:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/31558867/dsc00906-x3.0.jpg)
When the MISL started to unravel just as the Missouri Comets were celebrating their first MISL Championship, fans were left to wonder what would happen. Saturday the first part of the answer was announced.
The Missouri Comets, Baltimore Blast and San Diego Sockers have agreed with the PASL to create a new league. The three teams and the PASL will each own a fourth of the new league.
The new league's owners will have league meetings in Baltimore May 17th and 18th and expect to announce teams and basic league structure on May 19th.
The PASL Pro started in 2008 and has been steadily growing and has 20 teams currently across the U.S. and in Mexico. While often considered a lower level of indoor soccer, several of the PASL teams have the players to compete with the former MISL teams. The San Diego Sockers and Dallas Sidekicks of the PASL are the modern versions of historic indoor teams.
It is expected that MISL teams Milwaukee, St. Louis, Rochester and Syracuse will join their former league members from Baltimore and Kansas City in the new league.
The MISL was managed by the USL in what started out with high hopes that the USL would be able to leverage their outdoor leagues to bring new teams and players into the league. While some USL players did cross over it was never in the numbers hoped for and outdoor teams did not create indoor franchises either. The MISL plateaued at seven teams, just enough to keep the league operating agreements in place.
The animosity between the MISL owners and the league grew to the point that the USL basically canceled the next season before the previous season champions had time to fly home.