Past
Prior to the late 1970s indoor soccer was a mere exhibition phenomenon. For example, Madison Square Garden hosted large crowds for ASL teams in the 1930s, when immigrants fueled large crowds and demand for that league's product. But the real genesis of the modern indoor game comes from the NASL, that 1970s outdoor league of superstars that grew too big, too soon for its own good. It's existence came to be from NASL owners looking to attract new fans to the game with a fast paced, high scoring form of the game, that could fill arenas in winter months. The success of the first two NASL indoor "tournaments" (similar to the indoor tournaments the German Bundesliga sponsors) prompted the startup of a full indoor league, the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), in 1978. The Kansas City Comets and Baltimore Blast were teams of that original MISL who were later resurrected and are part of today's MASL. The new indoor league came at the right time, as the NASL and the soccer "fad" of the late 70s was reaching its zenith. Crowds packed arenas to watch this ultra-faced hybrid of the game as attendance doubled over the course of the first 4 seasons to over 8,000 a match by the 1981-82 season (an average it would maintain to nearly the end of the decade). In fact, it was at an MISL all-star game that the future Arena Football League was conceived.
The NASL, not wanting to miss out on the action, had their own teams play full seasons indoors starting in 1979. One team to take a liking to indoor soccer was the Rochester Lancers, who had been NASL Champions of 1970 in the outdoor game. In the leagues second indoor tournament in 1976, they made the championship final. They went on to lose the Tampa Bay Rowdies, but Rochester went back to the indoor game years later and are in the MASL today. But one team from the original NASL had even greater success moving to the indoor game. The San Diego Sockers continually fell just short of the finals in the outdoor game, but in the indoor game they became a dynasty. Beginning in the 1981-82 season, they would win 10 championships under head coach Ron Newman, becoming the unquestionable dynasty of indoor soccer in the 1980s. The MASL championship trophy bears Newman's name today, and the Sockers continue to compete in the current league, having gone through three different incarnations.
When the NASL collapsed as an outdoor league by 1985, many of the teams (such as the Comets and Blast) continued on by becoming a part of the MISL. By the early 1990's, as attendance dipped slightly, it was clear the league had become the haves and have-nots. After 1992, the league folded. Four of the seven teams carried on in two new rival leagues: the CISL and the NPSL. The National Professional Soccer League was a rival league in the mid-80s (known as the American Indoor Soccer Association until 1990) that introduced the concept of multi-point scoring, where there were one , two, or three point goals based on lines of distance from goal. It gained national exposure by becoming a regular league on the new espn2 network. This league produced a number of well-run franchises. The Milwaukee Wave started as a founding member in 1984 whose stability didn't bear championship fruit until the 1990s. It plays in the MASL as the longest continuously operated soccer club in the United States. The St. Louis Ambush and Harrisburg Heat were also solid franchises from that league that have been resurrected and now play in the MASL.
The Continental Indoor Soccer League was the brainchild of NBA and NHL owners looking to capitalize on the fact that soccer had hit a burst of popularity with the US outdoor national team having qualified for World Cup 1990 and hosting the same event in 1994. The indoor national team made the World Cup of Futsal Final in 1991 with many indoor stars as well. These owners saw soccer as a way to fill arenas in the summer months. Hence the CISL was the first indoor soccer league to be played in summer. Besides the season played in, the CISL also differed from the NPSL as it maintained the traditional 1 point per goal. It too flexed its muscle in landing a national TV deal with Fox Sports Networks. The Dallas Sidekicks were an MISL team that thrived in this new league. They won their second championship in the league's debut season of 1993, over fellow indoor heavyweights, the San Diego Sockers. The CISL, with the backing of powerful sports owners, saw a rise in attendance to nearly 7,000 average fans by 1996. However, serious differences of where the league should go forward doomed it to shut down after 1997, with many of its best players having gone on to be founding members of the newly created outdoor league (Major League Soccer or "MLS").
The rise of the new outdoor league and it's lower divisions began to overshadow the indoor game. The two competing leagues eventually collapsed into a new MISL (which ran on Fox Soccer Channel). They then saw another rift as teams departed for the decidedly cost conscious and smaller-venued PASL. Eventually, these teams as well as new organizations came back into the fold when they merged with a few remaining MISL teams into the current MASL.
ABOVE: Milwaukee Wave made (ahem) waves by introducing black turf to UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. The Wave are the oldest continuous soccer club in the United States.
Present
Currently, the MASL's challenge is how to run a national league that both makes a profit, and carves a new niche in the ever expanding world of outdoor soccer. The large market teams of the Milwaukee Wave, Dallas Sidekicks, St. Louis Ambush, and Missouri Comets have done well by downsizing out of their market's largest arenas and going into more intimate second-tier venues. For example, the Missouri Comets moved from Kansas City to Independence Events Center, with great success. St. Louis Ambush are thriving in the St. Charles' Family Arena (most famous as being the home of the MVC Women's College Basketball Tournament), where it is one of the league leaders in attendance. In fact, the only one of the mentioned clubs from a downtown location is the Wave, who moved across the street from the Bradley Center to the smaller UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. Non-traditional "major" markets like Harrisburg, Rochester, Syracuse, and Tacoma are bedrock teams in the league, playing in the biggest arenas in town and with deep roots in their communities.
Future
The third and final frontier for league expansion seems to be this: go where the market's soccer dollars are not going to outdoor clubs. Hartford, Youngstown, Tulsa, Turlock-Modesto, Brownsville, Ontario and Cedar Rapids seem to be in this category. This strategy is risky in that these are not large markets in core city population, but it may be wise in that the indoor game can establish itself in decent sized, soccer-starved markets. Places where the ever growing outdoor game hasn't gotten its hands (or better yet feet) into. Early results seem mixed. Tulsa, Brownsville, and Turlock barely push a 1,000 spectators through the doors, while Wichita and especially Ontario are doing better. With many outdoor players now using indoor soccer as a way to make a living while in the lower divisions, the salary demands are not as great as they once were (a recent piece by the New York Times on the Cleveland Crunch of the early-90s noted that player salaries in the late 80s and early 90s would often be six figures for the bigger stars). However, with ESPN3 now on as a broadcast partner, filling arenas will be important to getting on television.
Cedar Rapids and the Technology Corridor of Iowa certainly fit the bill of a starving market. While the Des Moines Menace have consistently been at or near the top of the 4th division PDL's attendance figures, the closest foray outdoor soccer has made into Iowa's second largest market was the semi-pro Comets of the mid-1980s. The MASL is banking on the fact that the Titans can use their expertise at tapping into youth camps, sponsorship dollars, and attendance, to make the MASL a success in what is essentially the City of Five Seasons first foray into the soccer world. And you can't get a second chance at a first impression, so doing it right will affect the way residents view soccer in this area for years to come. In a coming installment, we will look at how they can make that first impression a positive one.
NOTE: Thanks to Kenn Tomasch and kenn.com/the_blog/ for some helpful corrections.
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