Ed Hale

Indoor soccer The Major Indoor Soccer League will be operated by United Soccer Leagues starting in the 2011-12 season and will consist of at least seven teams. The Blast will be joined by fellow MISL holdovers in Milwaukee, Kansas City and Wichita, Kan., as well as first-year USL indoor franchises in Norfolk, Va., Rochester, N.Y., and Syracuse, N.Y. The league will be led by Chris Economides , senior director of USL's professional leagues. Scheduling, competition and playoff format and rules for the MISL will be determined by the league's board of governors.

Your article "Inseparable, now separate" (April 24) suggests why Baltimore should have a new chairman of the Baltimore Convention Center and Tourism Board. Ed Hale couldn't run his own bank and had to sell his unit in Canton Square because of his financial problems. Yet Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake stills lets him run the tourism board. The only reason he keeps this job is he supports a lot of candidates who currently hold public office — people like the mayor and City Council members.

One hundred and sixty million dollars is a lot of money, a measure of the ambitious promise by new investors to give 1st Mariner Bank "one of the highest capital ratios of any Maryland bank" and save it from seizure by federal regulators. But it's also a measure of how far the Baltimore-based bank has fallen. When you lose nearly $100 million of shareholders' money over four years, it takes more than a couple of cupcakes to restock the larder. Success is by no means guaranteed.

1st Mariner CEO/Chairman Ed Hale is known for his blunt, direct style, and his desk on the 16th floor of the 1st Mariner Tower in Canton reflects that. There aren't a lot of fancy flourishes here, either. He says he likes to have all of his business in easy reach, hence the various piles of documents. But, he likes to keep the space tidy, something he also expects of his employees. "I don't like seeing a desk here [at the bank] that's all disheveled. If I can keep my desk neat with all the balls I have up in the air, than they can, too. But, then, I've not been described as normal," Hale adds with a laugh.

At a family-owned restaurant in Dundalk one evening this spring, 1st Mariner Bank CEO and Chairman Edwin F. Hale Sr. stood before schoolteachers, retirees and business owners and made an urgent pitch: Buy stock in Baltimore's largest independent bank and help ensure its survival. Among those who have purchased shares: friends of Hale's mother and substitute teacher Will White. "We didn't have a lot to invest, but we felt more comfortable investing it locally," said White, an Edgemere resident who ponied up $2,000 with his wife, Meg. "Of course, Ed, he's a guy who's larger than life."

While Baltimore Blast owner Ed Hale battles through tough economic times with his banking and development businesses, he said he's certain those issues won't affect the team as it begins defense of its National Indoor Soccer League championship. "There's not any connection whatsoever," Hale said. "The staff that I have with [Blast general manager Kevin Healey], it's self-sustaining, and that's an anomaly with [professional indoor] soccer because most of the time you lose money with soccer operations.

In the latest sign of trouble, 1st Mariner Bank said Monday that it has been placed under more intense federal supervision as Baltimore's largest independent bank continues to struggle with soured real estate loans and its inability to raise cash. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Maryland Division of Financial Regulation issued a "cease and desist" order Friday, according to documents filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, requiring 1st Mariner to devise a plan to improve its capital, liquidity and earnings and deal with problem loans.

A report this week says what we've known for, like, infinity: Baltimore needs a new arena to replace the old arena. In the old arena, I saw, among many other entertainments, Raw is War, the Village People, Sesame Street Live, eight Russian women on pogo sticks, Airiana The Human Arrow, the Baltimore Bandits and Luciano Pavarotti. Thanks for the memories. Now, let's move on. Let's build a new arena where banker, developer and Baltimore Blast owner Ed Hale wants to build a new arena -- out next to Ed Hale's property in Southeast Baltimore - because that will mean no interruption in the use of the old arena during construction of the new arena and because it's a smart location.

Blast owner Ed Hale, the chairman and chief executive officer of 1st Mariner Bank, would love to see a new arena built in East Baltimore near his headquarters. Whether that objective will be realized hinges on a multitude of factors. "Many difficult decisions have to be made, notably funding and location," said Kirby Fowler, president of the Downtown Partnership, one of a number of organizations working on a two-part study examining the state of 1st Mariner Arena that is scheduled to be released next month.