Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2008)
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The Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) was the top professional indoor soccer league in the United States. The league was a member of the United States Soccer Federation. The MISL had replaced the NPSL which folded in 2001. According to MISL.net, the league ceased operations as of May 31, 2008. "We are considering structural changes that will bring us greater efficiencies, while also allowing long term growth and expansion of the League", said John Hantz, former Chairman of the MISL, and Owner/Operator of the Detroit Ignition.http://www.misl.net/news/index.php?cat=3&id=5375 All the teams from MISL went to the new indoor leagues: NISL, MASL and the XSL. The NISL and XSL used the same playing rules as the MISL.


History

In the summer of 2001, the National Professional Soccer League disbanded. The six surviving teams organized the MISL as a single-entity structure similar to
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
. In 2002, the MISL absorbed two teams from the World Indoor Soccer League: the Dallas Sidekicks and San Diego Sockers. The St. Louis Steamers, another former WISL team, joined the league the following year. On May 27, 2008, Commissioner Steve Ryan stepped down as the commissioner of the MISL, and then on June 2, 2008, the Management Committee of the MISL announced they had ceased operations effective May 31, 2008 to reform the league. Following the league's dissolution, all MISL's teams from its final season joined either the National Indoor Soccer League, Professional Arena Soccer League, or the Xtreme Soccer League.


Organization

The MISL was organized in a single table playing a 30-game schedule. Traditionally, the season began in October and ended in March. The league also conducted an
All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or division, bu ...
at midseason. It pitted Eastern teams against Western teams and USA All-Stars against World All-Stars as well as the MISL All-Stars against a Mexican team. No All-Star Game was played in the 2004–2005 and 2006–2007 seasons. The All-Star game scheduled for the 2007–08 season in Stockton, California was also canceled. The top six teams qualified for the playoffs, which began in April. In the first round, the sixth place team played the third place team while the fourth and fifth place teams also played either other. The top two teams received a bye in the first round. The survivors of the first round played the top two seeds in the semifinals with the first place team playing the lowest surviving seed from the first round and the second place team playing the highest surviving seed. The two semi-final winners met in the MISL Championship Final. The first two rounds were a two-game series with a golden goal tie breaker. The Championship Final was a single game at a predetermined neutral site.


Television

The MISL had a relative lack of television coverage for being a national professional sports league. In February 2007, the league and Versus announced a partnership to deliver a nationally televised game of the week starting in March 2007. For the 2006–2007 season, Versus broadcast two regular season games, a MISL Championship Series Semifinal game on April 14, and the MISL Championship Series Final. Additionally, the MISL produced its first-ever live magazine show to preview the 2007 MISL Championship Series. Before the 2006–2007 season, national television coverage was limited to the MISL Championships in 2005 and 2006, which were shown on ESPN2. For the 2007–08, the MISL signed an agreement with Fox Soccer Channel to televise 20 games that season. In addition to national television, certain games were shown in local markets over local cable networks like CN8.


MISL teams


MISL Championship


Championship series


Championship formats


MISL Championships Won


MISL All-Star Game


Rules

The MISL game was the standard North American version of indoor soccer. It was different from the
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
-sanctioned futsal. Each MISL game consisted of four 15-minute quarters. There were breaks between the first two and the last two quarters. There was also a 15-minute halftime. Ties resulted in consecutive 15-minute sudden death overtimes. An MISL field was roughly the size of an
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...
rink, measuring 200 feet by 80 feet. Goals measured 14 feet by 8 feet and are set into the boards. Players were allowed to bounce the ball off the dasher boards. Play stopped if the ball leaves the field of play. During an MISL game, each team was allowed to have 6 players on the field at a time. One player was the goalkeeper who handled the ball while in the penalty arc. The other players were generally divided as two defenders, one
midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...
, and two forwards. Substitution was unlimited and may happen "on the fly" during play. Fouls and misconducts were generally the same as outdoor soccer with a few changes. First, all kicks were direct, with no whistle to restart play, which usually resulted in a "quick start". Also, the MISL utilized blue cards in addition to the traditional yellow and red cards of outdoor soccer. Blue cards were for fouls that earn possible two-minute power plays. Yellow cards were given for dissent, resulting in a 5-minute penalty but the offending team did not play short. All red cards in the MISL resulted in a two-minute power play. Red cards were awarded for violent conduct or accumulation of cards (3 blues or 2 yellows). Originally, the MISL had a multiple point scoring system where goals were worth 1, 2, or 3 points depending upon the distance that they were scored or game situation. The former WISL teams objected to this. After the 2003 Championship, the league began using a traditional one-point-per-goal rule because of a controversial goal scored during the deciding game. However, the league went back to multipoint scoring in 2006 with 2- and 3-point goals.


Average attendance


See also

* List of professional sports teams in the United States and Canada * Sports league attendances * Record attendances in United States club soccer


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Major Indoor Soccer League (2001-08) Defunct association football leagues in Mexico Defunct indoor soccer leagues in the United States Organizations disestablished in 2008 Sports leagues established in 2001 2001 establishments in the United States de:Major Indoor Soccer League