New York Article on NWSL/Washington Spirit

Discussion in 'NWSL' started by Tokonta, Apr 19, 2014.

  1. Tokonta

    Tokonta Member

    Dec 11, 2008
    Originally titled:
    Desperate League Looks to Connect in Order to Survive!

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/s...ens-soccer-league-a-path-to-success.html?_r=0

    Bill Lynch's terrific response:

    https://twitter.com/Sarah_Gehrke/status/457270989554855937/photo/1

    IMHO this writer didn't do their homework on past history of other leagues, attendance, speed/technical play of the womens game, free clinics, life lessons passed on to young girls and yes, girls playing this game for pennies because they love the game.
    You have to crawl before you walk, marketing needs to be better, salaries need to improve and attendance has to increase! Sound familiar.
    Lastly, with all the newspapers rapidly disappearing you would think this writer could have, should have written a positive article but that wouldn't have sold papers!
     
  2. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    *nods*
    Someone posted a link to this article on an Equalizer piece and said many of the same things. This writer tried to highlight as many "problems" with the league as they could. One of the biggest grievances I had was that the author highlighted both Bill's 3k target and the 2.3k home opener, but completely ignored last season's 3.8k average.
     
  3. kernel_thai

    kernel_thai Member+

    Oct 24, 2012
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Well the first problem was the original title. Who exactly is desperate. None of the teams r apparently in any financial trouble at the start of year two which apparently wasnt the case in the other two leagues. Plus the league actually added a team this year. While the dip in attendance in Washington was troubling and hopefully not a trend, the number new kid on the block Houston threw up was way above expectation.
     
  4. Beau Dure

    Beau Dure Member+

    May 31, 2000
    Vienna, VA
    The original headline was the big problem. You could quibble here and there with the rest of the story, but the headline was the killer.
     
  5. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, the article writers don't write the headlines, so it's not his fault. Overall, I didn't see anything particularly wrong with the article except it was fluff without substance.
     
  6. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006

    The article completely ignored the successes of this league. Funny that the thorns didn't exist.
     
  7. BlueCrimson

    BlueCrimson Member+

    North Carolina Courage
    United States
    Nov 21, 2012
    Cincinnati, Ohio
    Club:
    Sydney FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Talking about the Thorns and the Riveters would only further highlight the flaws in this story.
     
  8. cpthomas

    cpthomas BigSoccer Supporter

    Portland Thorns
    United States
    Jan 10, 2008
    Portland, Oregon
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well, according to most BS posters on the attendance issue, talking about the Thorns and Riveters is irrelevant because Portland is so unique that it isn't really relevant to attendance or financial survival for the rest of the league's teams. (Houston may cause them to reconsider.)

    If you read the article to get its central message, it isn't much different than what you read on BigSoccer every day.
     
  9. Cliveworshipper

    Cliveworshipper Member+

    Dec 3, 2006
    #9 Cliveworshipper, Apr 19, 2014
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2014

    Yes, that's true, but here we at least know that the Thorns and Riveters exist.

    You would have no way of knowing from that article that a team had an average attendance of over 13,000 and have sold almost that many season tickets this year.

    The largest money earner and league champion isn't even mentioned.
     
  10. SiberianThunderT

    Sep 21, 2008
    DC
    Club:
    Saint Louis Athletica
    Nat'l Team:
    Spain
    It's true that, based on last year alone, the Thorns were a very different team than the other organizations in the league. But there were many other successes that the league had last year, and I wholeheartedly agree that the article completely ignored said successes, such as the attendances for KC and DC last year, and some of the international talent the league has been able to attract despite its shoestring budget. Those kinds of things are highlighted here on BS a lot, so I disagree that the general feeling of the article matched the general feeling on these boards.
     

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