David Grimaldi knows the harsh realities of indoor soccer.
After he lost his job as the Major Indoor Soccer League’s deputy commissioner when the league folded last spring, he was hired as the commissioner of the National Indoor Soccer League last week. Grimaldi, 54, had spent six years in the MISL front office after a three-year playing career with Cleveland Force. He works out of his home in Frederick.
Blast owner Ed Hale suggested the NISL should not have a commissioner. How did you get hired?
For the six years that I was at the MISL, Ed and a few other owners had reservations about [MISL commissioner Steve Ryan]. My name had been mentioned on a number of occasions about taking over as commissioner. I wanted to maintain my neutrality, because I enjoyed working for Steve. During the entire transition, when we were dissolving the MISL, there was discussion during the process of me taking over. When the split occurred, and there was no resolution between the various ownership groups, everyone set off on their different ways. During that time, Ed maintained some level of communication with myself. Monterrey and Philadelphia were big supporters of my hiring.
What is your main duty as commissioner?
Obviously, when you have various teams involved, you’re going to need someone to step in — in an impartial manner — and make decisions as an arbitrator. That was my role in soccer operations in the MISL. Even though I was subordinate to Steve, I was permitted to make all those decisions, and that will continue in the NISL. The real mission is to attempt to find investors that are committed to the NISL. At the end of the day, we have to make sense of our situation. We have a team in Monterrey, a team outside of Chicago, a team in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Massachusetts. We need to have a map for expansion that attempts to cultivate those markets around our teams.
Do you cringe at some of the attendance figures? Baltimore’s attendance is great, but Massachusetts draws less than a high school basketball game.
Massachusetts is a market we need to work with. Paul LaPointe is the owner there, and we need to assist him any way we can. He was gracious to come into he league in the 11th hour. Rockford also is working hard to build up their attendance numbers. We have to be mindful of these teams in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Monterrey. We don’t want to kid ourselves, obviously. We’ve got to continue to work hard to be inclusive in each market place.
Is it bad for the sport that it split in three leagues?
I don’t think it serves us well to have three leagues. I see three leagues, all branded differently, and all organized differently. At the end of the day, the game is always the same. If we were all working together, we’d have a lot more success. That’s part of what plagued the outdoor game for so long. You’ve got the MLS at the top of the pyramid, but you’ve got the USL, which we’ve got a relationship with, working hard at more of the grassroots level. It seems like, in the U.S., there’s this mentality that everyone can’t work together. I think for indoor soccer, it’d be marvelous to have everyone working together.
Do you see these leagues surviving without one another? Essentially, can they come together?
We can survive on our own. We will survive and work hard to expand the league. What will happen long-term, I don’t know. Let me be clear: There are some relationships that can never be repaired, but that is not across the board. My feeling is, for the best interest of the game, we need to have some sort of reconciliation.
