Baltimore Blast owner Ed Hale pushing for merger of indoor soccer leagues

The Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) Forum.
Trish_lvs_Baltimore
Site Admin
Posts: 612
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 3:04 pm
Location: Baltimore, Md.

Baltimore Blast owner Ed Hale pushing for merger of indoor soccer leagues

Post by Trish_lvs_Baltimore » Thu Feb 20, 2014 4:41 pm

Baltimore Blast owner Ed Hale pushing for merger of indoor soccer leagues
Hale says expanded league would give sport greater stability and national profile
By Childs Walker The Baltimore Sun
4:42 p.m. EST, February 19, 2014

Image

After years of growing exasperation with the uncertain make-up of the Major Indoor Soccer League, Baltimore Blast owner Ed Hale is pushing hard for a merger with the 20-team Professional Arena Soccer League, based largely in the western half of the country.

Despite his franchise's stable fan base and on-field success, Hale said, "I'm just tired of worrying about who's going to come back and who's not going to come back, with no expansion contemplated."

Though Hale said he intends to bring the Blast back next season, he said Tuesday that he can't envision the team continuing to play in the MISL's current, seven-team format.

In hopes of spurring merger talk, Hale met with fellow owners from the MISL and PASL in Dallas on Sunday. He termed the meeting positive and said talks will continue as both leagues wind down their current seasons. Hale described the negotiations as a make-or-break opportunity to give indoor soccer a greater national profile.

"This could be one of those watershed moments for indoor soccer," he said. "If it doesn't happen, I'm going to be really sad."

PASL commissioner Kevin Milliken said a merger would benefit the sport, but he spoke of the prospect with less urgency in a Tuesday interview.

"I'm conducting PASL business like nothing is going to happen," Milliken said. He was traveling Sunday and did not attend the meeting in Dallas.

PASL officials held extensive merger discussions last spring and summer with counterparts from MISL's parent company, United Soccer Leagues. Milliken said the discussions ultimately broke down because of questions about who would own a potential merged league.

In rekindling discussions, Hale essentially worked around his league's parent company. He said he invited USL officials to the Dallas meeting but said they declined and were "not happy" with his efforts.

USL officials did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Hale said his franchise's contract with the USL will expire in early April, and he said that would be a natural time for merger negotiations to intensify.

Milliken said there's "a lot of value" in the concept of a merged league.

"It's just a no-brainer, because you're talking about 20 or more teams, stretching coast to coast," he said. "Now, you'd be looking at the reality of getting national sponsorship and maybe even a television deal to be broadcast nationally."

He said he expects the discussion to pick up once both leagues wrap their seasons. The MISL final is scheduled for March 16. The Blast are currently in second place with a 13-3 record.

"We're doing very, very well, and I enjoy doing it," Hale said of the Blast. "I just want more teams."

childs.walker@baltsun.com

Copyright © 2014, The Baltimore Sun


http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/socc ... 2519.story
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Founded 1908.
The First and Always The Finest

wasteland
Site Admin
Posts: 402
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:29 pm

Post by wasteland » Thu Feb 20, 2014 7:19 pm

I saw this yesterday when it was posted on the main page. It was ok until it went all Joe Newman with the talks of national sponsorship and TV deals. MLS already has that.

Anyways why merge? How many actual strong teams exist in the MISL, 3? I say make the jump and call it a day. Not enough interest at any level for more than one league, which is proven by the lack of teams in the MISL every year.

User avatar
preeths
Site Admin
Posts: 8457
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2003 11:34 pm
Contact:

Post by preeths » Thu Feb 20, 2014 7:20 pm

Will be very interesting to see how this plays out. The USL contract might mean we don't hear anything concrete until April, but if the Blast leaves the MISL, that would be a big blow.

wasteland
Site Admin
Posts: 402
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:29 pm

Post by wasteland » Thu Feb 20, 2014 7:25 pm

Really, Milwaukee and Baltimore are the MISL. Its always them and a revolving door of new teams.

dmbishop
Site Admin
Posts: 637
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2004 12:51 am
Contact:

Post by dmbishop » Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:01 pm

[quote=""preeths""]if the Blast leaves the MISL, that would be a big blow.[/quote]

If either Baltimore or Milwaukee were to leave, the league would be virtually dead. The other big team would have nobody stable to count on other than Rochester.

A merger actually does make some sense at this time:
The PASL has a decent roster of teams in some attractive markets.
The MISL has the 'name' and the USL umbrella probably has more available resources than the PASL (even if the USL sometimes seems to treat the MISL as an afterthought).

A coast to coast footprint would be nice to have and MAY be SLIGHTLY more attractive to television/ads but travel costs would have to be addressed, especially since only 3 PASL teams (Monterrey, San Diego, Dallas) have MISL-level attendance. 312 people a game in Sacramento will not cover a Balt/Mil/NYS/MO road trip. And having the existing MISL teams in their own division and limiting inter-divisional games defeats the purpose of a merger.

