The Day Major League Indoor Soccer Died

Imagine a league as Arenas lighting up for lightning fast soccer, packed with thousands in the crowd, launching the career of future American soccer legends, and as the United States is starting to gain foothold in the world of soccer, only to have it all fold in nineteen ninety two when Major Indoor Soccer League closed its doors overnight. Fans left heartbroken, the sports at a crossroad, and America left saying, well, it's just soccer. And that's what happened to Major Indoor Soccer League, which was an indoor soccer powerhouse that vanished overnight and left an impass for soccer that would be filled by Major League Soccer in a growing effort for soccer to become mainstream in America. Day, We're going to dive into this story behind this league that failed but helped push soccer even more in America today on Daily Sports History. Let's go. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reeze, your guy, because my dream job is arguing about players legacy on national TV. So first, let's dive into Major Indoor Soccer League. It was founded in October nineteen seventy seven by businessmen ed Temper and Earl Foreman. Their vision was to bring the excitement of soccer indoors to fill the winter sports calendar, offering a fist paced, high scoring alternative to the outdoor game, which is something that Americans usually didn't like, and so they launched the league with six teams starting in nineteen seventy eight. This included Houston, Philadelphia, New York, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, and the concept actually caught on pretty quick. By the early nineteen eighties, the MISL expanded rapidly. At one point they had fourteen teams in a single season, and over its fourteen years, they saw twenty four different franchise compete under thirty one different names due to relocation and branding, which every league startup does. Some of these notable teams included the Baltimore Blasts, which were formerly the Houston Summit, the only franchise to compete in every single season, the wigital Wings, the longest running team in a single city, which was active for thirteen seasons, the San Diego Shakers, which joined in the nineteen eighties and became the most dominant dynasty for the league, just to name a few teams, and the league was actually a pioneer in game presentation and fan engagement. Matches featured music, light shows, and in game entertainment, setting a template that would influence other sports leagues, including the NBA and NHL. The misl's All Star Game actually would be played at Madison Square Garden, and this even inspired the creation of the Arena Football League. High scoring and electrifying, with average scores being much higher than regular outdoor soccer, and this gave excitement and Steve Zungele, a Yugoslavian American striker, emerged as the league's biggest star. He was a six time MVP, six time scoring champion, four time pass master which means most assists and it was an eight time champion and became the all time leader in goals, assist in points and the New York Eros would end up winning the first four championships, setting an early standard before folding after six seasons, just showing you the volatility of the league where a franchise can be so successful yet can't continue. And it actually gave a bridge from the outdoor game to the indoor game in North America and over their fourteen years they averaged over seven thousand pans per game, with playoff games averaging over nine thousand. In the peak years in the mid nineteen eighties, they would average nine thousand in attendance and draw over twelve thousand for the playoffs. In the misls were a presence in major arenas and on local television. It helped keep soccer in America's consciousness during the downtimes of winter, but there were signs that the league was struggling. By the nineteen eighties, the Major Indoor Soccer League started having financial difficulties. Every league has this at some point in their existence. It's either you get saved by somebody or you cross that threshold to being profitable. Franchises were folding, they were relocating an alarming rates, and by nineteen eighty eight the league lost four long running clubs that were model franchises, including the Saint Louis Steamers and the Cleveland Force, because of issues with TV deals, which has helped all other leagues. TV deals have really helped them become successful, but their stability was in question. It struggled for them to get a good deal and they would end up being on cable networks such as USA in ESPN and never landed that breakthrough contract that really gave them financial security, and they also struggled to get a foothold in key markets such as New York, despite having teams win there constantly, and they actually had four different franchises fail in the New York and New Jersey area in the mid nineteen eighties, and owners would struggle to keep up with the salary cap. In the mid nineteen eighties, the salary cap was just over a million dollars and we were to be reduced by nineteen eighty eight to nine hundred thousand and be lowered again for the season started. It was a struggle to maintain these teams, and by nineteen ninety one ninety two season, the salary cap had been cut all the way down to six hundred thousand. It was less than half of what it was before, which usually the salar cap goes the other way. If you watch any salary cap such as the NFL and NBA, it goes up every year, not down. So that was a bad sign. And it wasn't just that they were also facing competition and players leaving. The National Professional Soccer League started with lower costs and made them a stronger competitor. Because they were financially stable, attracting players away from the MISL weakening their talent pool, and this exodus really made it hard to sustain quality play. So then came the nineteen ninety one ninety two season, which would be the last season they had played. It featured seven Teamsan Diego Shockers, the Dallas Sidekickers, the Cleveland Crunch, Baltimore Blast Which the Tall Wings, Tacoma Stars, and Saint Louis Storm. Despite their dire consequences, they would average this year almost eight thousand people in attendance per game. There was a loyal fan base and they would end up playing forty regular season games where the San Diego Shockers would dominate, finishing first with the twenty six and fourteen record, with the Dallas Sidekickers, Cleveland Crunch, and Baltimore Blasts rounding out the playoff field. San Diego would take on Baltimore in the semi finals and they would play a series rather than just one game, and they would win the series four to one, which each game being decided by just two goals, and Dallas would take on Cleveland in the other matchup going to six games and for of these games going into overtime, but Dallas would ultimately prevail, winning four two, and it set up a championship between San Diego and Dallas in a hard fought series where San Diego would come out winning its fifth consecutive MISL title. But things were starting to fall apart. The Coma Stars announced they were going to fold following the season. The Buffalo expansion team they were going to have decided to join the National Professional Soccer League instead, and they tried to save the Saint Louis Storms but failed and the team folded as well, leaving just five teams, and on July tenth, nineteen ninety two, Commissioner Earl Foreman, who helped start the league, announced they were dismantling the league, but the teams were still going to be around. The San Diego Shockers and Dallas Sidekickers joined the Continental Indoor Soccer League. The Cleveland Crunch and the wichital Wings moved to MPSL and after fourteen seasons no More could not financially put together a viable season. With only five teams in the league now, it left an uncertainty. American indoor soccer is actually very popular now and mini fans and players were crushed by this, but there was always other leagues starting, but then not as high as they did, and the MISL would become a key figure in the rise of Major League Soccer, which was launched four years after they folded, and would become a top tier outdoor professional league and continues to grow every year to this day, including elevating the US men's national team on a world stage. And now they've featured some of the best players to ever play the game when they got David Beckham to come over and play and Lionel Messi joined the league just a few years ago. But does that mean that Indoor Soccer League could not come back. It could, It definitely could. It is a different sport and it combines what people love about soccer and what Americans love about sports, high scoring, and that might be just what we need to get soccer pushed above what is needed. But it's always a challenge. Even the Arena Football League, which was an offshoot of the Indoor Soccer League, folded as well as they struggled for the similar reasons. It's very hard to start a league in this day and age, and in every league that started from the NBA, NFL NHL MLS has had struggles financially. It only takes just a few things to make you go in the right way, or a few things make you go in the wrong way. Sometimes you just don't know where that's gonna be. The question is would you watch a major indoor soccer league. I want to thank you for joining us for today's daily sports history. If you like this, please make sure you like and subscribe wherever you're at. That way you don't miss a single episode as I work hard to bring you all this information as much as I can, and the more our community grows, the more I can give you. And I'll see you on the next one.