I can see a lot of people in this thread looking at the MLS with some suspicion and I really don't understand why. They are the holy grail for the NWSL to grow the league and be in a better footing. You want the matches televised nationally, you want the matches played in actually soccer parks and like Portland did, hopefully leverage the fan bases to build support for the women's game. Yes I agree there is the profit mentality aspect to the game, but if there are some you follow the MLS here, you must know how bad it was early on for the MLS, owners were losing millions every year to keep franchises afloat and one owner ended up buying 3 clubs to keep them all running. It took them years to build the fan bases to what they are now. The women's game could use owners like these that are willing to look for the long haul vision and help grow the game. And importantly they are getting some interest from the MLS clubs, Toronto and Vancouver to be specific. Vancouver we know supports the women's game, they have had a women's side for many years and have a strong academy that the CNT pulls for their U-17, U-20 teams. Toronto on the other hand brings the money. And yeah you can criticize they are not Soccer focused owners but a corporate looking to maximize its brand. But its Rogers Communications, one of the largest Cable, Wireless providers in North America with 10's of billions of dollars in revenue. They own the Maple Leafs who pull in 200million in revenue a year, the Raptors (who suck but still an NBA franchise) and the Toronto FC, not sure if they have any ownership of the Blue Jays, but they own 3 of the 4 major sports in Toronto. What Rogers does best is promote and are one of the best at promoting their franchises despite the pathetic efforts of their clubs making it to the playoffs, Rogers has control of the main sports TV channels in Canada and they all get air time there. These two franchises are going to help the NWSL not only survive but get more MLS owners onboard for expansion. The NWSL doesn't need to go full bore, they can take it slow and only add clubs slowly to try to keep some semblance of competition in the league, but I am all for seeing Vancouver and Toronto make it into the league next year. More money equals more cap space for the players, so we can see them playing full time instead of getting jobs or looking for work in Europe.
Just having a huge owner behind you does not guarantee success though. They have to be smart, unlike AEG who intentionally put themselves in the red and then pulled out after 1 year.
Agree with your post, but I think people have a hard time believing in this type ^^^ of buy-in and commitment for women's teams. Would love to be proven wrong if the opportunity arises.
Well let's see. More teams does not equal more cap space. It means more player slots total, but the cap is the same. If you have to raise the cap to bring teams in, then you break the fragile balance of the current financial model before they have any chance to grow the game and grow revenue. And then the league fails, or maybe it is a 3 team league of MLS owned teams. WUSA had ownership stakes by multiple cable companies and tv stations. Didn't help. Do you really want an owner that makes pathetic efforts with their teams? Please read the blog postings by Ciara McCormack about the Vancouver Whitecaps. http://girlscansocceradventures.wordpress.com/ Otherwise nothing else to say. If MLS teams think it is a easy money maker they will be in for a surprise, and that is bad for the NWSL.
One thing is for sure, the league needs more superstar talent up top. Currently, NWSL has 6 of the Top 20 forwards in the world on my Top 20 list (see link below). That may be better than just about every other league in the world, but NWSL needs more. Acquiring Christen Press for the league is key. But the young offensive talent coming out of college needs to STEP UP. This draft is crucial toward that. Top 20 forwards in the world: https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/top-20-forwards-in-the-world.1987591/
More cap space is a possibility because of a TV contract. Toronto as I said would be owned by Rogers Communication and they would automatically include a TV rights deal for the whole league. TSN the main Sports network in Canada that serves all 33million people would be at the forefront of promoting and televising the matches. They broadcast EPL and MLS matches with the focus being Toronto FC but they do show many other matches on their channels and all of them can be watched on their site since they are not Geo-blocked. I don't see Rogers ever using any of their sports properties as a forgotten step child where they barely give it any support. If that would be the case they wouldn't be spending the millions they do with the Maple Leafs, the Raptors and Toronto FC to keep trying to improve them. To Rogers they are an extension of their marketing efforts for their corporate brand. Rogers does have a track record of providing support and getting their product on TV so they can build it. And why would the MLS teams think this is an easy money maker? Its a start up league, all or most of these owners know what that was like. They had some big growing pains before the MLS became what it is now. The issue for any new owner is whether the fans come out to support the team. Toronto especially looks to be a good location. They sold out the June 2 fixture very quickly and the Toronto FC sell out their home matches. They have a 16 000 season ticket base. Their stadium only holds 20 000 so that should tell you about the potential support for a Toronto bid. Again I don't see why everyone is so distrustful of having MLS ownership who have slogged it out for a decade to get their league going. They have the parks, everyone here complains about the bad locations the ladies have to play in, these parks are new and many of them are on grass or turf/grass hybrid surfaces. Do you really want to go through a Magic Jack experience? That was pretty bad, at least with the MLS, you know who you are getting just by their track record. And the cap issue, I really do want to see revenue sharing so yes getting teams like Toronto that might be another big fanbase to build on can help with that.
