Attendance in the Major Arena Soccer League continues to drop, and with the conclusion of the 2018-2019 regular season comes the inevitable question: how many teams will the MASL lose this offseason?

By finishing with an announced average league attendance of 2,307 (three data points are missing, but they likely wouldn’t have pushed the final average up), the MASL had the lowest average crowds for an indoor soccer league of consequence since the American Indoor Soccer Association (AISA) in 1985-1986. And that average is about half what indoor was drawing 15 years ago.

It’s entirely possible that a handful (or a big handful) of MASL clubs will go under this offseason. Such is the way of indoor soccer. But first, the numbers and then, after the jump, some notes and prognostication about the state of the league.



Team G Total Average Median High Low Change San Diego Sockers 12 50,177 4,181 3,611 8,492 2,079 +27.3% Milwaukee Wave 12 48,276 4,023 3,856 6,239 2,308 -1.9% Utica City FC 12 40,971 3,414 3,542 3,856 2,367 #+42.4% Baltimore Blast 12 39,799 3,317 3,404 3,811 2,672 -5.0% Tacoma Stars 12 32,058 2,672 2,359 4,179 2,114 +1.4% Dallas Sidekicks 12 31,380 2,615 2,258 4,515 1,462 N/A Monterrey Flash *11 28,651 2,605 2,328 6,042 1,321 -13.4% St. Louis Ambush 12 30,639 2,553 2,309 4,750 1,427 -2.0% Florida Tropics 12 29,386 2,449 2,193 4,031 1,218 +0.7% Ontario Fury 12 28,303 2,359 1,944 4,944 1,305 -0.8% Harrisburg Heat 12 26,331 2,194 2,443 3,027 1,004 +50.4% Kansas City Comets 12 23,850 1,988 1,762 4,482 728 -45.5% Orlando Seawolves *11 13,528 1,230 1,150 2,478 829 &-19.0% Mississauga MetroStars 12 13,183 1,099 905 2,714 575 N/A Rio Grande Valley Barracudas 12 11,613 968 983 1,350 606 -28.9% El Paso Coyotes *11 9,844 895 932 1,386 215 -56.7% Turlock Express 12 5,623 469 459 622 334 +9.5% MASL TOTAL 201 463,612 2,307 2,197 8,492 215 -9.2% *Missing one game.

#Compared to Syracuse 2018-2019.

&Compared to Cedar Rapids 2018-2019.

NOTES

The drop (the MASL’s second straight year of shedding fans, on average) from an announced average of 2,539 league-wide a year ago to 2,307 this year follows the ten percent drop from the 2016-17 to the 2017-18 seasons. That’s troubling. Since 2017, the league has lost well-drawing teams in Rochester and Sonora, seen Baltimore move to a much smaller arena, had a formerly well-supported team in Kansas City suffer from ownership upheavals, swapped Cedar Rapids for Orlando (disaster) and had El Paso fall right off the table. And when you add a disastrous expansion club in suburban Toronto, well, you can do the math.

On the bright side, Syracuse’s move to Utica has paid off. City FC averaged 3,414 (up 42 percent from last year in Syracuse) in a small building that might be a harbinger of the sport’s future. Harrisburg was also up 50 percent (though only to 2,194) and San Diego was up 27 percent. But El Paso (off 57 percent), Kansas City (down 46 percent) and Rio Grande Valley (down 29 percent) all saw significant drops. Orlando’s was likely even more than the announced 19 percent drop, because they, quite frankly, weren’t drawing anybody.

Thanks to a late surge fueled by the signing of former US National Team star Landon Donovan , the San Diego Sockers led the league in average announced attendance for the first time . San Diego went from averaging an announced 2,640 for the six home matches prior to Donovan’s debut to 5,723 from the time he first took the field to the end of the season.

, the San Diego Sockers led the league in average announced attendance for the first time . San Diego went from averaging an announced 2,640 for the six home matches prior to Donovan’s debut to 5,723 from the time he first took the field to the end of the season. For the first time in this league’s short history, we did not see the New Year’s effect that we usually do. As a general rule, indoor soccer attendance is higher after the New Year than before it, but largely because December has been such a terrible month to try and sell this sport that it makes what follows it look much better. Announced average attendance this season – which started much later than normal – was 2,477 up to New Year’s Eve and 2,260 after it. A decent late-season surge (March and April games drew an average of 2,512) couldn’t offset January and February, which were terrible (2,092 and 2,011, respectively).

Even Saturdays, the saving grace for most minor-league sports, were no solace, averaging just 2,644 for 65 outings. (The MASL actually played more games on Sunday – 73 – than on Saturday, which is odd.)

MASL Commissioner Josh Schaub is still on his “arena soccer outdrew the NBA back in the day” kick, which I’ve thoroughly debunked before. His latest trot-out of this untruth came on Keith Tozer ‘s World of Futsal podcast, at the 5:48 mark of this episode, where he said, “This sport was huge in the 80s, as you are obviously familiar with, as large as the NBA was, in fact I think outdrew the NBA for four straight seasons.” To which Tozer (who I respect immensely), replied, “It was bigger than the NBA at the time,” which is not even remotely true , and followed that up with “and then a couple guys came involved with the NBA: David Stern became the commissioner, Larry Bird went to Boston, Magic (Johnson) went to LA….next thing you know, that thing really took off.” Okay, let’s unpack that one for a second: while it’s true David Stern became the NBA’s commissioner in 1984 (the year Michael Jordan joined the league, which had a bit of an impact), Larry Bird and Magic Johnson turned pro in 1979, when the original MISL was starting its second season . Those guys obviously were huge in the explosion of interest in the NBA, but it’s not like indoor was going great until Bird and Magic showed up. Please. Indoor was a fad in the 80s. It would settle for being a fad now for a year.

is still on his “arena soccer outdrew the NBA back in the day” kick, which I’ve thoroughly debunked before. His latest trot-out of this untruth came on ‘s World of Futsal podcast, at the 5:48 mark of this episode, where he said, “This sport was huge in the 80s, as you are obviously familiar with, as large as the NBA was, in fact I think outdrew the NBA for four straight seasons.” To which Tozer (who I respect immensely), replied, “It was bigger than the NBA at the time,” which is not even remotely true , and followed that up with “and then a couple guys came involved with the NBA: became the commissioner, went to Boston, went to LA….next thing you know, that thing really took off.” Now the question becomes (as it does every offseason), “How many clubs are going to disappear between now and December?” While it would not be surprising to see all of these subsistence-farming clubs decide to subsistence-farm for another year, I would also not be surprised to see Mississauga, Orlando, Turlock, El Paso, Rio Grande Valley and even (possibly) St. Louis give up the ghost. The Metrostars and Coyotes are in what Mr. Tony likes to call a “gots to go situation,” though.

likes to call a “gots to go situation,” though. Before any announcements of clubs that aren’t returning, the MASL made one Tuesday about an expansion team for 2019-2020. The Mesquite (Tex.) Outlaws will play in a 5,500 seat rodeo arena just east of Dallas and about 30 miles southeast of where the Dallas Sidekicks play in Allen. (And – conspiracy theory alert here – maybe another club in Texas was a way to keep El Paso and RGV from folding.) Who knows if any other teams will be thrown together to start play seven months from now, but, given recent history, I would not be optimistic about their success.

The playoffs begin this week, and this might be the year someone knocks off Baltimore. The Blast were still very good (though their 17-7 mark was neither the best in the league nor one of their best in recent years), but they won’t have home field if the bracket goes chalk. A new champion would be well-received in many quarters, though whoever wins will start the clock ticking on the offseason uncertainty that will only be resolved over a long summer.