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Future of Milwaukee Wave in doubt

owbc

By owbc,
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owbc Carolina Mudcats

owbc

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From the JS:


The Milwaukee Wave, the longest running professional soccer franchise in the country, could be shutting its doors for good.

The four-team Xtreme Soccer League, which the Wave joined in September, is expected to disband, with a formal announcement scheduled Friday.

Sources said the Wave is seeking new ownership to remain in business. Owner Charlie Krause has owned the franchise for the past five years, and before that, his son, Tim Krause, operated the team for two seasons.

The four-time indoor champion Wave got its start in Milwaukee during the 1984-'85 season, and veteran coach Keith Tozer has directed the team since the 1992-'93 season.

In September, after the Major Indoor Soccer League folded, the Wave joined the Xtreme Soccer League along with the Chicago Storm, Detroit Ignition and New Jersey Ironmen.

"It would be a shame to lose a 25-year Milwaukee institution that has done so much for the community, camps and the development of coaches within the community," a soccer source said.

If new ownership can be found for the Wave, it would have a chance to find a home in the National Indoor Soccer League, according to NISL Commissioner David Grimaldi.

"My position has always been a public one," Grimaldi said in a phone interview Wednesday. "Both leagues should have been working together from the get-go.

"Milwaukee, the Wave and Keith Tozer always have done a marvelous job. I would absolutely welcome Milwaukee into the NISL."

The National Indoor Soccer League has five teams: the Baltimore Blast, La Raza de Monterrey, Massachusetts Twisters, Philadelphia Kixx and Rockford Rampage. Baltimore won the initial league title this spring.

"I always wanted to avoid the disruption we're seeing now," Grimaldi said. "Maybe what's happening now will enable us to move forward in a positive direction. I'm hopeful we can make things work."

New ownership must be found quickly, within the next few weeks or at the outside within the next month for the franchise to continue operating, the Journal Sentinel has learned.

The Wave has played at the U.S. Cellular Arena since the 2003-'04 season, after previously playing at the Bradley Center.

Milwaukee has boasted a talented cast of players over the years, including goalkeeper Victor Nogueira and forward Michael King, the franchise's all-time leading scorer.

The Wave won its first championship in 1998, defeating St. Louis in the finals when Nogueira was named the regular-season and playoff most valuable player.

Milwaukee won the National Professional Soccer League title again in 2000, beating Cleveland, 3-2, in a thrilling best-of-five final series. The decisive game was watched by a crowd of 15,469 at the Bradley Center.

The Wave repeated as champion in 2001, sweeping Philadelphia in the final, 3-0. Milwaukee finished as league runner-up for the next three seasons before winning its initial MISL title in 2005, when it beat Cleveland in the final.

"Milwaukee has a long and storied history, and there's a tremendous value to that," Grimaldi said. "Keith was instrumental to most of those years.

"My hopes are we can keep Milwaukee as a unit together."

Grimaldi said he would consider bringing all four Xtreme Soccer League teams into the NISL, if an agreement could be worked out, and creating a pair of conferences. The potential exists for a Midwest conference featuring Milwaukee, Chicago, Rockford and Detroit.

The Wave continues to operate its youth soccer camps, and the team still has an exhibition game scheduled against the Ultimate Soccer League all-stars at 1:30 p.m. July 8 at the Arena.




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patrickgpe Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

patrickgpe

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the bigger problem is that this market is saturated with sports teams. we now have 2 minor league arena football teams that are fighting for fans with the brewers. During the winter months, the admirals, marquette, bucks, uwm, and wave are all competing for the same fans. Also alot of fans in the city support the packers and wisconsin athletics. Its tough for a market of this size to support so many sports teams.
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Diskono Draft Eligible

Diskono

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Could be. There are a lot of teams in Europe and South America with the word "Racing" in their name. I don't know what the significance is, but its not at all related to auto racing. My guess is that its a Spanish equivalent of "Rovers" or "Wanderers".
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Jimbo First Round Pick

Jimbo

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Well, this sucks. But it's not as if nobody didn't see this coming. For the last six or eight years those of us who follow the sport ask each other "is this it?".

