MISL Looks to Expand, Score More

The Major Indoor Soccer League, projecting that most of its teams will turn a profit next season, Thursday announced its intention to add expansion teams and to implement changes to increase scoring.

Commissioner Bill Kentling, speaking at the league meetings here, said most of the nine remaining franchises had predicted that they would turn a profit next season under the new salary stabilization plan.

Under a new collective bargaining agreement, the MISL has reduced its salary cap from $1.275 million per team in 1987-88 to $900,000 for next season.

“We’ve never been able to say that before,” said Kentling of the forecast of profitability.

With it said now, and without franchises in St. Louis and Minnesota--which folded Wednesday--the league has announced its intentions to:

--Begin thinking about expansion for the 1989-90 season. Kentling said that five cities--Greensboro, N.C.; Worcester, Mass.; Cincinnati; Miami, and Detroit--have investor groups who have expressed an interest in owning MISL franchises.

Kentling indicated that Greensboro and Worcester are the top candidates for an expansion franchise.

--Increase the excitement of the game. Since the inception of the indoor game 10 years ago, scoring has dropped from an average of 13 goals per game to 9--a figure that needs to increase, Kentling said.

As a result, the MISL competition committee has come up with several rule-change ideas that will be tested during a week-long trial of games to be played next month.

The rule changes involve moving the red lines at each end of the floor closer to the goals or removing them altogether, and reducing the size of the ball. By moving the red lines, forwards would be free to receive passes closer to the opponents’ goal.

Ron Fowler, managing general partner of the Sockers, said he agreed with the league’s intentions to improve scoring but would not predict whether the Sockers would be one of the franchises turning a profit next season.

“Looking at it from a worst-case scenario, if our team did not make the playoffs next season, we would probably lose money,” Fowler said. “If we make the playoffs, then the attendance figures would decide how we would come out.”

The Sockers are waiting to hear whether Fowler’s bid to buy the team outright is accepted by a federal bankruptcy court. The decision is expected June 29.