ROSEDALE, Md. — The Baltimore Blast helped usher in a new level of professional indoor soccer on Wednesday.
The M3 East is the new third division of the the Major Arena Soccer League. One of its new members is the Baltimore Kings. The club will essentially be a farm team for the Blast. This marks the first time in the Blast’s 29 year history they’ll have this kind of an affiliation.
The Kings have been around for six years and have played in a handful of different outdoor and indoor leagues. Now they have united with the area’s premier indoor brand to open up a new pathway for players to achieve soccer success.
"When we have injuries it’s going to be a feeder system for us. Or maybe somebody distinguishes themselves on [the Kings], we hear about it, we’ll move him up. So it’s going to be a feeder system for us for the first time officially," said Blast Owner Ed Hale.
"I honestly believe it’s a wake-up call for some local players that maybe don’t believe that they could go on and make the Blast right away. But with some experience of playing the indoor game, that they could potentially play one day," said Kings President Josh Danza.
"It’s definitely something to look forward to as a player," added Kings leading scorer Gavin Boyer. "On top of being around with the Kings for a while it’s good to see the name just finally be out there and to have an opportunity like this is good enough in itself."
There are four other teams joining Baltimore in M3: Fredericksburg, Front Royal and Norfolk in Virginia, along with Philadelphia.
M3 play is set to start a ten-game season in January.
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
