Sidekicks Avoid Foreclosure, Will Complete MISL Season

The future of the Sockers and the Major Indoor Soccer League brightened Monday when the Dallas Sidekicks met a 1:30 p.m. deadline set last week by a federal bankruptcy judge for posting $260,000 to avoid foreclosure by the organization’s major creditor, Dallas Basketball Ltd.

Four major shareholders, including Stan Finney Jr., chairman of the board for the Sidekicks, put up the money which guarantees that the team will finish the remainder of the season, according to Gordon Jago, the Sidekicks’ president and coach.

Sockers President Ron Cady, a participant in a conference call Monday morning in which representatives from each of the seven teams discussed the matter, said this will allow the MISL expansion committee to continue its search for new franchise sites. Also, he said, it gives the MISL’s executive search committee an opportunity to continue looking for a commissioner. Bill Kentling resigned as commissioner last week, effective May 31.

“I’m real encouraged,” Cady said. “It sends a message (to the league) that they (the Sidekicks) have made a commitment.”

Dallas is still required to post payments of $130,000 in April, May and June to Dallas Basketball Ltd.

“We have been granted the opportunity to reorganize and prepare for the future,” Jago said. “I think the other teams will be very relieved. For us not to complete the season would have been absolutely disastrous.”