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The Major Indoor Soccer League, known in its final two seasons as the Major Soccer League, was an indoor soccer league in the USA from fall 1978 to spring 1992. After the folding of the North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1984, the MISL was the Division I soccer league for the United States.
The MISL was one of the few "non-major" (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) leagues to actually have a video game of its sport created. MISL Soccer came out in 1988 for the Commodore 64.
The MISL was founded by businessmen Ed Tepper and Earl Foreman in October of 1977.
The league fielded six teams for its inaugural 1978–79 season. Before folding after 14 seasons of competition, at the conclusion of the 1991–92 season, a total of 24 franchises – under 31 team names (seven teams would change city/name) – had played in the MISL.
Over its life, MISL teams would be based in 27 different cities – with two different teams, at different times, playing in Cleveland, East Rutherford, New Jersey, St. Louis and Uniondale, New York.
The Houston Summit (1978-80)/Baltimore Blast (1980–92) franchise was the only one to compete for the entire 14 seasons of the MISL's existence. The next longest-lived franchise, and the longest in a single city, were the 13 seasons of the Wichita Wings team, which missed only the inaugural 1978–79 season. The third longest-lived franchise was the 12 seasons of the Detroit Lightning (1979-80)/San Francisco Fog (1980-81)/Kansas City Comets (1981-91) franchise, which missed the first and last seasons.
The San Diego Sockers was the most successful franchise on the soccer pitch, winning 8 of the MISL's 14 championships (57%) – which also equates to 8 championships during the team's 9 seasons in the league (89%). The New York Arrows won the MISL's first 4 championships, then folded after the league's sixth season.
The most successful player in the MISL is arguably Steve Zungul, a Yugoslav American striker who was MISL Most Valuable Player 6 times, was the Scoring Champion 6 times, the Pass Master (most assists) 4 times, played on 8 championship-winning teams (and one runner-up), and won Championship Series Most Valuable Player 4 times. Zungul is the MISL's all-time leader in goals (652, nearly 200 ahead of the second highest scorer), assists (471, nearly 100 ahead of second) and points (1,123, nearly 300 ahead of second).
Despite ongoing financial hardships, the MISL was a huge success. [1] The league averaged 7,644 fans per game over its 14 regular seasons, and averaged 9,049 fans per game over its 14 playoff runs.
After the MISL folded in 1992, four of the league's seven franchises would continue operation: Cleveland Crunch and Wichita Wings joined the National Professional Soccer League; Dallas Sidekicks and San Diego Sockers helped found the Continental Indoor Soccer League.
The concept was so popular that in 1981, it helped pave the way for the creation of another indoor sports league, the Arena Football League. During the MISL All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden, National Football League promotions director Jim Foster sketched a design of what a football field would look like on the back of a 9x12 manila envelope. [2] That inspiration gave birth to the concept now known as arena football (also indoor football) and the AFL was born six years later. Foster credits the MISL for the inspiration. [3] [4] [5]
(9,500 minutes minimum)
*Single-game championship, game score rather than series results.
The Pass Master award was given out to the player with the most assists during the regular season.
This award was given to 'the most outstanding player in his first year of competition in the Major Indoor Soccer League'[6] in order to differentiate it from the Rookie Of The Year award.
This award was given to the player 'in the Championship Series whose impact to his team's success was measured by hustle, determination and leadership.'[7]
*Three North American Soccer League (NASL) teams temporarily joined the MISL for the 1982-83 season, as the NASL did not play indoors for that season.
The "Denver Avalanche" had declared bankruptcy and ceased operations after the 1981-82 season, but the franchise still existed and was transferred to Tacoma after a dormant season.
In June 1987, the MISL granted a conditional franchise to NBA Denver Nuggets owner Sidney Shlenker, to commence play in the 1988-89 season.[8] When the tentative "Denver Desperados" attracted deposits on 400 season tickets, rather than the required 5,000 within four months, the franchise was revoked in November 1987.[9]
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