I'm sure people know but just a reminder that TSN holds FIFA broadcast rights in Canada so in some corporate thinking sort of way it probably makes sense to promote NWSL in order to promote WWC 2015 which no doubt has potentially a very large audience in Canada.
OK Half way point look back at the college draft 1 Chicago Bywaters ... Solid player at some point but big fail as #1 pick 2 Wash McCarty ... see above. Both teams needed a scorer from the draft 3 KC Mewis ... been better for the big club than the league. Solid pick but not top player as billed 4 Sky Blue Cutshall ... always hurt, seen her play once, owes SB a season 5 Boston Short ... injured before start of season 6 WNY Franch ... first impact player of the draft, solid rookie season and big thing expected 7 Seattle Nairn ... Good first year player, worth the pick 8 Portland Williamson ... has done pretty well, solid starter, might be missing Edwards tho 9 Chicago Quon ... Steady but unspectacular 10 Wash Miller ... was doing ok as a sub/high energy play until she got hurt. 11 KC Tymrak ... probably the steal of the draft. Second best player drafted behind Franch 12 Sky Blue Johnson ... excellent pick, starts every game, would have helped a lot of teams 13 Boston Noguiera ... solid starter at DM, good selection. 14 WNY Barczak ... hasnt played much 15 Seattle Schaffer ... not on team 16 Portland Radovich ... did not make the team 17 Chicago Vancil ... has done a nice job as back-up to McLeod 18 Wash King ... arrived late but is starting now. Solid pick for 3rd round. 19 KC Berry ... not on team 20 Sky Blue Baker ... 3rd GK ... insurance when Loyden got hurt 21 Boston Dragotta ... has helped with Boston back line injuries. Good pick up this low. 22 WNY Martino ... gotten a lot of time while NTers r away and has done well 23 Seattle Meier ... filled in in the back and played well. 24 Portland Brooks ... stayed in Germany
if the nwsl was major league, bywaters would be a bust. she definitely has to do something her 2nd year. tymrak is the case of the 2nd rd player being a better overall talent than 1st round selection. i'm not sure mewis could hold her off if sermanni started to cap tymrak. there goes the sydney and mewis show. i'm sorry but quon is so over-rated, still can't get over the fuss over her capping for canada. she would have been a ball girl for the uswnt. martino and franche benefit from elma stability from coaching to ownership.
Draft rating 1 WNY ... Got there GK for life and a contributer in DiMartino 2 KC ... Mewis and Tymrak would equal best draft but if Mewis get allocated next year and shipped to another team KC loses out. 3 Sky Blue ... they got a solid starter in Johnson and maybe one in Cutshall if they ever get her on the field 4 Seattle ...Nairn has been one of the few consistent bright spots on the team 5 Portland ... they only got one player but she's started ever game 6 Boston ... they got a starter, a reserve the jury is still out on Short 7 Chicago ... Vancil and Quon have helped as role players but Bywaters is nothing but potential 8 Washington ... They got three young players who will either grow into player or wont. Right now King contributes the most.
I think Franch is the real deal ... she makes the great play but still lacks concentration on the easier ones...typical young GK.
Johnson reminds me of Brittany Taylor in the sense that Taylor also became an immediate starter her rookie year '10 (also in the back line with Rampone) and who is still playing now.