Major Arena Soccer League puts the "Major" in Cedar Rapids a bit more than you may know...

Let's make a bold statement here: Cedar Rapids new pro soccer team at the US Cellular Center is the biggest sports team to take root in this city. Will it have the staying power of the Kernels? They can only wish. Will they get mentioned on national broadcasts of the biggest league like the Roughriders? Wishful thinking. Will it produce a superstar once every decade or so as the Kernels or Roughriders do? Probably not. Will it have the attendance figures of the Titans? Let's not kid ourselves, this is football (American style) country. Do any of those teams have players one step below the pinnacle of their sport, have a number of franchises that were once nationally televised big league teams, or will any of the others have games broadcast nationally on ESPN3 and WatchESPN? Don't think so. There will be a whole new nation of sports fans this winter for whom Cedar Rapids will become relevant.

MASL can rightly lay claim to being the "Major" league of it's sport. And before one jumps on the fact that most of it's players are second division NASL, third division USL Pro, or fourth division NPSL outdoor players supplementing their income in the winter, there are still a number of players for whom indoor soccer is their dream. Players who grew up in cities where the indoor game was bigger than the outdoor version, like Cleveland, Detroit, Baltimore, Wichita, Harrisburg, Tacoma and Buffalo. The kids who passionately supported these franchises are now men who have made long careers playing in the MASL (most notably Danny Waltman of Tacoma and Dominic Waza of Las Vegas), hardly batting an eyelash at the outdoor game. No other visiting teams to Cedar Rapids will have players who've been at the pinnacle for as much time as Byron Alvarez or Josh Gardner when the Missouri Comets come to town. Or Tony Walls and Mike Lookinglad of Milwaukee Wave. Or Jeff DiMaria of the St. Louis Ambush. Guys who have played competitive matches on MLS squads. Teams coming to CR will have both future professionals and professional once-was's. And unlike the IFL, the MASL is the pinnacle of its sub-genre of sport.

The MASL holds claim to the longest continuously operating soccer club in the Milwaukee Wave (established in 1984), a number of clubs established in indoor soccer's mid-'80s to early '90s heyday (Harrisburg Heat, Baltimore Blast, St. Louis Ambush, Missouri Comets, Tacoma Stars, and Dallas Sidekicks), as well as two franchises that started all the way back in the original outdoor NASL of Pele, Beckenbauer, the New York Cosmos and the Chicago Sting (namely the Rochester Lancers and San Diego Sockers). So while the structure of the MASL has changed recently (from the merger of the newer PASL and the older MISL), most of its franchises are not fly-by-night operations, but have a significant history in their communities.

We will look at this history of the MASL, where it has been and where it is headed, more in our next installment. But for now we know it's headed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The city of Five Seasons will be a part of the next chapter of its history. A history which is far longer, far more colorful, and far more "major" than many Eastern Iowans might realize.

ABOVE: Pele playing with the New York Cosmos against the Rochester Lancers, now of the MASL which is coming to Cedar Rapids.

BELOW: The Chicago Sting battle the San Diego Sockers at Wrigley Field. The San Diego Sockers became an indoor dynasty and currently play in the MASL.