In order for the Major Indoor Soccer League to grow in the long term, some of its teams may suffer in the short term. In a season-ending news conference at his 1st Mariner Bank headquarters, Blast owner/investor Ed Hale announced that the MISL will welcome three new teams, and possibly a fourth, next season.
“We expect to have a little more national scope next year,” said Hale, who is actively involved in the six-team league.
Newark (N.J.), Orlando (Fla.) and Monterey, Mexico are all locked in for 2007-08. And there is a chance that former MISL hub Kansas City could re-enter the league.
“Right now, I would say it is about a 75-percent possibility,” Hale said of Kansas City?s return.
Hale compared watching a game in Monterey to “going to a gladiator movie,” but he noted the importance of expanding the league. By adding four teams, the league would reach 10 clubs, to be split into a pair of five-team divisions.
“It?s still pretty much a regional league,” Hale said. “There are a couple other teams on the West Coast that are looking at this seriously, though.”
The MISL expansion draft has been pushed back to June 5, presumably to allow Kansas City?s management time to establish some form of organization.
“As an owner that is as close to this as I am, this is one of the more heart-breaking times,” Hale said of the weeks leading up to the expansion draft, which will strip the Blast of some of its players, possibly as many as eight of the team?s 20-man roster. The league has still notestablished a concrete figure for how many players the Blast can protect or how many it may lose.
One that is likely to be protected is goalkeeper Sagu, who learned Monday that he was named to the All-MISL second team. Defender Mike Lookingland (Loyola High) was named to the All-Rookie team.
But Sagu echoed the sentiments of many at the news conference Wednesday: Winning is the team?s highest priority.
“I?m going to be happy when the team makes the playoffs and I?m the [first-team] goalkeeper,” Sagu said. “It would be better if I was the last goalkeeper and we were the champions again.”
