Dallas in, So MSL Goes on : Indoor soccer: Seven teams are on board for the league’s 14th season.
Nearly six weeks after a group headed by Oscar Ancira Jr. bought the Sockers, the new owners on Tuesday finally learned a league was indeed included in the deal.
That’s when the Major Soccer League’s 14th season was assured--on a whim by Donald Carter, owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks.
Carter, in Fayetteville, N.C., on business, opened Tuesday’s USA Today, saw a story detailing how the league would fold if the Dallas Sidekicks were not resuscitated and decided to do the CPR himself.
“Mr. Carter woke up at 6:15 this morning, read the newspaper and tried to figure out how to get in touch with Gordon (Jago, coach and general manager of the Sidekicks) and myself,” MSL Commissioner Earl Foreman said. “Gordon called me a little before 8 and told me Mr. Carter would be calling in five minutes. Before I even had a chance to react, the phone rang. It took me about 30 seconds to approve him as majority owner.”
Carter assumed 51% interest in the team; the remaining 49% will be held by John Aleckner Jr., who previously agreed to partial ownership.
With that, Jago’s four-month quest for new investors ended, and the league was assured of seven teams, the minimum number other owners said was necessary for them to continue.
When the season begins Oct. 24 with a game between the Sockers and Sidekicks at Dallas’ Reunion Square Arena, the league will consist of seven teams, including the Baltimore Blast, Cleveland Crunch, St. Louis Storm, Tacoma Stars and Wichita Wings.
“Great,” Ancira said after hearing the news during a teleconference. “I can envision opening day. . . . It will be very exciting.
“We (the new owners) look upon this as a business, but we can’t help but look at it also as a toy. And I think that’s the only way to operate it if we’re going to be successful. As long as we’re having fun, we’ll be successful.”
Randy Bernstein, executive vice president/general manager, tempered Ancira’s exuberance. He’s the guy who must finalize all the details in the next two months. As far as his view of opening day, he might as well be in Katmandu looking up toward the Himalayas.
“Oh, God,” he sighed when asked what needs to be done.
Still to be negotiated are arena dates, sponsorship deals, English and Spanish radio packages and English and Spanish TV agreements. Once radio and TV is set, advertising time must be sold. But first, a sales staff needs to be hired.
The front office also must kick into high gear and turn deposits for more than 4,000 season tickets received during the Save Our Sockers campaign into actual sales.
Coach Ron Newman has yet to sign a contract. Negotiations were postponed until league matters were cleared up. Once he finalizes his deal, Newman must sign some players. The Sockers have none under contract.
Newman will have at least three holes to fill since veterans Brian Quinn and Kevin Crow have indicated they will leave indoor soccer in favor of other pursuits and since Paul Wright was claimed by Baltimore during the Sockers’ ownership transition.
Also in the works is a plan to hold part of training camp in Mexico City, where the preseason schedule can be filled with international exhibitions (several of the new Socker owners live in Mexico City).
There is also a job to be done at the league level. The MSL has spent the past five summers on the brink of collapse and must do something now in terms of expansion for the 1992-93 season to alleviate their annual woes.
Foreman said he will begin working on expansion next week. He is hopeful Pittsburgh--announced as an expansion team for the coming season before deciding to pull out because of the uncertainty--will come aboard in a year. Buffalo, too, has shown interest as have groups from Los Angeles, Cincinnati and San Antonio, Texas.
Foreman also said he has begun talks with groups in Kansas City that have indicated a desire to regain that city’s membership in the MSL. The Comets, who folded earlier this summer, at one time were one of the league’s strongest franchises.
“I look toward next season with tremendous optimism,” Foreman said. “Our franchises are as strong as they’ve ever been in the past.”
Six of the seven teams either have sold more season tickets than in any past season or, like the Sockers, are nearing record numbers. Only the Baltimore Blast is lagging. Ironically, solid ownership is blamed.
“Because we haven’t had any ownership change, we haven’t put on any season-ticket campaigns,” said Drew Forrester, a club spokesman.
MSL Notes
This will be Donald Carter’s second go-round with the Sidekicks. He began the franchise and was its first owner during the 1984-85 and 1985-86 seasons before pulling out because of heavy financial losses. . . . The amendment to the collective bargaining agreement that will lower both the team salary cap to $550,000 and the top player salary to $60,000 is expected to be ratified by players this week.
