Major Indoor Soccer League (2008–)

Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL)

Countries	United States
Founded	2008
Number of teams	7
Current champions	Milwaukee Wave
Most championships	Baltimore Blast, Milwaukee Wave, & Monterrey La Raza (1 each)
Website	http://misl.uslsoccer.com
2010-11 season

The Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), formerly known as the National Indoor Soccer League, is an indoor soccer league which began play in 2008.^[1][2] It is the third league to be known as the Major Indoor Soccer League. Originally, five teams had been announced to play in the inaugural season; four previously in the previous Major Indoor Soccer League and one formerly in the American Indoor Soccer League.^[3][4] However, the Orlando Sharks (formerly of the MISL) were forced to go inactive because of scheduling conflicts with Amway Arena. Later, the Massachusetts Twisters were brought in from the AISL to take the Sharks' place. The MISL is top-tier league of indoor soccer in the USA.

History

The NISL was one of three leagues that organized in late 2008 after the demise of the second MISL; the others two being the PASL-Pro (an offshoot of the Premier Arena Soccer League) and the Xtreme Soccer League. The NISL and the XSL were more closely related, with both leagues first announcing four former MISL teams respectively and using the same game rules as the MISL.

In early July 2009 The XSL had announced they were to go on a one year hiatus due to a low amount of monetary backing, which left the NISL as the highest priced operating indoor soccer league in the United States of America.

The NISL announced on July 13, 2009 that an all-star team of players from the Baltimore Blast, Rockford Rampage, and Philadelphia KiXX would play in a six-a-side outdoor exhibition match against an all-star team from Bermuda's Island Soccer League on July 19, 2009.^[5]

The NISL was attempting to get numerous teams from the folded XSL to join for the 2009-2010. The NISL did acquire the Milwaukee Wave for the 2009-2010 season.^[6] The NISL lost one team for the 2009-2010 season, the Massachusetts Twisters.^[7] The only team that was a member of the NISL's inaugural season that is still playing in the MISL today is the Baltimore Blast. The rest of the 2010-2011 season teams are expansion teams that joined this year, with the exception of the Milwaukee Wave who joined in the second season.^[8]

Shortly before the league launched its 2009-2010 season, the opportunity arose to purchase the rights to the name of its predecessor, "Major Indoor Soccer League"; the league acquired the rights and immediately rebranded itself as the newest form of the MISL.^[9]

July 18, 2010 the MISL played another All-Star Game against Bermuda's Island Soccer League. Milwaukee Wave's Hewerton Moriera had 3 goals and 2 assists also Philadelphia KiXX's Richardino added 2 goals and 2 assists in the MISL All-Stars 8 - 3 win.

It was announced on August 18th, 2010 that the MISL is expanding into Missouri (Kansas City) and Omaha starting with the 2010-11 season.

The league is looking to expand in former MISL markets like St. Louis, Hartford, Harrisburg, Dallas, and Newark. The league is also looking to expand in newer markets like Boston, Tulsa, Minneapolis, Denver, and Raleigh.^[10][11][12]

An update to the official MISL "about" web page on October 6, 2010 acknowledged that the league was composed of only five teams, with the Rockford Rampage and reigning champion Monterrey La Raza no longer active league members. On October 15, 2010, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the exodus of the Philadelphia KiXX and the addition of a Chicago franchise.^[13]

In May 2011, United Soccer Leagues announced it had entered into an agreement with the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) and will operate the indoor league beginning with the 2011-12 season.

On September 27 2011, the MISL announced that the Chicago Kick failed to secure a suitable venue in time and would not play for the 2011-2012 season. The Kick will try to join the league for the 2012-2013 season.^[14][15]

Commissioner

Name	Years
David Grimaldi[16]	2008-2011
Chris Economides	2011-present

Teams

Active

Team	City/Area	Arena	Joined	Head Coach
Eastern Division
Baltimore Blast	Baltimore, Maryland	1st Mariner Arena	2008	Danny Kelly
Norfolk SharX	Norfolk, Virginia	Norfolk Scope	2010	Jon Hall[17]
Rochester Lancers	Rochester, New York	Blue Cross Arena	2010	Bill Andracki
Syracuse Silver Knights	Syracuse, New York	War Memorial at Oncenter	2010	Tommy Tanner
Central Division
Milwaukee Wave	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	U.S. Cellular Arena	2009	Keith Tozer
Missouri Comets	Independence, Missouri (Kansas City area)	Independence Events Center	2010	Kim Røntved
Wichita Wings	Park City, Kansas (Wichita area)	Hartman Arena	2010	LeBaron Hollimon

