Wisconsin Soccer Central

A Milwaukee group is looking to follow the "supporters first" process that led to  high-level professional soccer teams starting in Philadelphia and Indianapolis.

The Milwaukee Barons will hold their inaugural meeting Wednesday night at the Great Hall of the Best Place, 901 W. Juneau Ave. in the historic Pabst Brewery.

The event starts at 7 p.m. and is intended to provide "a voice to the community directed toward showing city officials, sports fans and investors that Wisconsin can support a high-level professional outdoor soccer team," according to a news release.

The Barons are one of the programs run by the non-profit Milwaukee Soccer Development Group. The group recently has added the backing of the Milwaukee Outdoor Pro Soccer Alliance, another supporters group that formed last year.

The group's mission is to bring a United Soccer League or North American Soccer League team to Milwaukee, with a goal of having a team in Major League Soccer within 10 years. USL currently is the country's third division but announced in February that is planning to petition the U.S. Soccer Federation for second-tier status – the NASL currently is designated as the country's second division.

Milwaukee has had outdoor pro soccer teams in the past: The Rampage played from 1993 to 2002, winning A-League titles in 1997 and '02, while Milwaukee Wave United played in the same league in 2003 and '04.

The Milwaukee Torrent announced earlier this year that they will play as a pro team starting in 2016. They will play in American Soccer League 2, the offshoot of the ASL, a pro league that launched last fall. Not all ASL2 teams will be professional sides, and salaries for the new league aren't expected to be at the same level as the established USL and NASL.

As noted, while most supporters groups are formed after teams are announced, there are two high-profile cases of the process being reversed.

The Sons of Ben started in Philadelphia in January 2007 and the Philadelphia Union were announced as an MLS expansion team 13 months later. In Indianapolis, the Brickyard Battlion was formed in August 2011 and Indy Eleven was added to the NASL in January 2013 and started play in the league in 2014.

Also at Wednesday's meeting, the Barons will announce information about their "Miller Park March," which will precede the preseason friendly between Premier League club Newcastle United and Liga MX side Atlas on July 14 in Milwaukee.

More information
Website: MilwaukeeBarons.com
Facebook: MilwaukeeBarons
Twitter: @mkebarons
Listen to MSDG's James Moran discuss the Barons on WUWM Radio