Back in the early 1980s, I saw an indoor soccer game on TV. The home team was likely the Buffalo Stallions of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) and I was intrigued, though this was long before my interest in sports travel. By the time I was old enough to drive, the Stallions had folded, and a few years later the league followed suit. As outdoor soccer grew in popularity with the formation of the MLS, the indoor game persisted under the radar, with another MISL lasting from 2001-08, after which three leagues formed, including yet another MISL. The history is quite convoluted as is often the case with low-level sports, but eventually the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) emerged as the top circuit in the country. These days there are 13 clubs, with two in Mexico and the other 11 scattered about the States. One of these is the Kansas City Mavericks, who play out of the Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence and as luck would have it, they scheduled the first game of the Ron Newman Cup Finals while I was in the area.
I had visited here over ten years before on my 2013 NFL road trip when it was the Independence Events Center. I saw the Missouri Mavericks of the CHL (now the Kansas City Mavericks of the ECHL) and was impressed with the crowd. In the meantime, a local car dealer (not a cable company and certainly not a serial killer) took over the naming rights. I brought my daughter along and we arrived early, having no trouble driving into the parking lot, which is free for Comets games. We grabbed a pair of tickets at the box office for $20 each and made our way in. The concourse was empty an hour before the game, but it filled up quickly and lines formed at the concessions so get your food early or sneak out before halftime. I recommend the portable stand selling sweets, which included a giant chocolate covered marshmallow for $3. I enjoyed one bite before it was commandeered.
There are a few displays here for the Mavericks, but none for the Comets, who began play in 2010 as the Missouri Comets and won the title in the final season of that third incarnation of the MISL in 2014.
Inside, there is no center hanging scoreboard, which makes sense as the roof is quite low and the ball would hit the scoreboard on a regular basis. There are two giant video boards at either end that show replays and some game stats. There are suites above the seating bowl as you can see in most of these photos.
The venue holds 5,800 for hockey and presumably the same amount for indoor soccer, and there were 5,523 on hand for this one (the largest playoff crowd in franchise history), so empty seats were hard to find. There is one difference in the configuration in that the glass along the sides is removed, giving fans sitting there a clear view. The ball also pops into the stands quite a bit and fans throw it back.
The hockey netting does remain above the glass because the shots at the net can come quite quickly, though few do make it high enough to be dangerous. The ball bounces off the glass in weird ways sometimes, which leads to some interesting plays.
The surface is synthetic turf, but the colour seems to vary from venue to venue, at least from the few highlights I have seen; it is grey in Chihuahua and olive green in St. Louis.
The net is actually behind the boards, which makes it difficult to see goals if you happen to be sitting high in the end zone as we were. On the other hand, it does allow for goals to be scored from sharp angles, which really surprised me.
Overall, Cable Dahmer Arena is a great venue that serves the community very well. It is only 8 miles east of the Sports Complex, so check out the schedule next time you are at a Royals or Chiefs game to see if an unusual doubleheader is possible.
The Game
The visitors were the Chihuahua Savage, one of those two Mexican squads who also happened to be the defending champion. This was the first of two legs, with the second taking place in Chihuahua just two days later. KC was wearing red, while the Savage were clad in white. The game uses four 15-minute quarters, with fouls and yellow cards, though there is also a blue card that sends players to the penalty box for 2 minutes.
The visitors scored midway through the first off a set play with a free kick from the right boards being kneed in by Miguel Angel Diaz standing to the left of the net guarded by Nicolau Neto, a great name for a goalkeeper. The Comets tied it about 4 minutes later off another set play when Nacho passed a free kick to Lucas Sousa, who drove a low ball past Diego Reynoso. Early in the second, the two combined again on a similar play to give KC the 2-1 lead, which lasted until halftime. With about 5 minutes left, Neto stood with the ball for more than two minutes while nothing happened; it was bizarre to see and I couldn't figure out what he was waiting for.
The third quarter saw KC awarded a penalty and Rian Marques converted to give the Comets a 3-1 lead (above). The lead stood until 40 seconds were left in the quarter when Roberto Escalante sent one at the goal that slipped through a screened Neto's legs, the first goal from the run of play. Midway through the final frame, Hugo Puentes drove a low shot past Neto to tie the game, and Chihuahua completed the comeback a few minutes later when Escalante finished off a set play with a drive to the top of the net.
The game took about 2.5 hours, with some timeouts near the end and replay reviews adding to the proceedings. Given that regular soccer takes 2 hours for 90 minutes of action, you can see why that might be more popular. Detailed highlights in Spanish are available here and are worth a look if you haven't seen an indoor soccer game before.
Notes
The game is quite a bit different than outdoor soccer obviously, with the lack of space the biggest change. As in hockey, there just isn't much time to generate constant possession, which is why so many goals are scored off set plays.
The second leg was similar in that KC had a two-goal lead, only for Chihuahua to score the final three to win, with the last goal coming with just 95 seconds left to give the Savage back-to-back MASL crowns. Had KC won that game, there would have been a 15-minute mini-game to decide the champion.
The championship is named for Ron Newman, who coached both versions of the game, winning 10 indoor titles with San Diego. He was also the first coach hired in the MLS when the Kansas City Wizards signed him in 1995.
Next Up
A trip to Cincinnati to see the Florence Y'Alls and get started on this summer's independent league chase. With four new teams joining the various leagues, there are now 13 stadiums I have yet to see, and I hope to get to 7 of them in the next two months, saving the rest for next year.
Best,
Sean
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