Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 19, 1995 TAG: 9501190102
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Semipro soccer is coming to Roanoke.
The Roanoke RiverDawgs will begin play in the United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues this spring. The franchise, one of 88 men's teams in the burgeoning Texas-based league, was purchased in late December by a group headed by Doug Fonder.
Fonder is the executive director and coach of the Roanoke Valley Swimming Gators and operator of Sports Design Inc., a Roanoke marketing firm. The RiverDawgs were accepted into the USISL last month when a $15,000 franchise fee was paid, Fonder said Wednesday.
The USISL was founded in 1986 as the Southwest Indoor Soccer League. A developmental league for the outdoor game, the USISL played with 70 teams in eight divisions last year, when the league was called the U.S. Interregional Soccer League. The USISL's umbrella has expanded to indoor and women's soccer, too, but the concept remains regional, and Roanoke's team will play a 20-game schedule in the Eastern Division of the USISL's Premier League.
The RiverDawgs' schedule, still in the making by the USISL, will run from mid-May through early August, and 10 home games will be played at either Cave Spring Junior High School's stadium or the River's Edge Sports Complex.
Fonder said the league is scheduling the 10 RiverDawg home dates so they do not conflict with home games of baseball's Salem Avalanche. Most of the 'Dawgs' games will be on weekend nights.
``The feeling was that the Roanoke Express, through good marketing, has really given the Roanoke Valley an entertaining product,'' Fonder said. ``The youth hockey program has been part of that. The largest youth participation sport in the valley is soccer. So, there already are young people interested in the sport here, and we want to bring another side of that sport to them.''
Fonder is one of three current investors at $5,000 apiece. ``We'd like a total of seven to make this a viable project in the valley,'' he said. Fonder's first-year projections include a $110,000 budget, including the $15,000 franchise fee.
Roanoke became the last of this year's 18 expansion clubs to be admitted to the USISL , and commissioner Francisco Marcos extended a Nov.1 deadline to do so. ``They allowed us in because they feel the Roanoke Valley shows promise as a soccer market,'' Fonder said.
Marcos is scheduled to visit the Roanoke Valley this month for a news conference to officially welcome the franchise and introduce investors.
If Roanoke had waited until after Jan.1 to apply, the franchise fee would have risen to $25,000. Fonder said the RiverDawgs hope to begin advertising sales within two weeks and place season tickets on sale by mid-February. The club's preliminary plans are to sell a 10-game season ticket for $35.
The club is projecting a per-game home attendance average of 800. Last year, the USISL averaged just over 1,000 spectators per game in the 70 markets.
The club is still in the process of hiring a coach, Fonder said. Roanoke will hold player tryouts over a couple of weekends in April. As a Premier team, the RiverDawgs must carry at least three under-19 developmental players on a roster that has a mixture of pros and amateurs - college players may play - and a maximum of 26 players. Eighteen may dress for a game.
The USISL's two outdoor summer leagues, Premier and Pro, play across league lines with similar clubs, although designated Pro teams do not have the under-19 requirement. The RiverDawgs plan to move to the Pro designation for 1996.
Fonder said the club also will hold day camps throughout the area during the season. RiverDawgs players will conduct those clinics, which are staged throughout USISL markets ``to upgrade the consciousness of soccer.''
Fonder said he became more intrigued by the USISL last summer when his oldest son, former Roanoke College soccer star Dustin Fonder, played for more than a month with the Hampton Roads Mariners.
The USISL concept includes a planned future as a farm system for the fledgling Major League Soccer (MLS), a 12-team circuit that spawned from the United States' host role for the World Cup last summer. The USISL is the foundation for the future of MLS.
Once the MLS is up and running, the USISL blueprint is to divide its franchises among Major League clubs as farm teams, and create levels similar to what baseball has with Class AAA, AA and A. The most successful franchises will be in the larger classifications.
``So, a city or an area getting behind a team could have a lot to do with what level of soccer they can see in the future,'' Fonder said. ``Right now, one of the most successful teams is the Delaware Wizards, and they're in one of the smallest markets [Newark, Del.].''
The USISL's two-time champions, the Greensboro Dynamo, played an exhibition game in Roanoke last summer against the Richmond Kickers.
The USISL has become known for its marketing efforts and colorful nicknames. The league, which spans from Hawaii to Montreal to San Diego to Puerto Rico, has teams named the Xoggz, Grasshoppers, Menace, Boyz, Alleycats, Fever, Battery and Rooks.
Fonder said all inquiries about the RiverDawgs and the USISL should be made through Sports Design Inc., on Brambleton Avenue Southwest in Roanoke County, or by phoning 774-0062.
by CNB