I really thought more soccer fans would be upset that the Blast were gone. There's been no activity on this forum for some time now. I stand corected. I guess nobody does care. At least only 3 or 4 of us care. I have spent years defending Indianapolis as a sports town blaming underfunded and idiot owners,but I'm beginning to rethink that position. Maybe this really is just a piss poor sports town.

"a piss poor sports town"??!!

you're joking, right.

indy has three flourishing pro teams (colts, pacer, indians), hosted the women's final four this year, will host the men's final four next year, is the home of the NCAA, hosted the world swimming championship this month, has the largest single day sporting event in the world (indy 500), hosts annual nascar race, hosts annual F1 race, has two division one universities (butler, iupui), and so on...

now, i totally agree about the blast. i am very sorry to see them go. they received almost zero local coverage on tv and in the paper, but still got over 2,000/ game. but despite decent crowds, the morris' were losing tons of cash. they barely were able to cover the final paychecks of the 2003 season.

with all of the great support, youth soccer has in this town, we need to get a group together to bring back pro soccer to indy.

Yes I,m kidding. However, see the Indpls Ice, Indiana Firebirds and the Blast for further reference. Of coarse the final four, the 500, and these other one time events do great. They happen once a year and spend the rest of the year promoting them. As for the Pacers and Colts (BTW that stadium isn,t a done deal yet)any team will do well when every media outlet in the state is falling allover themselves to give them free publicity. You'd think they were the only thing that existed here. As for the Indians they are a great example of how to properly run a pro sports franchise. They work at it do it right and ,imagine that, they are successful.No I really don't think Indy is a bad sports town. There isn't a sports team in this city that I don't follow and love.I believe the fans have more than done their part.(Ice 5000 per game,Firebirds 11,000 pg,and the Blast 2500 pg). I think, like me, a lot of the fans who support the minor teams in Indy they are just feed up and frustrated.It seems to not matter if we support these teams or not because other factors always seem to cause us to loose them while other cities get chance after chance to loose team after team.There always seems to be someone in these cities to step up and try it again no matter how poorly they were supported. Where the hell are those people in Indianapolis were we actually have a track record of showing up and supporting something. But my post did serve one purpose. After a month it finally raised someones blood preasure enough to get a reply. If we could get the attention of a few more folks out there maybe we could get pro soccer back here soon, not to mention Arena Football. To work it is going to take a combination of solid ownership,solid media coverage, and corporated backing.All of which are going to be hard to find here.The fans have proven they will show up, however until these other things are in place it's going to be an up hill battle. We are on the same team here gm. Now how do we get this thing done? How do we light this board up with Blast fans who want soccer back?

i think a new pro soccer team in indy would need a big group of investors willing to commit to the 'long haul' of owning a soccer team in USA.

if you look at the large clubs (pride, dynamo, etc.), the Soccer Unlimited folks, the bigshots at the IYSA, and anyone else willing to invest in pro soccer, i think you could find the right ownership group.

but, as you said, w/out corporate sponsors (which help out BIG TIME w/ $), and a commitment from the Indy Star to cover soccer it wouldn't work.

I've noticed that the new espn radio in indy (950 am) has great coverage of the smaller teams- indians, ice, iupui sports.

when i'm driving home from work they are often interviewing ice players about recent or upcoming games.

if they are willing to commit airtime to interviewing 19 year old amateur hockey players, i'm sure they'd be interested in broadcasting/covering the blast.

I believe you are right gm. ESPN 950 does a great job of covering local sports. I have spoken to their sports programing director, Greg Rakestraw, several times and he is very supportive of local sports at all levels. I got Greg and Jason Burkman from the Ice together early on when the CHL Ice team's former radio station was sold and they were droping their sports coverage.they quickly put together a package to carry the USHL Ice.They also were the radio home for the Firebirds,IUPUI and even the simipro Indiana Tornados football team based in Carmel. I had spoken to Greg about the posibility of working out something to carry some of the Blast games but the new group pulled the plug on the team before anything could be worked out. ESPN 950 is a great station and does a lot localy for our minor teams. They are to be comended and are worthy of our support. They get it. They realize they are a local station and they are first and formost supportive of local teams and schools. It's to bad none of the other outlets in town are taking notes. As for the corporate end of the equasion, we know the money is in this town it's just a matter of getting some of the tightwads that have it to invet it. There's plenty of money in Indy just not a lot of guts, brains, or commitment. While I don't support every thing the Morris' did in running the Blast I do applaud their commitment to trying to make it work.I blame people in this town with money falling out of their a$$ who stood by and let not just the Blast, but the Firebirds and Ice as well die when not just the potential but the support track record is there for any idiot to see.

maybe the promise of good soccer coverage on espn 950 could help bring soccer back to our city.

either way, i'm glad that 950 has dedicated so much programming to supporting sports on the smaller levels in indianapolis

Well gm, it looks like me and you are the only ones who care. Were are all the soccer fans in Indy who should be upset that we no longer have a team?

I would like to see the Blast come back too. But if the interest is not here on the board, one of you could take a survey and find out locally. Just an idea.

www.goldentrianglesoccer.com
(Covering the hounds F.C. and Sparks)