Early in the Professional Futsal League's inaugural meetings the last two days in Dallas, Donnie Nelson looked around the conference room table and marveled at the melding of minds and sports.
There was Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Lakers owner Jim Buss. There were delegations from FC Barcelona and other world-power soccer organizations.
During two days of meetings at Dallas' Omni Hotel and American Airlines Center, they discussed rules, league structure, marketing initiatives and more for the 16-team league, which begins play in 2017.
Futsal is five-a-side indoor soccer that is played in 198 of the 207 FIFA member associations around the world but has never had a North American league.