The Major Arena Soccer League is a North Americanindoor soccer league representing the highest level of professional arena soccer in the world. The MASL features teams across North America, with teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico.
History
The league was organized as the Professional Arena Soccer League on May 18, 2008, as an offshoot of the Premier Arena Soccer League, the largest amateur league in the United States. The league was originally nicknamed "PASL-Pro" to distinguish it from PASL-Premier. In 2011, it was announced the professional league would officially be referred to as simply PASL, while the amateur league would still be referred to as the PASL-Premier. The first league game was played on October 25, 2008, in front of a crowd of 3,239 at Stockton Arena, with the California Cougars defeating the Colorado Lightning 10–5. On March 17, 2014, one day after the 2013–2014 Major Indoor Soccer League Championship finale, United Soccer Leagues President Tim Holt announced "a number" of teams would not be returning to MISL the following year. In April 2014 it was officially announced that six teams joined PASL for the 2014–2015 season. The league announced a change in its name from the Professional Arena Soccer League to the Major Arena Soccer League on May 18, 2014. This represents a merging of the MISL and PASL names. MASL fielded 23 teams for the 2014–15 season.
Split and re-merger into the MASL
In February 2016, the current owner of the Baltimore Blast, Ed Hale, announced his intentions to leave the MASL and form a new league, the Indoor Professional League. Hale was later announced as the chairman of the league, and Sam Fantauzzo, former owner of the Rochester Lancers, was announced as the first commissioner of the league. The St. Louis Ambush, Baltimore Blast, and Harrisburg Heat announced plans to join, along with the expansion Florida Tropics SC. In July 2016, the MASL was reformed as a new not for profit entity 5016, a new entity separate from the previous MASL, LLC. In August 2016, the new MASL announced that the Blast, Heat, and Ambush would return to the MASL while the Tropics would join the MASL as an expansion team. This effectively ended the IPL split with the MASL. In a repeat of the 2015-16 Newman Cup the Baltimore Blast would go on to once again defeat Sonora Suns 2-1.
In the 2018-2019 season, the MASL saw an influx of players to the arena game with past MLS experience, headlined by the additions of Landon Donovan to the San Diego Sockers, Jermaine Jones to the Ontario Fury, and Dwayne De Rosario with the Mississauga MetroStars.
End of the 2019-2020 Season
Like many sports leagues, the MASL ended its regular 2019-2020 season early because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In May, the league announced that it was looking at conducting its playoffs in a centralized location.
Teams
;Notes: 1 – Dallas suspended operations following the 2016–17 season; they rejoined the league for the 2018–19 season. 2 – Monterrey suspended operations following the 2014–15 season; they rejoined the league for the 2017–18 season. 3 - Tacoma moved down to the PASL-Premier for the 2013–13 season, played in the WISL in the 2014-15 season and then rejoined the MASL near the end of the 2014–15 season replacing the Seattle Impact. 4 - Sonora suspended operations following the 2017-18 season; they rejoined the league for the 2019–20 season. 5 - Rochester joined in 2014 and then suspended operations in 2015; in 2018, the Lancers re-joined in the MASL2, and rejoined the MASL for the 2019–20 season.
* Does not include 28 games where attendance was not reported. The PASL 2008–09 regular season consisted of 86 games total. ** Does not include 8 games where attendance was not reported. The PASL 2009–10 regular season consisted of 95 games total. *** Does not include 10 games where attendance was not reported. The PASL 2010–11 regular season consisted of 94 games total.
Sponsorship
The official game ball was made by Puma SE through the 2016-17 season. Starting in the 2017-18 season, Mitre became the official ball sponsor of both the MASL and M2.
Broadcast rights
Select 2018-2019 MASL matches were broadcast on Eleven Sports Network in the United States. Some matches are also broadcast regionally throughout the United States. All matches since 2016-2017 season are archived on , the MASL's YouTube Channel
Staff
Commissioner
Joshua Schaub
Office of the Commissioner
Ryan Cigich - Head of MASL Officials Alan Balthrop - League Statistician Jon Ramin – Vice-President of Operations
Jeff Husted – Digital Content, Media/Public Relations Jeff Menard - Director of Corporate Partnerships Jesse Meehan - Operations Manager
Executive Committee
Lane Smith – President Bernie Lilavois – Vice-President Shelly Clark – Secretary Phil Salvagio – Treasurer Mike Zimmerman – Member-at-Large
