Tropics Will be Part of Seven-Team Eastern Conference for 2022-23 MASL Season
September 22, 2022 – Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) – Florida Tropics SC News Release
LAKELAND, Fla – The Florida Tropics, presented by Bond Clinic, will find defending their Eastern Division championship a little more difficult this season.
The Tropics will be starting their seventh season in the MASL late this fall, and will be part of a seven-team Eastern Conference this year along with the Baltimore Blast, Utica, Harrisburg Heat, Milwaukee Wave, St. Louis Ambush and Kansas City Comets. Last year, the east consisted of just the Tropics, Blast, Heat and Utica as the league used a three-division alignment.
The new configuration is similar to the 2019-20 MASL season when the Tropics were in the Eastern Conference, which they won with 18-3 record. That year’s post-season was canceled because of the COVID-19 outbreak. That year the conference included all seven of the teams that will make up the new group, along with teams from Rochester N.Y. (inactive status due to no suitable arena in which to currently play) and Orlando which went defunct after two unsuccessful seasons.
Regardless of the division or conference set up, Florida has more regular season wins (regulation time and overtime) in the past three seasons in the MASL than any other team in the league with 46. San Diego, who defeated the Tropics in the MASL championship series last spring, has 42 over that same period.
The Tropics will play 20 of their 24 regular season games against Eastern Conference teams, and four against teams from the West. Those game will be split equally, 10 at home against the east and two against the West, with 10 on the road against the East and two against West opponents to be determined. The MASL schedule is expected to be released in the coming weeks, with the league’s season-opening Thanksgiving weekend already set featuring a home-and-home series between rival St. Louis and Kansas City.
The Western Division will include the Sockers, Empire Strykers (Ontario, California), Tacoma Stars, Dallas Sidekicks, Chihuahua Savage, Monterey Flash and Mesquite Outlaws. A format for the 2023 Ron Newman Cup playoffs will be announced soon as well.
“We worked hard this year to achieve a schedule that balances competition between clubs with the economic factors of travel,” said Keith Tozer, MASL Commissioner. “We are excited to begin the season with the 1-70 Series and Opening Weekend and look forward to a successful year on and off the field for our members and fans.”
• Discuss this story on the Major Arena Soccer League message board…
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
