Lane Smith didn’t hesitate to pump up his Tacoma Stars professional indoor soccer team and the ShoWare Center at a recent Kent City Council meeting.
“We’re excited to play at the ShoWare,” Smith, owner of the Stars, said at the July 21 meeting. “It’s a fantastic venue, modern, new, all the amenities you need for a pro sports franchise these days.”
The council and Mayor Suzette Cooke put Smith on the agenda as a way to welcome the Stars to town. The team will play in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). The 2015-16 schedule has yet to be released, but the first of 10 home games is expected to be in early November. Each team will have five players and a goalie with free substitution.
“You have that same intimate feeling as a hockey game but the ball is easier to see,” he said. “Most people know soccer. We watched the ladies in the World Cup. We see how exciting outdoor soccer is. Think of that sport and like hockey the ball never goes out of bounds.”
The Stars replaced the Seattle Impact FC in the MASL partway through last season when Smith purchased the rights to the Impact. He said it wasn’t easy to tell Tacoma area fans the team would play in Kent.
“I’m getting beat up a little bit for not playing in Tacoma,” Smith said to the council. “However, you guys seem to have the monopoly on taking things from other cities. You grabbed the Seattle Thunderbirds and now the Tacoma Stars so I don’t know what’s next, maybe the Seahawks will be playing here soon.”
Season ticket prices go from $150 to $250. A total of 253 legacy members are available for $500, which gives the buyer a lifetime pass to the Stars. Single-game tickets are expected to go on sale in October. For ticket information, go to tacomastars.com.
The Stars will feature goalie Danny Waltman, signed by the team in June.
“He’s the best goalie in indoor soccer period,” Smith said. “He just won MVP of the indoor World Cup, the U.S. hosted (in Chicago) and brought in teams from all over.”
Waltman, 33, grew up in Gig Harbor, played at Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma and at the University of Washington. He had in his MASL contract if the Tacoma Stars were going to come back he could leave the Missouri Comets, which he did. Waltman’s father was one of the original owners of the Stars in the 1980s when the team drew 21,728 fans to the Tacoma Dome for the Major Indoor Soccer League title game against the Dallas Sidekicks, who won 4-3.
Tacoma is still building its roster. Player tryouts are set for Aug. 14-16 at the Tacoma Soccer Center. For more information, go to http://bit.ly/1GVDwlo.
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