The Baltimore Blast is an American professional

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor s ...

team based in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

, United States. The team is a part of the Major Arena Soccer League. The team has won 10 championships since it was founded in 1980. Beginning with the 2017-2018 season, home games have been played at Towson University's

SECU Arena SECU Arena is a 5,200-seat multi-purpose arena on the Towson University campus in Towson, Maryland. The arena was completed and opened in 2013, and now hosts the men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the volleyball and gymnastics teams ...

. The Blast previously played at

Royal Farms Arena CFG Bank Arena (originally the Baltimore Civic Center and formerly Royal Farms Arena, Baltimore Arena and 1st Mariner Arena) is a multipurpose arena in Baltimore, Maryland. This venue is located about one block away from the Baltimore Conventio ...

in downtown Baltimore. Team colors are red and gold and their current head coach is

David Bascome David Bascome MBE (born January 29, 1970) is a retired association football forward who is currently the head coach of the Baltimore Blast in the Major Arena Soccer League. Club career David Bascome started his First Division soccer career at ...

, who took over after 16 year head coach Danny Kelly had moved on.

History

NPSL, MISL II and MISL III years

The team was founded by

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

-based software executive Bill Stealey as the Baltimore Spirit at the end of July 1992 and joined the National Professional Soccer League. The team replaced the earlier Baltimore Blast, who folded along with the original Major Indoor Soccer League. When the team was purchased by Ed Hale, a former owner of the original team, the Spirit were renamed the Blast on July 10, 1998 (Hale had the rights to the Blast name, hence the reason why the team decided to change its name) and joined the new MISL II in 2001. After the MISL II folded in 2008, the team announced it would be joining the new National Indoor Soccer League, which would later acquire the rights to, and became, the third version of the MISL.

Shift to MASL

One day after the 2013–2014 MISL Championship final, USL President Tim Holt announced a number of teams would not be returning to the MISL the following year. The franchise announced on April 2, 2014, that it would not return to the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) after its contract with the United Soccer Leagues (USL), owners of the circuit, expired following the 2013–14 season. It was officially announced the Blast would be one of six teams joining the Professional Arena Soccer League (later renamed the Major Arena Soccer League) in the 2014–2015 season. In their first two seasons as a member of MASL, the Blast would win 33 out of 39 games. They placed first in the Eastern Division in both the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons, played in the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

and 2016 championship series and won the 2016 series over Soles de Sonora two games to none. The Blast repeated as Newman Cup Champions in 2017, again winning the final series over Soles de Sonora two games to one. In 2018, the Blast won their third straight championship, defeating the Monterrey Flash 4-3 in the final.

Attempted launch of the IPL

On February 18, 2016, Blast owner Ed Hale announced his intentions to leave the Major Arena Soccer League and form a new league. On May 3, 2016, the expansion franchise

Florida Tropics SC Florida Tropics SC is a professional soccer club based in Lakeland, Florida. They are owned by Central Florida Sports Ventures, LLC, led by Dr. Panos Iakovidis, and former USL commissioner and Rochester Rhinos owner Chris Economides. The orga ...

held a press conference stating they would be joining the IPL. At the press conference Ed Hale was announced as the chairman of the league, and Sam Fantauzzo, former owner of the Rochester Lancers, was announced as the first commissioner of the league. It was announced that the St. Louis Ambush, Baltimore Blast, and Harrisburg Heat had "resigned" from the MASL. On August 29, 2016, the Blast, Heat, Ambush re-entered the MASL with the expansion Tropics joining. The move effectively folded the IPL as no teams remained in the league. After rejoining the MASL, the Blast would go on to win their second Eastern Division championship and MASL championship over Soles de Sonora for the second year in a row.

Move to SECU Arena

The Blast announced in August 2017 that they would move from the

to the

on the campus of Towson University, beginning in the 2017-2018 MASL season. The move was the first time the Blast franchise played home games in an arena other than the Royal Farms Arena. In June 2021 the Blast announced an affiliation partnership with Baltimore Kings, who will be playing their first arena soccer season in MASL 3 in January 2022.

Players

2021–22 roster

Active players

*As of 6 July 2020

Inactive players

Staff

– ''Head coach, (2020–present)''

Retired numbers

Hall of Fame

Notable former players

Denison Cabral Denison Cabral is a retired Brazilian-American soccer forward /midfielder who played professionally in the Continental Indoor Soccer League, National Professional Soccer League and USISL. He played three games for the United States national futsa ...

* Jason Dieter * Levi Houapeu * Jason Maricle * Tony McPeak * Tino Nuñez * Onua Obasi *

Rusty Troy Rusty may refer to something covered with rust or with a rust (color). Rusty is also a nickname for people who have red hair, have a rust-hued skin tone, or have the given name Russell. Rusty may also refer to: People *Rusty Anderson (born 1959 ...

* Barry Stitz * PJ Wakefield * Tarik Walker

Year-by-year

Records

Statistics below show the all-time regular-season club leaders and include player statistics from the original Baltimore Blast which competed in the

Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) The Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL), known in its final two seasons as the Major Soccer League, was an indoor soccer league in the United States that played matches from fall 1978 to spring 1992. History The MISL was founded by businessmen Ed ...

. Bold indicates active Blast players.

Head coaches

* Kenny Cooper Sr. (1992–1994) *

Dave MacWilliams Dave MacWilliams (last name also spelled McWilliams) (born May 20, 1957, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a retired American soccer forward and head coach who played professionally in the North American Soccer League and Major Indoor Soccer Lea ...

(1994–1996) *

Mike Stankovic Mike Stankovic (born November 11, 1956) is a retired Serbian-American soccer defender who played professionally in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League and National Professional Soccer League. Biography In 1980, he mo ...

(1996–1998) * Kevin Healey (1998–2002) *

Sean Bowers Sean Patrick Bowers (born August 12, 1968) is a retired U.S. soccer defender. He spent most of his career playing indoor soccer, earning the 1992 NPSL Rookie of the Year, four-time Defender of the Year and a six-time first team All Star in four ...

(2002) * Bobby McAvan (2002–2003) *

Tim Wittman Tim Wittman is a retired American soccer player who is currently the assistant coach with the Johns Hopkins University women's soccer team. He spent his entire professional career playing indoor soccer in the first and second Major Indoor Socc ...

(2003–2006) * Danny Kelly (2006–2020) *

(2020–present)https://www.baltimoreblast.com/news/baltimore-blast-announce-new-coach

Arenas

;

(1992–2017) (previously known as Baltimore Civic Center, Baltimore Arena, 1st Mariner Arena) *

;

Towson, Maryland Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincor ...

(2017–present)

References

External links

*
Baltimore Blast on FunWhileItLasted.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baltimore Blast 1992 establishments in Maryland Indoor soccer clubs in the United States Major Arena Soccer League teams Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2008) teams Major Indoor Soccer League (2008–2014) teams Soccer clubs in Maryland National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) teams Soccer clubs in Baltimore Association football clubs established in 1992