CISL Owners Discuss Expansion

The nine owners of the Continental Indoor Soccer League convened their inaugural board of governors meeting in Phoenix on Thursday and heard from several other groups, including one from Monterrey, Mexico, wishing to join the league.

Ron Weinstein, commissioner of the new league, said he expects the board of governors to approve applications from Monterrey, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and Virginia by Nov. 1.

Other expansion sites being considered for the first season but which were not represented include Salt Lake City and Cincinnati.

The Virginia ownership is the corporate backer of cable’s The Family Channel, which also is considering a national TV deal with the CISL.

Representing the Sockers were Oscar Ancira, managing general partner, Coach Ron Newman and GM Tim Latta.

“I’m very excited about what I saw and heard today,” Ancira said. “The current ownership groups showed the level of interest and commitment we expected of them. . . . With the amount of sports experience at the table from the NBA and arena operators, this group of owners has the ability to build a solid foundation from which the sport of indoor soccer can realize its incredible potential.”

Ancira, who has extensive business contacts in Mexico, is putting together the ownership group in Monterrey, which plans an open-air “indoor” soccer arena for late 1993.

“But if push comes to shove,” Ancira said, “they can put one together for the summer of 1993.”

Besides the Sockers, the CISL’s charter members are Anaheim, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Portland, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston and Charlotte.

It was announced that the season will begin June 11 and end Sept. 12, 1993. A player draft will be held in April.

“This is a fantastic beginning to the CISL,” Weinstein said. “I believe you will see the CISL picking up a great deal of forward momentum in the near future.”