Snafu in Soccer League Scheduling Delays Heat Decision on Home Field
The process of selecting a home field for the Los Angeles Heat was dealt a major setback Thursday when an official of the American Professional Soccer League West said that the league’s playing schedule would not be completed for at least two months.
Earlier in the week Heat General Manager Dick White said that he will not announce where the team will play next year until the league schedule is completed. But he also said he wanted a league meeting later this month to finish the schedule.
A spokesperson for Bill Sage, APSL West chairman, said that the league schedule would not be finished until “shortly after the first of the year.”
As for a meeting later this month, White may not get it. According to Donn Rissolo, APSL West publicist, “It is still to be decided if we have a meeting at all.”
The Heat is considering Murdock Stadium at El Camino College in Torrance or Veterans Stadium in Long Beach as home fields.
“Why go talk (to either facility we are considering) when I can’t tell them when or how many games we will need to play there,” White said.
Last week White supplied the league with a list of possible home dates, along with the team’s $6,000 entry fee. Ironically, some officials from other teams appear to be waiting to see where the Heat chooses to play before agreeing to play the league’s 1991 schedule. Last season the Heat played at West Torrance High, which league officials and team owners have said is too small.
Heat owners appear to favor a move to Veterans Stadium, which has a license to sell beer and is less expensive to rent than Murdock Stadium. White has said he’d like to keep the team in the South Bay at El Camino.
Speculation that the Heat will play a few games at each site are unfounded, White said. Bobby Sibbald, White’s choice to remain as the team’s coach despite some opposition by owners, said he would support such a plan.
“I told Dick it’s a good idea to play a few games at each place,” he said. “If you ask the players, they’ll tell you they loved playing at Long Beach.”
The Heat drew an announced crowd of 3,500 at Veterans Stadium in September for its leg of the APSL West championship series against the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks.
APSL West franchises in Phoenix and Portland folded and another pair (Santa Barbara and San Diego) are contemplating moving. That has further complicated the scheduling process. The league season has reportedly been pushed back from April to May and will run until mid-October, although White could not confirm that report.
White said pushing the schedule into October would cause scheduling problems at facilities where American football games are played. White said that in September there are two scheduling conflicts with Long Beach City College and one with Cal State Long Beach at Veterans Stadium. At Murdock Stadium there would be a single conflict with an El Camino football game.
