MASL Spring Meetings End With New Playoff Format

The second day of the MASL’s Spring Meetings kicked off early on Wednesday morning with the full board and team delegates in attendance. Today’s meetings were focused on the future of the game and creating the outline for the 2019-2020 season and beyond.

After a brief review of the previous season, Commissioner Joshua Schaub began the task of developing the 2019-2020 MASL season structure. Teams all gave their feedback on the league structure, the playoff format, and the schedule.

LEAGUE STRUCTURE
The MASL announced the addition of the Mesquite Outlaws to the league’s roster earlier this spring. Commissioner Schaub discussed a number of other investors who are also interested in bringing the MASL to their market. While no additional expansion announcements were made following today’s meeting, the league is finalizing details with at least three new markets to begin play by the 2020-2021 season.

2019-2020 SCHEDULE
After much discussion and evaluation, the members were able to create a framework for the 2019-2020 season. Although the complete schedule will be decided at a later date, the upcoming MASL season will kick off on November 22, 2019.  

PLAYOFF FORMAT
The 2019-2020 Ron Newman Cup playoff structure was a highly anticipated subject on the day’s agenda with many members voicing strong opinions. With many different options discussed a final format was decided upon. The Ron Newman Cup playoffs will consist of three rounds. Each round will see teams play a home-and-home series with a 15-minute Minigame to decide the winner if necessary.

BROADCAST/MEDIA STRATEGY
The MASL expanded their media reach last season with the addition of several Regional Sports Network broadcasts and a national broadcast agreement with Eleven Sports. The increased exposure has not only excited fans about the game, it has also increased the interest from broadcast networks, OTT networks, and corporate sponsors.

NEXT STEPS
From here, the leaders and delegates from each team head back to their respective homes. Committees were formed to go further in-depth on a number of issues with several meetings scheduled over the next couple of months. The full MASL membership will gather again in the fall to discuss the findings of each committee and finalize the last-minute details for the upcoming season of Major Arena Soccer.