Major Arena Soccer League Begins Season


Professional indoor soccer returns as the MASL started its 2023-24 season this week with 13 teams aligned in a seven-team Eastern Conference and a six-team Western Conference. Each team will play 24 games through March 31, 2024. The league had 14 teams last season, but the Orlando Tropics suspended operations in the off-season. The Monterrey Flash (Nuevo Leon, Mexico) team was moved from the Western to the Eastern Conference. Also, the Mesquite (TX) Outlaws changed their named to the Texas Outlaws. A proposed new Guadalajara (Jalisco, Mexico) team announced in February 2023 was unable to meet league requirements to join for 2023-24 and has the option to reapply for next season.

The league has been in existence since 2008.  The Chihuahua Savage from Mexico are the defending champions.  The San Diego Sockers have won the most title with six.  

Overview of the Major Arena Soccer League:
Eastern Conference
Baltimore Blast
Harrisburg Heat
Kansas City Comets
Milwaukee Wave
Monterrey Flash
St. Louis Ambush
Utica City FC


Western Conference
Chihuahua Savage
Dallas Sidekicks
Empire Strykers
San Diego Sockers
Tacoma Stars
Texas Outlaws


MASL Playoff Format
Top 4 teams in each conference advance to the playoffs.
Conference Semifinal – 1v4; 2v3
Conference Finals – Winner 1v4 vs. Winner 2v3
MASL Championship – Eastern Conference Champion vs. Western Conference Champion

All series will be a home-and-home format and if the teams are tied with one win each, they will play a 15-minute Knockout Game. If they are still tied, it will advance to golden-goal overtime.
The Office of the Commissioner shall have the right and authority to determine the game order, time, and location of playoff games if the predetermined dates cannot be met for each round of the playoffs, whether because of arena date availability or other non-foreseeable factors in each playoff team’s arena.

If the home and home series is tied it will be followed by a knockout game following game two.

Knockout Game
If the playoff series is tied after the 2nd game, there will be an additional knockout game which will be treated as an entirely new game. The 1st period of the knockout game will be a full 15-minute period. New lineups will be submitted just like the start of a new game. If tied after the 1st full 15-minute period, additional overtime periods of 10-minutes sudden victory periods will be played. The knockout game will begin 10-minutes after the conclusion of the prior game. Accumulated time penalties and fouls will not carry over from the prior game to the knockout game with the exception of red cards. A player issued a red card in the prior game will be suspended for the knockout game. Teams will be permitted two (2) 60-second timeouts. There will be no media timeouts. Each team will be permitted (1) one coaches challenge that will initiate a VR. Each period will be treated as a quarter in regards to player foul accumulation. If a player accumulates 4 fouls in two periods; the penalty is a 2-minute power play.



 



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