Inquiries on Sockers Continue

MSL commissioner Earl Foreman arrived here Thursday and had secondary discussions with one of three parties considering taking over the Sockers.

Also involved were Socker Coach Ron Newman and Randy Bernstein, team vice president.

Foreman, Newman and Bernstein will meet today with a second group that, like the first, has gone over financial data provided by owner Ron Fowler.

Fowler, who lost a reported $750,000 last season and similar amounts the previous three, has said he will discontinue funding the team June 30. The franchise then will cease operations unless a new owner steps in.

A third party also might meet with Foreman, Newman and Bernstein but has informed the trio that it is still crunching numbers and is not ready to talk.

While Foreman has responded to questions of prospective owners, he has said little to the media other than that he feels things are progressing “expeditiously.”

Expeditiousness appears to be of great importance.

Monday is the day the players’ union said it wants to know what players will be bound to their former teams by right of first refusal. But that can’t be done until the league knows which clubs will be around, and Foreman indicated the Sockers’ uncertainty might continue beyond Monday.

“I would think this thing has to be wrapped up next week,” Foreman said. “That’s the schedule I’ve been working on.”

Of the three potential owners, none is preferred. According a news release from the Sockers, Newman and Bernstein are trying to move all prospective owners along as quickly as possible.

The next step, at least for the potential owner who met with the club’s representatives Thursday, is to meet with Sports Arena officials and discuss terms of a possible lease. That will happen today.

The second group is expected to follow the same course.

If any of the parties remain interested, it will tender a formal application to the MSL board of directors, who already have a rubber stamp inked and poised.

What are the odds that will happen?

“I don’t know,” Foreman said. “But things are progressing about as well as could be expected. There hasn’t been one snag in all of this.”