Jacqueline Purdy interviews Antonucci for soccernet. Some very interesting things in the interview. Not as many specifics as fans might like, of course, but she talks about sponsorships, attendance, expansion draft, the Michelle Akers Trophy (for the MVP), and her decision to suspend Abby & McNeil.
good find kool-aide. I like the idea of a third team on the west coast. Seattle would be great, as well as San Diego IMO. With 10 teams you can plan your schedule much better and hopefully get rid of the weekend games and those "you are playing five games in 14 days" issues. The Michelle Aker's trophy is a neat idea; good to see that she is been honored as she deserves. I'm glad that she offered some further explanation regarding the Abby- Kia suspension. Whether I agree with it or not is other issue, but it goes to show that everybody is being measured with the same stick.
I also found this interview at fifa.com http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/developing/women/news/newsid=1072308.html#antonucci+we+connecting
Close to a .1 rating and 50,000 viewers? The show Jon and Kate plus 8 got some 10 million viewers after their divorce news. It just saddens me to no end.
I found this blog entry about MLS ratings this year on FSC and WPS seems to be holding their own, especially since the world is still spreading about WPS. http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com/wps-and-epl-big-winners-for-fox-in-ratings-game/4026 Not sure how accurate the ratings are, but the author mentions the same .1 as Antonucci, so I like to think the author has done his homework. the author also mentions the MLS ratings on ESPN and another entry on the site brings up the point that FSC is found in less than 1/3 of households compared to ESPN2.
Nice find Charbs. I do not know much about where to find tv ratings (and therefore how to judge figures) so I was happy to see some numbers for comparison. I was happy with the almost 50,000 viewers--even more now when looking at a comparison with other FSC viewing numbers. I really do think the FSC deal was huge for WPS--an opportunity to get an adult soccer fan market to see the product. The buy in figure was much lower than I thought it would be at $1mil. Granted, there are other expenses to cover (and minor details like, oh, a place to play) but still. If I win the lottery, I'm there....
Yes, nice find. Interesting to see the numbers for Spanish-language broadcasts. Makes you wonder if the WPS needs to make a deal with ESPN Deportes. I mentioned on a different thread how receptive many young Hispanic-American men are to the women's soccer league. Surprisingly so given the stereotype of Latin American cultures being more chauvinistic. And it could still be that way in their parents' native countries, but here and now it's a different story...
Thinking about Antonucci's "diversifying revenue streams" comment and the various ads for camps (like Cristiane at a 2 day "Brazilian footwork" clinic) made me wonder how much teams might make from camp fees. can a successful camp program cover for lower than expected sponsorship in Year 1? Clearly, you do not want your camp to make more money than your league on a regular basis but camps have been big business (don't know about this summer ITTE). NCAA schools make a bunch of $$ with their camps (not just soccer) and players can augment their salaries w/ appearances. Kids attending camps at various NCAA schools also tend to buy merchandise while at camp. Again, this was all in a different economic climate, of course. Does anyone know how WPS's approach to camps compares MLS or WUSA? I pay attention to MLS games but not their community or youth stuff but I know some (many?) of them have youth club teams. I do remember the Courage having some camps (there was even one for adults) but I do not remember quite this level of visibility for the camps.
Actually, there is Fox Sports Espanol...Some WPS games were shown on that channel... I think there is a nasty feud between WPS and ESPN TV network anyway...