On May 30th, the Major Indoor Soccer League folded. The speculation is that because the league by-laws allowed defunct teams to have an equal vote on all league matters (as long as they paid their yearly franchise fee) and by the end of last season, there were more former owners without teams than there were current owners with teams. By folding the league and starting over, they ridded themselves of these owners without teams.
The problem over the summer was that the owners couldn't decide on how to reformat the new league. At issue were the number of teams (of the eight remaining MISL teams, three were in the midwest [Milwaukee, Detroit and Chicago], four were on the east coast [Balitmore, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Orlando] and one in Mexico [Monterrey].), the calendar schedule and number of games, and the salary cap. Also muddying the waters are that two of the cities - Baltimore and Philadelphia - may lose their arenas after this season.
Today, for better or worse (mostly worse), the soccer world mourns the creation of the Xtreme Soccer League. This potential disaster has so far identified only Milwaukee, Chicago, New Jersey and Detroit as teams. When a niche sport issues a press release with phrases like "the XSX is an energetic and innovative 12-month experience" and “To be a part of this lifestyle brand is a dream come true", no further comment from the blogger is required. Except one...
Pray for us soccer fans. Please.
