I have trouble seeing an Atlanta team accepted unless it was backed by a men's team, for the same reasons the LA Blues weren't accepted - no-one else close, making traveling for away games a problem. However, imagine a 2017 with RSL, LAFC, and Atl. bringing the league up to 12...
This Atlanta group seems to be a joke. First off their domain is registered by "Mediabeam, Inc." According to Google searches, Mediabeam is a satellite installer based in Tucker, GA. Um... ok. So where's their soccer experience? If they were serious about this, they should have at least a WPSL team or something. And their website looks like a Geocities page made in the 90s. They could've even spring for a cheap logo from one of the freelancer sites? Plus they want to play at Henderson Field, a high school football stadium with gridiron lines and a track? When Atlanta is one of the few metro areas to actually have an appropriately sized SSS? Yeah, I know Silverbacks Park is kinda on the outskirts of the metro area and Henderson is more central, but if the NWSL is gonna accept a bid like this one, there is no reason they should've turned down the Blues. (And at this point I'd rather see the league focus on getting the RSL and SJ Earthquakes backed teams in the league)
Actually, I think the talent pool is quite deep. There may be a lot of people who don't have the technical ability of the top 23 players in the WNT pool, but there is a group of women who are dedicated, fit, and just need a chance to get seen.
You could see up to 14 teams in this league soon. A couple of expansion teams in 2016, and possibly up to 3 more in 2017. 14 is the max right now without noticing too much of a drop off in quality per team. Once they get to 15+, it'll become more noticeable, so they probably need to wait at least 5 more years to get to 16. 16 will happen eventually.
Boy Im not seeing this deep well of talent that a lot of u are seeing. Where was this surplus of talent when Houston expanded? