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Hangin' With ... PFL President Mike Hitchcock & Commissioner Keith Tozer

Football's growth in the U.S. in recent years has been well-documented, but the traditional version of the sport is not the only one that is on the rise. A new league called the Professional Futsal League will hold its inaugural season in '18 after a year of exhibitions in '17. The PFL is banking on the popularity of futsal, the FIFA-recognized, five-a-side, indoor version of the sport which the league estimates is played by 30 million people. PFL Commissioner KEITH TOZER is also the coach of the U.S. men's national futsal team. Announcements about the plans he and PFL President MIKE HITCHCOCK have for the league came earlier this spring. It will feature 16 teams -- initially with 12 owners from the U.S. and four from overseas. In addition to Tozer and Hitchcock, top PFL execs will include NBA Dallas Mavericks Owner MARK CUBAN, an investor and part-owner. Mavericks President of Basketball Operations & GM DONNIE NELSON and Quest Resource Holding Corp. CEO, President & co-Founder BRIAN DICK also hold stakes in the PFL. Tozer and Hitchcock spoke to SBD Global about their goals for the league, where it will look for players and coaches and futsal's int'l appeal.

On the level of popularity the PFL can have alongside the MLS ... 
Mike Hitchcock: What's exciting about this opportunity is based on the incredible success and growth of the outdoor game, which Major League Soccer has played a critical role in that, there are all these ancillary opportunities for things connected to soccer. So while futsal is a stand-alone sport and the PFL has an opportunity to be a stand-alone, successful league, there's no doubt that the success of the outdoor game in the U.S. has put us in an incredible position to launch the PFL. ... Our priority has been to establish a professional brand that can be seen shoulder-to-shoulder from a branding standpoint with the major sports leagues in this country, like the NBA. ... As far as how big and how strong and how popular this can be, time will tell. But our plan is, with the high level of owners that we have, the global appeal of the sport of futsal and the American version of that -- which will be the PFL -- that there's tremendous potential with futsal. Owners like Mark Cuban and people at that level see the same opportunity.


On holding the first season in '18 ...
Keith Tozer: When we first started off, we thought we were going to start this in 2016. And then as the ownership groups came and the quality of the ownership groups came, and then thinking more and more about what needs to be done, we kept pushing it away. We all feel that 2018 is great. We are going to have events prior to that. Our next event will be in August at Disney World again. But we think it gives us ample time, not only as a league to grow the sport, but it gives the franchises a long runway to put all the situations in the right order: tickets, sponsorships, players, coaches, etc.

On finding coaches and players ...
Tozer: The majority of the players in our country do not play futsal. Very few, in fact I do not know any American player that is playing professional futsal abroad right now. So in the early years and the infancy of the league, the majority of the players are going to have to come from abroad, as well as the coaches. One thing that that will do, it will definitely showcase the game at the highest level in the world. We have talked to a lot of coaches and a lot of players around the world that want to come and play here. ... We're hoping that over three to five years, with the foreign talent coming in both as players and as coaches, that will help start developing the American player and the American coach. So as the journey then broadens, more and more players will be created here in the United States, while still keeping that foreign base at the same time. We feel that as far as coaches and players are concerned, we'll attract some of the best players in the world, and hopefully create some of the best players down the road.

On attracting media partners ...
Hitchcock: We've created a broadcasting committee which will include new media and traditional media, which is made up of five of the owners and one of the league managers. They're starting to work on that strategy and plan for media partners. Through the ownership group that we have, we feel very confident we'll be able to share our story with all of your large-perspective media partners. It's an interesting content play, it really is an attractive sport. It's what we love about basketball, but it happens to be the world's most popular game, so we feel very confident that we'll have a top-notch media partner.

On signing with int'l broadcasters ...
Hitchcock: The global appeal and interest in the PFL from a broadcast and content play has been incredible. From the start, our goal is to have the world's best players and have the world's best futsal league. From the beginning, we'll have global television deals -- there's no doubt about that -- throughout the world.

Hangin' With runs each Friday in SBD Global.
 

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