I think that Hale's endgame is to try to force MISL expansion. IMO to be sustainable and not just limp along, you need 10-12 teams with 5000-8000 average attendance. The problem is that there are currently only 7 teams total in both leagues that can reach that level (I don't believe St. Louis' numbers) and even then, they are only hovering around 5k.

Although a new/replacement league with Rochester, Monterrey, Baltimore, Milwaukee, San Diego, Missouri, Dallas (and maybe Syracuse, Ontario, Wichita, Hidalgo, Tulsa, Chicago, Cleveland) is very intriguing.

Dave

suge night
Site Admin
Posts: 649
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 4:09 pm
Location: USA

Post by suge night » Fri Feb 21, 2014 2:14 am

A coast to coast footprint would be nice to have and MAY be SLIGHTLY more attractive to television/ads but travel costs would have to be addressed, especially since only 3 PASL teams (Monterrey, San Diego, Dallas) have MISL-level attendance. 312 people a game in Sacramento will not cover a Balt/Mil/NYS/MO road trip. And having the existing MISL teams in their own division and limiting inter-divisional games defeats the purpose of a merger.(dmbishop)

Those are very valid concerns in 2013 the PASL looked into a possible Fort Worth Texas expansion team even going as far as to visit with the convention center for dates the people involved didn't think the convention center was the location for such a team sense the city does have a rep of killing minor league teams when it comes to use of facilities (a little insider here the D league team left town without paying what it claimed was to much back pay slightly under $100 thousand) back to this topic it would benefit both leagues to merge those attendance numbers are of great concern Dallas draws better than teams in it's division those teams listed as what a merger should look like are interesting and would make for a good growth plan starter sense soccer has layers of feeder leagues this type of merger makes good business sense as for who would own such a merger league that shouldn't be as big of a problem cost to enter the PASL $30 thousand things could be worked out if all sides see the bigger picture here....

tops804
Site Admin
Posts: 1613
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2007 12:26 am

Post by tops804 » Fri Feb 21, 2014 6:29 am

[quote=""wasteland""]Really, Milwaukee and Baltimore are the MISL. Its always them and a revolving door of new teams.[/quote]

True, and I don't know how Milwaukee and Baltimore will like playing in the PASL's current arenas. Which are hardly the capacity they would like to see.

I think this will be a push/push adventure where neither side wants to budge when it comes to compromise.

Remember, MISL has the multi-point goal, PASL doesn't. At best, could Mr. Hale draw some PASL markets to the MISL which in turn fade one by one? That would seem more the outcome.

This seasons MISL expansion looks to be a bust, as it once again looked like the Roar played in front of empty seats last night. St. Louis, fairing a little better but time will tell.
Adios, OSC message boards. (2007-2017)

nksports
Site Admin
Posts: 3669
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2005 7:53 am
Location: Newton, KS (the land of Oz)

Post by nksports » Sat Feb 22, 2014 6:48 am

I hate to be the buzzkill here, but maybe it's time to pull the plug completely on arena soccer. It served its purpose, but it's time is over. This isn't the 1980s and the novelty is gone.

The MLS appears here to stay. It's time to build up the second and third divisions (and maybe start a pro fourth division). Right now, the Blast might be in a good position to become a second-division outdoor team. It has name recognition. The same would go for Milwaukee, St. Louis, Syracuse.

PASL teams that could make the transition include Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Hildago, Beaumont, Tulsa, Wichita, Las Vegas, Ontario, Sacramento, San Diego, Livermore, Turlock and Laredo.

Some of these markets could one day move into the MLS.

Indoor teams that would need to be relocated from the MISL would be Missouri, Rochester and Harrisburg. Teams needing relocation from the PASL include Chicago, Illinois and Dallas. You could operate them as suburban minor league teams, much like what happens in independent baseball.

Just my 2¢ for the sake of discussion.

suge night
Site Admin
Posts: 649
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 4:09 pm
Location: USA

Post by suge night » Sun Feb 23, 2014 3:41 pm

NK, good point indoor soccer is a niche sport just as indoor football is it can stay but expecting big crowds in some markets won't ever happen the average fan base for minor league sports in most markets 1200 sure their are exceptions where 3000 may show up, but marketing research on this suggest 1200-1500 which for the level isn't bad the problem arises when you start trying to pay a roster and coaches from this size of a crowd. Beaumont attempted an outdoor team a few years ago to no success, but sometimes in this business you can be to early and that may have been the case in that market I think if attempted now it could work but the owner would have to know the market and not try to sell it as a MLS team. As for a 4th tier yes that's the route to take those markets you mentioned some of them would take off to great success , indoor soccer has a place it just needs to understand it's place in the market.......

Trish_lvs_Baltimore
Site Admin
Posts: 612
Joined: Fri Sep 03, 2010 3:04 pm
Location: Baltimore, Md.

Post by Trish_lvs_Baltimore » Tue Feb 25, 2014 5:28 pm

I'm kinda' on the fence with this possible merger. While the MISL only gas about 3 teams that are unstable, the PASL has MANY that are unstable...
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Founded 1908.
The First and Always The Finest

Post Reply

Return to “MISL”