MISL Withstands One More Storm

The MISL, the little league that could, ascended another mountain of problems Monday without breaking down. And when it did, Commissioner Earl Foreman said he knew all along it could.

For the third consecutive year, the Major Indoor Soccer League fought off collapse when St. Louis Storm owner Milan Mandaric announced he had decided not to fold his team.

Instead, Mandaric, who lives in San Jose, will go forward with new St. Louis investors who committed over the weekend.

For the first time, the MISL will head into the season, its 13th, with its franchises intact from the previous season.

The league has eight members: the Sockers, the Storm, Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, Kansas City, Tacoma and Wichita. But had the Storm folded, the Sockers, according to owner Ron Fowler, would have followed suit. There were reports other owners also demanded an eight-team league if they were to maintain membership.

Foreman, however, denied any team was on the brink of collapse.

“You know Milan never left the league,” he said. “He had some misgivings, some doubt about his support in St. Louis, but Milan and I have been talking about those problems and working them out since the playoffs.”

But Fowler told a different story.

“I wouldn’t have given you a snowball’s chance (that the league would survive) on Friday,” he said. “For about the fifth time Milan said he wasn’t going to play. . . . But some crystallization of the situation occurred over the weekend.”

Mandaric not only got the investors he sought over the weekend, but also received some concessions from the city of St. Louis and Mayor Vince Schoemehl, Fowler said.

Mandaric was en route to St. Louis and could not be reached for comment. Schoemehl was not returning phone calls, but both were scheduled to appear at a press conference this morning.

A spokesman in Schoemehl’s office, however, said there had been talks between Schoemehl and Mandaric about revenues from parking and from selling advertising space along the dasher boards at The Arena. The city currently collects all such revenues from the Storm and the NHL Blues. The money goes toward the debt incurred by the city when it bought The Arena four years ago.

There were other encouraging developments that swayed Mandaric to keep the team, which lost a reported $1.5 million last year. Among them is a pending agreement with the United States Soccer Federation.

Fowler said there are now “four or five different things going on” between the two groups.

USSF spokesman John Polis said Foreman and Werner Fricker, president of the USSF, were having discussions about player availability.

“Both men have indicated to me that they will be discussing the issue with the goal of ensuring that (MISL) players will be available to the U.S. National team,” Polis said.

It also was learned that Bob Gansler, coach of the U.S. National team, which is under the direction of the USSF, is in Baltimore for this week’s league meetings.

Now that he has all eight teams stabilized heading into the meetings, Foreman felt comfortable the league he founded in 1978 has turned the corner.

“I am delighted that we can now look to all the positive things that are happening,” Foreman said. “This is a great time to be involved in soccer and the MISL.”

Positive things in the MISL? Well, Foreman says there are at least three teams (Kansas City, Dallas and Baltimore) that look to turn a profit in the coming season.

Is Foreman expecting a financial windfall? No, he is counting on lower operating expenses. A new collective bargaining agreement between management and the players union, to be voted on this week by the owners, would bring the salary cap down to $630,000 from $770,000 per team.

Foreman’s optimism also is fueled by the league’s new ownership, which has improved in the areas of money management and cooperation.

“There’s an esprit de corps taking place here,” Foreman said. “And that’s what I’ve been pushing for for a long time.”

Added Fowler, “The owners now put the league first and their teams second.”

Dallas owner Phil Cobb said he expects the Sidekicks to be in the black next season, although the team lost $800,000 last year.

He’s not the only one with such hopes. Kansas City and Baltimore “are also bullish,” Foreman said.

Foreman said the MISL can tell potential expansion-team owners that it is possible to make money in indoor soccer.

“We’re now going in telling them, ‘OK, if you know what you’re doing, if you organize and operate properly with a good business plan, here’s what you could do.’ ”

Fowler and Foreman said the league will expand by at least two cities before the 1991-92 season, and Fowler said there are at least four strong candidates.

Fowler would not say what cities have expressed interest, but Cobb recently listed Albany, N.Y.; Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Cincinnati; Minneapolis; Portland, Ore.; Sacramento and Tampa Bay as potential expansion sites.