

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