The Missouri Comets second season kicks off on Thursday November 3rd when they travel to Wichita to take on the expansion Wings in the opener of the new season. The two teams will meet again the next night, November 4th, at the Independence Event Center in the Comets home opener. The MISL this year has expanded under their partnership with the USL, only 3 teams return from last year (the Omaha Vipers and Chicago Riot are gone), but 5 new expansion teams come in. The 8 teams are being divided into 2 divisions, an East and a Central. Joining Missouri in the Central is the returning Milwaukee Wave, the Wings, and a new expansion side in Chicago unaffiliated with the Riot. In the East the Baltimore Blast are joined by 3 expansion teams, the Norfolk SharX, Rochester Lancers, and Syracuse Silver Knights.
The format for the 2011-2012 season will see the league schedule expand from 20 to 24 games. Teams will play 16 games against teams in their own division, 6 against their closest opponent (Missouri-Wichita, Milwaukee-Chicago, Rochester-Syracuse, and Norfolk-Baltimore), the longest of which is a 4 hour trip for Baltimore and Norfolk, a good move for the league to help reduce some travel cost. They'll play 5 games each against the other two teams in their division. They'll play a home and away game against the four teams in the other division, giving them their 24 games.
The top two teams in each division will qualify for the playoffs, a home-away series with a mini-game after the second if it is needed. The finals will be played with the same format.
Looking forward to the season. The league has really grown from one year to the next.
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