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After 25 seasons in business, the Wave's future is in jeopardy. |
| By Drew Olson Senior Editor E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Drew Olson |
| Published July 1, 2009 at 9:55 a.m. |
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After 25 years in business and a handful of championships, the Wave's future -- and the future of indoor soccer in Milwaukee -- is in doubt. Fox 6 reported last night that the Xtreme Soccer League is folding, leaving the team without a league.
Word has it that longtime owner Charles Krause is going to end his financial support, too. Given the state of the economy, the prospects for the team to find new ownership -- and a new league affiliation -- in time for a 26th season seem rather bleak.
The Xtreme Soccer League came into being after the dissolution of the Major Indoor Soccer League.
The Wave joined the Detroit Ignition, the Chicago Storm and the New Jersey Ironmen in a centrally-owned, four-team league that hoped to focus on indoor soccer as well as futsal, street soccer and beach soccer.
While the team searches for new investors, the popular summer camp program will continue.
As a sports consumer, I hope that the Wave can find a way to continue operations, if only because my 8-year-old really liked going to the games.
Outside of a few hardcore fans, nobody really seemed to care what league the Wave was affiliated with or which team it was playing. People went to watch indoor soccer in a family-friendly atmosphere. You would think there has to be a market for that, even in tough economic times.
I always thought that as long as the tickets are reasonably priced and the game production is entertaining, people would probably go watch the Wave scrimmage it's developmental unit, the Armada, and come away feeling entertained.
The question is whether that would be financially viable.
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2 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review. |
Posted by kittallmadge on July 3, 2009 at 10:21 a.m. (report)
No player who is any good will have indoor as his first option. The presence of MLS makes indoor unviable. On balance this is a good thing for soccer.
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Posted by DMcH on July 1, 2009 at 12:46 p.m. (report)
Throw the towel in on indoor soccer. It has been slowly dying for years since the MLS came into existence and the USL also became strong both attracting the best players. The Wave should make the move to outdoor, playing in USL-1... the same division that saw our Rampage win 2 championships.
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