Owners to Discuss Future of MSL in Call Today
The Major Soccer League continued crumbling Thursday when a prospective ownership group in Buffalo decided to buy an expansion team in the rival National Professional Soccer League.
Buffalo had been considered a possible savior to the MSL. When a group there chose the other league, the MSL was left with five active franchises, half as many as the NPSL says it has. On MSL owners Monday decided they would go forward provided they had a minimum of six franchises.
Now it appears the MSL’s only hope is to resuscitate the St. Louis franchise, which has not breathed since early April, when the regular season ended.
Commissioner Earl Foreman said the St. Louis situation remains bleak. He said the Storm will be represented on a conference call with the five remaining owners--from the Sockers, Dallas, Wichita, Cleveland and Baltimore--today at noon (PDT). The fate of the league will be discussed during the call.
Dr. Abe Hawatmeh, a St. Louis urologist who has been attempting to build a group of investors and buy the Storm from founder Milan Mandaric, said he will make a decision today on whether to go forward with a bid for the Storm.
“We have to put everything together,” Hawatmeh said. “(Today) is D-Day.”
Negotiations between Mandaric and Hawatmeh have stalled for a couple months because Hawatmeh has been unable to come up with adequate resources. Hawatmeh on Thursday said he still is trying to overcome that problem.
“We are working on that right now,” he said.
But doubt remains as to whether Hawatmeh can come up with an adequate bid.
Sockers’ owner Oscar Ancira answered “no” when asked if he thought Hawatmeh could pull enough money together.
Ironically, the Storm led the MSL in attendance this past season, drawing more than 10,000 per game.
Meanwhile, the situation in Tacoma, where the Stars folded two weeks ago, has not changed since earlier in the week. A Tacoma realtor, Boyd Lundstrom, is interested in re-establishing the team, but only if the monthly league assessment fees and the commissioner’s salary are reduced substantially. That is inconsistent with the philosophy of other owners, who think the league has cut its budget too much and who want to begin spending more to attract star players and bigger crowds.
“We’ll have a conference call today and make a lot of decisions,” Foreman said. “They will be tough, hard decisions to make.”
When owners met Monday, they also decided to look into contingency plans should six teams not materialize. Barring a last-minute change with the St. Louis franchise--those contingencies (such as keeping the teams alive by playing exhibitions, pushing the start of the season back to give expansion another chance, or taking a year’s sabbatical) will be discussed.
“Maybe it’s time for some restructuring,” said Sockers Coach Ron Newman, who has won 10 indoor championships, eight in the MSL, all of which will be forgotten if the league folds. “I thought we needed it last year. In August they decided to go ahead with the season and the next day we had the schedule on our desk. We need to start the season a little later. . . . I’ve heard of all sorts of (expansion) possibilities if we would start in January or February when there are open arena dates and less (to compete with) on TV.”
The past season began in late October.
Newman, who spearheaded the effort to keep the Sockers alive last June after former owner Ron Fowler announced plans to stop funding the club, said he remains optimistic.
“As long as there are people like Oscar and (Dallas owner) Donald Carter,” he said, “who are totally committed to the game at a true professional level, I am certain they will find a way to make it go.”
But there is one other possibility.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they just pulled the plug,” said an official from another team who has been around since the MSL’s inaugural 1978-79 season.
Added Newman, “It depends on the attitude of the owners when they (hook up). Are they going to be sick of the whole thing, or are they going to be motivated and committed?
