Don't know how many have read this yet but Jeff DiVeronica, who writes for the Democrat & Chronicle in the Rochester area, has a very interesting article out about possible WPS changes and news with expansions. Some major points: WPS is looking at a possible salary cap The salary cap may have a "tax" if a team were to spend more than the salary cap. The tax money would go to the league. Representatives from club teams from Connecticut and California were expected to be at the Championship match. (Don't know if they were there or not) DiVeronica seems to talks as if Borislow will be here next season. They are looking at a possible league wide break for the Olympics extending possibly 11 days after to give the international players a break. This would make the season extend into September. And most importantly, DiVeronica seems pretty adamant the chances of a season next year are very high.
Good stuff; lot's of positives in this write up. I found this interesting: "[Wambach's] a free agent, too, but expect her to stay with Borislow's club as long as he's in WPS. Wambach is his player-coach and he considered her the league's biggest draw even before her household-name-making performance at the World Cup." Looks as if magicdan maybe in for the long haul. Who made the comment about Abby becoming MagicJack VP in the future?
Thanks much for the link. There was a salary cap in Years 1-2. The "luxury tax" idea w/ the money going to the league/other teams is a good idea. I saw on twitter where Emma Hayes suggested folks would be surprised at how low the WNY salary budget was (not that she claimed they were doing things on the cheap. more that they weren't overpaying the way many think/thought). Players weren't that happy w/ the season extended into Sept in Year 2. The folks that try to get fall coaching gigs and/or go to school to finish undergrad degrees (or continue/start grad degrees) were not able to do that last off-season. Also, the fall sports calendar is VERY crowded. Visibility for the final games and playoffs is highly problematic. Last year Boston couldn't play their first round playoff game at Harvard b/c of the season going so long and Harvard having other things scheduled for the field.
We had a news thread... I guess it is kinda buried by now, though... I'm personally all for bringing the salary cap back. Seeing the discrepancy between WNY/mJ and ATL/NJ makes me think it's needed, as much as Abby said it might filter away a little bit of top talent. I also really like the tax idea, even though (from what we've been hearing) the league itself (i.e. the virtual FO) doesn't have financial problems, only the individual teams. As confident as everyone is, I'm not going to feel entirely comfortable until we have six solidly committed teams - right now we have three or four. I'm liking the optimism, though. Too bad the Olympics is later in the year than the world cup... Going into September does not sound like a good idea to me. I think they should aim for having the season over, save maybe one or two matchdays, by the start of the Olympics, then take only five- to seven-days' break and try to be done with the postseason by the end of August.
I think a salary cap will filter away the mid-level talent not the top talent. Abby, Rapinoe, Cheney, etc will still get paid. It is the mid-level pros that will get the squeeze. That's one reason you saw players like Manya Makoski go to Finland. And Weimer play in Vancouver. Those are the players that will either find something else to do or play elsewhere if the salaries get too small. The top players will get paid. But a top league needs mid-level pros or they can't really develop the game or young players or call themselves a top league. This statement is very interesting to me. I think the mid-level players are (rightly) very concerned about some things. Perhaps one or two of those things is the league working with them on scheduling so they can play and pursue jobs/education in the off-season.
I just didn't want some of this news to be buried in another thread. Figured the things like the news of the possible expansion teams (Connecticut? ) and the salary cap deserved a new thread since they might be big discussion points.
Fitz called this season an "open season" without a cap. That seemed to be mentioned in another story today. (Not I'm hurt that all of you apparently don't follow me on Twitter any more -- I know, it's the constant MMA talk.)
I was just going to mention your article on ESPNW "WPS' Future is Taking Shape" and save you from stooping to self-promotion.
What about Chicago? What about the Red Stars? What about the midwest in general? IMO, you can't have a league with most of its teams on the eastcoast, maybe one team in California and nothing in between. It would be a shame to ignore the midwest in expansion plans.
Well, when the midwest has an investor pony up money to get a team into the league, then we'll have a midwest team.
