Category: Major Indoor Soccer League 1978

1986-87 Baltimore Blast Yearbook from the Major Indoor Soccer League

Baltimore Blast (1980-1992)

March 14, 2015

The original Baltimore Blast indoor soccer team (1980-1992) was the Charm City’s most important fall/winter pro sports franchise following the departure of the NFL’s Baltimore Colts in early 1984. Unlike most other Major Indoor Soccer League clubs, the Blast enjoyed Major League treatment from the local media. At their peak during the 1983-84 season, the Blast won their first (and only) MISL title and sold out the 10,000-seat Baltimore Civic Center for 17 of 31 matches. The Blast name was revived by a separate indoor soccer franchise in 1998. The latter-day version of the Blast continues to play today albeit with a distinctly minor league profile.

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New York Cosmos North American Soccer League

New York Cosmos (1971-1985)

November 20, 2014

North American Soccer League (1971-1984) Major Indoor Soccer League (1984-1985) Born: December 10, 1970 – NASL expansion franchise Folded: Summer 1985 First Game: April 17, 1971 (W

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Dallas Sidekicks Major Indoor Soccer League

Dallas Sidekicks (1984-2004)

November 5, 2013

The Sidekicks won championships in the Major Indoor Soccer League (1987), Continental Indoor Soccer League (1993), Premier Soccer Alliance (1998) and World Indoor Soccer League (2001). At the peak of their popularity in the late 1980’s, the Sidekicks attracted nearly 10,000 fans per match to Reunion Arena for a 28-game home calendar. The team’s success and community goodwill was inextricably tied to the talents of resident superstar Tatu, the Brazilian scoring wizard who led the Sidekicks on the field for 19 of their 20 seasons. By the time that the Sidekicks finally closed their doors in 2004, they were the longest continuously operating professional soccer franchise in the United States.

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Helmut Dudek and Stan Stamenkovic in action for the 1982-83 Memphis Americans

Memphis Americans

October 23, 2013

The Memphis Americans soccer team… they arrived from Hell and they left for Sin City, but for a few years in between they were God’s club. In 1981 retired Arizona businessman Ray Kuns and Dave Hannah, the founder of the evangelical Christian sports ministry Athletes In Action teamed up to purchase the bankrupt Hartford Hellions of the Major Indoor Soccer League and move the team to Memphis.  Shocker: the Athletes In Action folks weren’t down with the “Hellions” identity. The team was given a patriotic new identity and color scheme: the Memphis Americans.

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Karl-Heinz Granitza of the Chicago Sting on the cover of a 1984 Sting program

Chicago Sting

July 20, 2013

The Chicago Sting were an accomplished pro soccer club that enjoyed success both outdoors and indoors during a thirteen-year run from 1975 through 1988. The Sting formed as an outdoor club in 1975 in the North American Soccer League. Early seasons saw mediocrity on the pitch and pitiful crowds as the club constantly rotated matches between Comiskey Park, Soldier Field and Wrigley Field. The Sting peaked in the early 1980’s, capturing the NASL’s Soccer Bowl ’81 championship and beginning to play indoor soccer during the winters, where Sting matches were a popular attraction at Chicago Stadium. The NASL folded in 1984 bringing the Sting’s outdoor era to an end, but the team went on to play four more indoor seasons in the Major Indoor Soccer League before disbanding in 1988.

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