Defunct

Team	City/Area	Arena	Founded	Joined	Folded	Current Status
Chicago Riot	Chicago, Illinois	Odeum Expo Center	2010	2010	2011	Folded
Massachusetts Twisters	West Springfield, Massachusetts	The Big E Coliseum	2003	2008	2009	Folded
Monterrey La Raza[18]	Monterrey, Nuevo León	Monterrey Arena	2007	2008	2010	Folded
Orlando Sharks[19] 1	Orlando, Florida	Amway Arena	2007	2008	2008	Folded
Philadelphia KiXX[20]	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Liacouras Center	1995	2008	2010	Folded
Rockford Rampage[21]	Rockford, Illinois	Rockford MetroCentre	2005	2008	2010	Folded

1. Never played a NISL/MISL game

Left the MISL

Team	City/Area	Arena	Founded	Joined MISL	Left MISL	New League
Omaha Vipers[22]	Omaha, Nebraska	Omaha Civic Auditorium	2010	2010	2011	PASL-Pro

Expansion Teams

Team	City/Area	Arena	Founded	Joining MISL
Chicago Kick	Chicago, Illinois	TBA	2011	2012-2013

Championships

Season	Date	Champion	Score	Runner-Up	Host	Playoffs MVP
2008-09	4/11/09	Baltimore	13-10	Rockford	Baltimore	Sagu
2009-10	4/04/10	Monterrey	12- 6	Milwaukee	Milwaukee	Chile Farias
2010-11	3/25/11	Milwaukee	16-7	Baltimore	Baltimore	Marcel Feenstra

Average attendance

Year	Games	Total	Average
2008-09	41	170,696	4,163
2009-10	50	188,005	3,760
2010-11	50	199,123	3,982
2011-12	00	000,000	0,000
Seasons	Games	Total	Average
3	141	557,824	3,956

References

1. ^ Orlando Business Journal, September 10, 2008. "Orlando Sharks join new indoor soccer league, will play 18-game schedule". Accessed 1 October 2008
2. ^ Baker, Kent, 10 September 2008. The Baltimore Sun, "Blast joins downsized new league". Accessed 1 October 2008.
3. ^ The Associated Press, 10 September 2008. "Blast owner announces new league". Accessed 1 October 2008.
4. ^ Welsh, Sean. 10 September 2008. Baltimore Examiner, "A new league Blasts off: National Indoor Soccer League to house Blast, 4 others". Accessed 1 October 2008.
5. ^ http://www.nislnet.com/news/?article_id=115
6. ^ http://www.nislnet.com/schedule/results/
7. ^ http://www.nislnet.com/nisl/about/
8. ^ http://www.misl.net/misl/about/
9. ^ "The new face of indoor soccer". MISL.net. 2 November, 2009. http://www.misl.net/news/?article_id=124. Retrieved 4 November, 2009. 
10. ^ [1]
11. ^ [2]
12. ^ [3]
13. ^ http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/105058354.html
14. ^ Rochester Democrat and Chronicle "MISL drops Chicago team" Accessed 28 September 2011
15. ^ http://misl.uslsoccer.com/home/567258.html
16. ^ http://www.nislnet.com/nisl/directory/index.html?staff_id=1
17. ^ http://misl.uslsoccer.com/home/567387.html
18. ^ http://www.misl.net/misl/about/"[4]". Accessed 6 October 2010.
19. ^ Ruiz, Stephen. 23 October 2008. Orlando Sentinel, "Orlando's indoor soccer team will skip this season, focus on returning in 2009". Accessed 31 October 2008.
20. ^ Walker, Don. 15 October 2010. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"", "Changes ahead for Wave, MISL". Accessed 15 October 1010.
21. ^ http://www.misl.net/misl/about/"[5]". Accessed 6 October 2010.
22. ^ http://www.pasl-pro.com/news/?article_id=237

External links

• Official League Website
• Official Broadcast Partner
• Top Attendance in United States Soccer