 

I attended about a half-dozen games a season. It got me downtown and spent money. With nothing else to follow, I'll just go to Madison and attend more Badger events. Albeit small, just one fewer reason to stick around Milwaukee.

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Mike2k33 College Ball

Mike2k33

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I don't want to see the Wave fold, but I would much rather have an outdoor team(USL) with a respectable pitch than an indoor soccer team, especially an indoor team that's in a league with a whole three other teams.
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Diskono

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I don't want to see the Wave fold, but I would much rather have an outdoor team(USL) with a respectable pitch than an indoor soccer team, especially an indoor team that's in a league with a whole three other teams.

I'm all for this. I never got a chance to go to any Rampage games, but USL games that I see on TV always look like a lot of fun. Maybe the Wave can go back to outdoor and rejoin the league?

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Nottso Draft Eligible

Nottso

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I just can't get into Soccer. I know it's the most popular sport in the world, and many younger people enjoy it, but I just can't. And I tried, really i tried. When there was all the hoopla about the World Cup a few years ago, I made an honest effort to get into it. It went something like this:

 

1. Gather snacks and beverages.

2. Turn on television and tune to proper station.

3. The screen comes to life; there's a guy in a red shirt running along a field, kicking a ball.

4. A guy in a blue shirt runs up to him and kicks the ball the other way.

5. The crowd goes wild.

6. Flip to Nickelodeon and watch Gilligan's Island.

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utdfan Prep Ball

utdfan

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Nottso, I think you can make that generalization about any sport especially if you didn't grow up playing or watching it. People in Europe think the NFL is boring because they see it as a bunch of fat guys running into each other for 10 seconds and then a 40 seconds of standing around with nothing happening. I personally find basketball to be a bunch of guys running back and forth with no real excitement until the last five minutes if its a close game at that point.

 

In terms of the current situation with the Wave, i agree that going back to the outdoor game would be a great move. I loved going to the Rampage games and I think soccer has grown enough here to the point where people don't need the artificially high scoring that you got from playing indoors.

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patrickgpe Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

patrickgpe

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I'm all for this. I never got a chance to go to any Rampage games, but USL games that I see on TV always look like a lot of fun. Maybe the Wave can go back to outdoor and rejoin the league?

 

attendance for rampage and wave united games were much less than the wave, i don't see this working out.

 

The bottom line is that you can't force a sport to a public that has no interest. There was a long time in my life where i hated hockey and have started getting into it because i want to. It has become clear that no matter how many youth leagues, professional teams, etc the majority of people have no interest.

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Diskono Draft Eligible

Diskono

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I think the profile of the USL has grown quite a bit since then. Now they have lots televised games on FSC, and the standard of play is quite a bit better - just last weekend, three USL teams beat MLS sides in the US Open Cup, and another needed penalties to advance.

 

Of course, if nobody cares about the game, there's not much you can do, but I do feel that the USL as a whole is a better product than it was when it last had a presence in Milwaukee.

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owbc Carolina Mudcats

owbc

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At some point, public interest is a problem, but it seems like marketing is the key for these teams to succeed or not. When the Wave played at the Bradley Center, they benefited from the exposure of playing in the new arena as opposed to the second-class US Cellular Arena. The Bradley Center video was of much higher quality and Wave highlights were frequently played on the local news. The Wave also used to pack the Bradley Center full of people with free/discounted tickets and scheduled promotions with Brett Favre, which would bring in crowds of 10,000+. The US Cellular Arena is too small to give away as many free tickets and the exposure simply isn't there like it used to be. Of course, the talent level in the indoor game has dropped somewhat and the league(s) have been unstable, but those are secondary to the marketing issues. If the Admirals decided to leave the Bradley Center, they would be gone in 5-10 years as well.

 

I went to a Rampage game once at Uihlein soccer park. A USL team will not succeed there no matter how good the product on the field is. Someone is going to have to fork out some money for a higher quality facility.

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davego First Round Pick

davego

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Ok smart guy...I was curious if there would be a place for an out-door, UFL team to actually play in the Milwaukee area. I'm assuming no, but I don't know the area well enough.
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