I still have to believe that travel costs are a major part of every teams budget. It's going to be a huge problem for any midwest team and west coast team. Figure you have to fly over 20 people across the country and then spend at least one night in a hotel and do that 9-12 times a year depending on the size of the schedule. That's why there almost needs to be two or three west coast teams or two or three midwest teams to cut down on the travel costs a bit. Saint Louis took the bus to Chicago when both teams were in the league. Nobody in the league now is within bus range of Chicago.
salary cap in wps = everyone looking the same. you need power house rivals like wny and mj. if they want to spend and load their rosters, then so be it. and you are going to have bottom dweller like atlanta who make a bid to upset the sharks. no salary. fitz has a salary cap already.
But honestly, how much of the league is within "bus range" of each other already? You're talking brutal trips for the most part. The fact is that flying is the primary transportation mode already. What was the season this year? 9 road games. magicjack and Atlanta may have ridden the bus (not an easy trip) between Miami and Atlanta, but I'm pretty sure they were on a plane the rest of the time. Who did Boston bus to? We're not talking about some Single A baseball minor league where 8 teams are packed in a 2-3 state area. The same thing comes up with the "MLS needs a 'Southern' team". Which is stupid, as any team is going to be meaningless unless the team is within an hour's drive, and the "Southeast" as it is defined in various threads is about 1/3rd of the U.S. You can call a team "Carolina" and put it in Charlotte, but I'm not driving from Durham just because they're "in the South". The fact that nobody is withing "bus range" of Chicago or Kansas City or Saint Louis doesn't really matter. WPS is very comparable to the NASL. The main differences are that WPS can pull in national sponsors that the NASL can't match, while local sponsors are more likely to put money into men's teams than women's. The 8 team NASL has teams in Edmonton and San Juan. Next year they're swapping Montreal for San Antonio. It's brutal, it's expensive. But that's the reality given the size of the U.S.
Boston, WNY, Philly, and SBFC were all pretty "busable." Add a team from CT, and you really have a nice NE cluster. Given where attendance is, I'd try to build clusters. However, the upside to Chicago is O'Hare doesn't tend to be a very expensive place to fly, so if anyone can pull it off in isolation, it may be them.
Does anyone think that selling stock in a team, such as the Green Bay packers or Cleveland Indians, would work in some markets here? If more fans were investors, and general admission tickets/upgrades were generously discounted to stock holders (perhaps even free for the first game or first few games of the season), attendance would boom among those trying to have more of a stake in the team.
There was a salary cap in Year 1 and Year 2. Did everyone look the same? The luxury tax idea would allow owners who wanted to sink in a lot more cash do that.
I generally don't like salary cap's, but with a luxury tax on exessive spening instead of a hard cap, it becomes a much better idea.
And in Year 1 & 2 in WPS players could increase their take home pay by doing personal appearances and other non-playing things like that. Some teams claimed other teams fudge the numbers by giving some players "appearance money" when the player didn't necessarily make additional appearances.
What I think (more?) teams should look into is getting sponsors for individual players (sponsors that could be fans, not just businesses). Kinda like how people have the "help me raise $1000 for my marathon run." But instead "help sponsor Carrie Dew to play WPS. Click here to buy a $2 share and receive monthly emails/letters/calls from Dew about the team/practice/etc. A $50 share gets you a weekly email/etc. $500 gets you two personal soccer training sessions plus the weekly email/etc" That sort of thing. People don't think that much about spending $1 or $2 bucks -- kinda like the 99¢ itunes purchase. Ideally, of course, teams would have marketing and sales people that would be able to sell businesses on the team. But reality is the teams just don't have the budgets for a medium size staff.
Exactly. I mean I totally understand that players want to promote charities like PUMA's project pink and various other things. But what about applying that sort of model to supporting their own club.
Yes, I've heard that answer before. But when the MLS wants to expand into a certain area, the league makes it known and encourages ownerships to form or come forth. All I've heard is the league saying how they want a team in the west coast with no mention of the midwest. Shame. Soccer is not just played/watched on the east or west coasts in this country.
The whole Northeast cluster bussed everywhere. MJ and ATL were on a plane every time, sure, but four of the six teams in driving distance helps. Most of these teams left overnight following the game to save a night in a hotel. When WNY went to Boston, they went in a day early, stayed over, played and left after the game that night (which put them back in Buffalo circa 6 a.m.). Boston did the same going to WNY. Sky Blue did the same going to WNY. Philly, etc.
I wonder why they don't go to a hard salary cap? Particularly with such a small league, if you have enough money and are willing to pay the luxury tax, you can still emulate the Yankees and try to outspend the other clubs.
