IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Things are looking up for the Empire Strykers, Ontario’s professional indoor soccer team.
The team clinched a playoff berth March 29 with an 11-6 victory over the Dallas Sidekicks in Dallas, the last game of the regular season.
That win set up a first-round playoff match April 4 with the San Diego Sockers, but that was not necessarily the best news of the past few weeks for the team.
Six days earlier, the Strykers drew 7,837 fans to its game against the Sockers at Toyota Arena, which seats 9.600 for soccer. That was the largest crowd in the franchise’s 12-year history, and the largest gathering for any game in the Major Arena Soccer League during the 2024-’25 season.
The latter is a cause for celebration, not just for the Strykers but the 12-team league, according to Jeff Burum, managing partner of the Strykers for the past four years.
“Soccer is the fastest-growing sport in North America, and the fact that we drew such a large crowd shows how popular it’s getting the Inland Empire,” Burum said. “People who were there for the first time saw how exciting soccer can be.”
In that game, the Strykers lost 9-8 in overtime, putting together a furious comeback after falling behind 6-1.
“I’ve never heard that arena so loud,” Burum said. “We lost, but it was an epic game. Our league is getting stronger, and it’s really starting to grow.”
The league’s single-elimination playoffs will be held exclusively at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, the only MASL arena built exclusively for indoor soccer. The Strykers-Sockers contest is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
