The Professional Arena Soccer League will begin its third season Friday night at the Mockingbird Valley Sports Complex in Louisville, KY as the Louisville Lightning host the Cincinnati Kings.
The league features six new teams -- two in the Western Division (Tacoma Stars and Revolucion Tijuana) and four in a new division, the Pro Frontier Division (Kitsap Pumas, the returning Wenatchee Fire, Illinois Piasa and the Springfield Demize).
The Stars had been playing in the amateur Premier Arena Soccer League and will become a professional team for the first time since 1992. Former American Idol contestant (and loser, by the way) Sanjaya Malabar will sing the national anthem at their opening game Saturday at the Tacoma Soccer Center against the Kitsap Pumas.
Revolucion Tijuana played last season as a provisional member of PASL-Pro.
The Fire played last season in the league but folded during the season, leaving only a team in the PASL-Premier League. The Piasa (pie-a-saw) also have a team in PASL-Premier.
The Pumas and the Demize have become year-round franchises, playing also in the USL Premier Development League, as are the Cincinnati Kings, a merger of the PASL-Pro's Kings and the 1790 Cincinnati Express of last season.
Besides the Kings, returnng league teams include the defending North American Champion San Diego Sockers, the Lightning, the California Cougars, the Detroit Waza and the Ohio Vortex.
The 12 teams will also play against teams from the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League -- the Edmonton Drillers, Calgary United and the Winnipeg Alliance. The Prince George Fury and the Saskatoon Accelerators folded after last season. The CMISL champion earns a berth in the PASL-Pro's North American Championship playoffs, as does the league champion of Mexico's LMFR (Liga Mexicana Futbol Rapido).
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