MetroStars are making their pitch
Mississauga team enlists De Rosario to sell fans on indoor competition The Mississauga MetroStars lured Dwayne De Rosario out of retirement.
The Mississauga MetroStars hope to do what the Toronto Shooting Stars and Toronto ThunderHawks couldn’t do — establish a foothold for pro indoor soccer in the Toronto area.
The MetroStars, who open training camp Tuesday and kick off life in the Major Arena Soccer League on Dec. 1, have lured former MLS star Dwayne De Rosario out of retirement to help make their case. Veteran defender Adrian Cann, another Toronto FC alumnus, is also on board.
“Totally excited,” said the 38year-old Cann, whose international soccer resume includes indoor and beach soccer play as well as Canada’s senior side.
“It’s hard for me to step away from a game that’s been me pretty much my whole life,” he added. “I admire everything that soccer has to offer, not only on the field but off the field. ... I still want to compete at the highest level possible.”
Other TFC products on the MetroStars roster include Mo Babouli and Anthony Osorio, younger brother of TFC midfield star Jonathan Osorio.
“I think we’re going to be quite an impressive side,” said MetroStars president Serge Giancola, founder of Gladiator Sports Media Entertainment Corp., which owns the franchise. “We’ve got some terrific skill, speed, height.”
Gladiator Sports tested the Mississauga market with a series of international games against Brazil, Mexico and the U.S., using many of the players now on the MetroStars roster. The company says it averaged 4,000 fans a game.
MetroStars coach Phil Ionadi doubles as the Canadian team general manager. The 40-yearold De Rosario led the way on the pitch for Canada in the test games, scoring four goals including the overtime winner in a10-9 victory over Brazil.
Unlike outdoor soccer, whose chain of command here involves the Canadian Soccer Association and FIFA, the indoor game is governed by the Cana- dian Arena Soccer Association (CASA), which reports to the World Minifootball Federation (WMF).
De Rosario is on the CASA pro development board. FIFA and Canada Soccer sanction their own code of indoor soccer known as futsal, which has its own national and international competitions.
Futsal involves teams of five players competing in two 20minute periods. Indoor soccer has teams of six players and four 15-minute quarters.
Indoor soccer has long been an alphabet soup of leagues with the NPSL and MISL — which had several incarnations — the most prominent circuits in the past.
The MASL will operate with17 teams this season, with Mexico represented by the Monterrey Flash. Mississauga will play out of the Eastern Division, alongside the defending champion Baltimore Blast.
Jerry Spanos, president of Gladiator Sports, points to the new ownership in the league like Game Theory Ventures. Led by 20-something sports economist Colin Weaver, Game Theory bought the Kansas City Comets earlier this year.
There’s no salary cap. Spanos says the MetroStars team payroll will be about $500,000.
The MetroStars owners have a six-year window to develop other markets north of the border for the league.
The MetroStars will play a 24game regular season with the home half at Mississauga’s Paramount Fine Foods Centre. Mississauga opens its season Dec. 1 at Baltimore with the home opener Dec. 8 against the Florida Tropics.