Syracuse, N.Y. — Organizers of a new professional indoor soccer league will gather in Baltimore later this month to finalize details of a new league that will include the Syracuse Silver Knights.
Syracuse coach Tommy Tanner confirmed that his three-year-old team has sent in the necessary paperwork to be one of the 20-26 entries in the league, whose name has not yet been announced.
The owners meeting will be the weekend of May 17-18, with a press conference announcing details tentatively scheduled for May 19.
The new league will be a combination of a handful of teams that bolted the Major Indoor Soccer League – such as Syracuse – and teams formerly in the Professional Arena Soccer League. The former MISL teams were unhappy with the league’s growth.
“It could possibly be the biggest soccer league in the country,” Tanner said. “I think it’s a good model. I’m happy we have a league. I’m happy we’re coming back for year four.”
Tanner said he thinks Syracuse will be in a division that also includes Rochester, Baltimore, Harrisburg and Providence.
The regular season will consist of 20 games. Tanner said the Silver Knights’ most frequent out-of-division foes could be against a midwest division that includes Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and Milwaukee.
The season will likely start in late October, a little earlier than the MISL’s schedule dictated.
Tanner said he expected the caliber of play in the new league to be comparable to that of the MISL, but he also predicted the former MISL should be among the strongest entries in that field.
“I think there’ll be some teams that struggle in the new league, but I don’t think they will be any of the former MISL teams,” he said.
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