Future of the Sockers Is Still Undetermined

Having set this weekend as a deadline to either firm plans for next season or cease operations, Sockers owner Ron Fowler is still noncommittal about which way he is leaning.

Reached Thursday afternoon and asked for a progress report, Fowler would say only that he is still waiting.

On what?

“Well, I want to hear from Earl (Foreman, commissioner of the Major Soccer League), who is working on a couple issues,” Fowler said. “We’ll probably have a press conference Monday and have everything determined by then as to what we are or are not going to do.”

Asked if any progress has been made since the end of last week, when he said he was looking to secure investors, Fowler said: “There’s stuff going on behind the scenes that other people have been involved in and I’m trying to catch up with Earl to talk about these things.

“One thing is for sure, I’m not going to string this thing out like I did last year.”

The MSL hibernated last summer while owners in seven cities waited for a commitment from St. Louis Storm owner Milan Mandaric. If Mandaric would have pulled out, other owners, including Fowler, said they would have followed. Mandaric came through in late July, but two months of promoting the 1990-91 season were lost.

Reached at his home in suburban Baltimore, Foreman would not comment on the situation.

But Fowler has said he will insist on a minimum of eight teams before he goes forward, and that might be the sticking point.

Currently, only five existing clubs have committed: Baltimore, Cleveland, Kansas City, St. Louis and Tacoma. In addition, an expansion team has been granted Pittsburgh.

Besides the Sockers, Wichita and Dallas still are trying to secure financing for next season.

In Dallas, where the Sidekicks folded at the beginning of April, a potential owner suffered heart problems and had to forgo purchasing an expansion team. Sidekicks General Manager Gordon Jago said he remains optimistic one of three other parties he and Foreman are talking to will step in “within seven to 10 days.”

In Wichita, team management has set the end of June as a deadline before which 5,000 season tickets must be sold, or the team will fold.

Foreman also is working with the owners of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres about putting an MSL expansion team in that city for the upcoming season, but the commissioner does not expect a final decision for another week.

All three timetables are out of line with Fowler’s intention of shoring up plans by this weekend.