For those that don't want to post some things on WPS_Movement's numerous, too many to count, "probing" threads, I thought I'd start one where we can just share general comments, information or news.
I'll start with my first info. Follow the Chicago Red Stars twitter folks. Non-stop information: https://twitter.com/chicagoredstars
Nice story on ESPN W yesterday by Graham Hays. It's based on the Allocation Media conference call which apparently Alex Morgan took part in. The tenor of her comments makes it pretty clear nothing is done contract wise either concerning the USWNT or NWSL. http://espn.go.com/espnw/commentary...-leadership-role-national-women-soccer-league
According to Ella Masar and Yael Averbuch, they're having another twit-chat conversation tomorrow on twitter. Hashtag - #WSoccerChat. They want you to be there, or be square. 8hElla Masar @emasar3 Yal want to know what @Yael_Averbuch n I think about the allocations plus free agent debates. Tune in tom. @ 8EST to find out!#WSoccerChat
Look for the order of the draft picks to be announced tomorrow. The league intends to still use a snake format for the draft. No news about Western New York at this point. And if/when the draft order is announced tomorrow, it will certainly be a topic for discussion on the official chat tomorrow night.
Thank you. Let's hope everyone can keep this thread clean for just news & links. There are plenty of other threads for speculation. It seems all the teams have twitter accounts -- you can find them at the @NWSL account. Jeff DiVeronica is doing good work (as usual) covering the WNY Flash. Here are a couple of links to his recent pieces: http://www.democratandchronicle.com...ach-to-discuss-role-with-flash?nclick_check=1 His blog has more, a lot more. Give him hits, people.
http://www.nwslnews.com/nwsl-news-recap-for-january-16-2013/ http://americansoccernow.com/articles/the-nwsl-finally-starts-to-feel-normal
From equalizersoccer.com twists on free agency: http://equalizersoccer.com/2013/01/17/for-nwsl-free-agency-could-come-with-twist/
That's. At first glance, the proposal to pool and assign players seems inconsistent with FIFA player regulations. Specifically, you have to pay a player under contract who is a professional, and "a player may only be assigned to one club at a time" And " no player may change clubs in the middle of a season" http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/administration/01/06/30/78/statusinhalt_en_122007.pdf I'll get more chance to look at it tonight.
Yes and I also assume the player union (is there one for women footballers in the USA) would have to approve, other wise they would sue claiming that the 8 competitors are colluding to keep wages low. The only reason salary CAPs are legal is because player unions agree to them.
I imagine the only reason they offered four is most teams have already made handshake deals with some players and all those would go up in smoke.
I honestly must say I dont get the problem with the original proposal. I understand (and got at the time they said it) that some cities would have a much larger talent pool to pick from than others. It kinda scares me that the league didnt get that but... Just because there is a problem doesnt mean u have to change everything to fix it. It's just one of many such problems. Hopefully they all even out. A complete overhaul each time u discover one isnt gonna solve anything. Example. Some cities with long standing clubs r going to have a better shot at retaining past players ie free agents. That's true enough but it's just a piece of the big picture. Some clubs r going to have a better chance getting free agents based on the coach, the allocated stars, the climate, the cost of living, friends already on the team and a myriad of things I cant even think of. U cant correct all them cause there is no way to actually balance the teams short of a complete draft including allocated, college and free agent players. If u cant fix it, there is no reason to try and possibly make it worse. Some teams may have trouble getting the best establish free agents but the salary cap will even that out a bit. As teams use up their larger pay slots players will see that they can get more more playing for teams with slots left. Water finds it's own level unless u keep screwing with it.
The league is supposed to have a big announcement on sponsors soon. That's the serious part. Now for the speculation. I'm not sure anyone has a clue on who these sponsors are. I can tell you that there are some we can eliminate from that guess list, although WUSA had some "awkward" ones once upon a time. So it got me thinking. Will we see something different this time? WPS was an improvement over the girlie'd up WUSA sponsors. Maybe we'll see something even less "girlie" this time around, as far as the sponsors are concerned? "Top 10" least likely candidates to be sponsors of the NWSL (David Letterman style): *Drum-Roll* 10.) Cialis 9.) Milk Duds 8.) Stroh's (Beer) 7.) Lamisil (cream) 6.) Sex Panther (cologne) 5.) Johnsonville (brats) 4.) Fubu (apparel) 3.) French's (mustard) -don't forget to apply this on your Sahlen hot dog. 2.) Chia Pet 1.) Crystal Pepsi
Please keep your pointless, unfunny speculation posts in your own threads and not pollute a legitimate news thread with them, particularly when said thread was specifically intended to be free of such posts.
Back in a news vein, here's an allocation recap from the Canadian point of view off SB Nation http://www.wakingthered.com/2013/1/...ocks-breaking-down-nwsls-canadian-womens-team
here's something I havent seen mentioned anywhere else. It's a story on Mewis being drafted by KC on the BC site. http://www.bceagles.com/sports/w-soccer/spec-rel/012213aaa.html
All of a sudden after the college draft, everything has come to a stanstill. Very little news. A few things trickle in but little if any Twitter activity, etc. Crickets......
I really thought there would be a big spurt of free agent stuff on Monday. I have to assume the league is holding everything up still.
Would there be anything they are waiting on so they don't have to compete? I certainly hope they are not postponing stuff until after the Super Bowl.
It may just be contractual. It may be they cant officially sign anyone yet because there is no standard league contract yet. No one wants to go on record about players til they have them on a contract.
Lianne Sanderson and Joanna Lohman were planning on announcing where they'd be playing as soon as they got back from India, which was a couple of days ago. But that's being held up while they figure out the overall free agent situation with the league. (And neither one of them is happy about potentially being forced into a draft in order to play this year.)
They both gotta be signing with the Spirit, right? The way the Spirit have addressed their needs (after allocation) is certainly impressive. That's two of the top free agents (at their respective positions) in all of free agency. I've got that ESP vision going on right now, and I see them also getting one of the better internationals.
Question that I'm wondering about, for anybody who knows the answer: Do USWNT players who have been allocated to NWSL teams still have to sign contracts with those teams, or are they considered to be already signed by virtue of their national team contracts?