I talked with the league this week... http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-...l-Soccer-WPS-hoping-to-land-a-club-in-Seattle Note: Examiner has been experiencing off/on issues this weekend. Please check back. This is an interview with WPS Communications Director Rob Penner about the possibility of getting a Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) club in Seattle.
I think putting a team in Seattle would be a good thing for WPS, however...you can have a team, but you can't have Hope Solo (nor Tina Ellertson for that matter). She stays in St. Louis.
All locals *must* return when we get a club. That should mean we are competitive right from the start.
Philly looks like it's going to be incredibly competitive without getting any currently active ex-Chargers back - including Solo. Besides, there's STL-area talent spread around the league. We're not getting them back anytime soon, so neither are you getting yours back. Anyway, nice article find. And I agree, having Seattle in WPS would be an excellent step for the league. But shouldn't this thread be in the expansion forum?
Mods: please move to WPS expansion area. Thanks. Seattle Sounders Women 2010 http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-...n-plan-for-2010-introduce-season-ticket-offer http://seattlesounders.tix.com/ScheduleSubscriptions.asp?VenueCode=5968
Seattle seems like the next logical expansion team, followed by Toronto & Houston. I say add Seattle in 2011, then Houston & Toronto in 2012. In 2011, the league should divide into two conferences(like MLS) EAST New England Sky Blue FC Washington Atlanta Philadelphia (Toronto) WEST LA Sol FC Gold Pride Seattle Chicago St. Louis (Houston)
Whoa, nelly. Getting a little ahead of things, no? As for the Sounders Women's team, GOALSeattle, do you have any info on current level of support (ie attendance and sponsors) for the Wleague team? The team website I found via the examiner article doesn't seem to have been updated for the 2009 season. How successful are they at the Wleague level?
On the pitch they (Sounders Women) are annual Final Four contenders. Off the pitch they are not promoted much, and draw flies. I'd wager 200-400 per match at best, with occasional blips. Vancouver Whitecaps women are the 'power' in our region, being promoted alongside all of the Whitecaps clubs, and they draw 3-4k most matches. Let's remember, though, the USL Sounders also had low attendance. Look at them now, in MLS...
This is so true. I remember a few years ago when there were the USL Sounders and the W-League Sounders and it was actually sad how little the team was publicized. I did not expect them to be publicized as much as the men's team (considering there are no Title IX issues here), but it seemed like next to nothing was done. I know I would have attended more women's matches if I was informed about simple things like when they were taking place. It just seemed odd to me that I went to a men's Sounders game (same ownership group back then, right?) and they never once mentioned when the next women's Sounders game was taking place or otherwise mention the team. At least not that I noticed. Now it may have improved in the past few years, but as of ~2002 that's how it was. Since I just moved back to the area, I will make sure to check their website for the schedule after it gets released and head out for a few games.
GS, What is the latest on WPS Seattle? I would love to check out WPS Seattle and Marta! GS, are the Sounders interested in pursuing this?
LOL! It's safe to say Paul Allen could do it without even blinking!! All he would have to do is sell some thousands of the TENS of MILLIONS of shares of Microsoft he owns to get a WPS team in Seattle. Eventhough Allen's net worth has "fallen" to around 10 BILLION he would be by FAR and away the richest owner in WPS. He could easily own the entire league! The only question is have they done the market studies to show if Seattle can support a WPS team with the 4K to 5K avg. attendance they need? I'm guessing they can but you guys up there would know better.
No new details. Vancouver is an eventual certainty to join WPS after the men join MLS. WPS would like Seattle in as a 'natural rival.' Vancouver Whitecaps women currently go up against Seattle Sounders women in the W-league each summer. The Caps are a powerhouse and draw 3-5k per home match.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O18_b8FdhdA"]YouTube- Whitecaps Women v. Seattle Sounders - Highlights[/ame]
I would say probably with the combination of the Storm (WNBA) and women's sports at the UW being supported as well as the popularity of soccer in general in this part of the country.
Looking back over the schedules from 2007-now, the Whitecaps don't always report their home attendance to USLsoccer.com. I see (under match reports) crowds as low as 1,600 and as high as 5,420. http://www.uslsoccer.com/teams/2010/22395.html#MAIN You can look at previous years by changing the year in the address.
Male. Think how the Sounders have been recieved, just on a smaller scale. Women's soccer is big here as a player sport, and the college schools are competitive and draw OK. If done right (promotion, good name, colors, good place to play), Seattle WPS would be a smash. See also: Seattle's support for the WNBA Storm and UW Women's athletics.
I thought of that too but can you be sure the male support for the Sounders will parlay into a proportional success for a Seattle WPS team? Since you already have big female teams in other sports could the market already be saturated for female sports and a WPS might not make it? I'm just playing devil's advocate since these things need to be looked at before you get a team anyway. Being such a great soccer market you know why you weren't looked at to start in WPS last year?
Oh, it will be a different market for WPS: girls, families, general soccer lovers. Supporters clubs will have to be wooed. The league wants Seattle in, but right now we have stadium and ownership challenges to solve.
Ownership challenges?? LOL....Paul Allen (net worth $10BILLION+) could own a Seattle WPS team and not even NOTICE it! You could ask Allen right now, "Hey Paul I heard you own a Seattle WPS team." Allen would say, "Oh really? Ok, maybe I do." LMAO!!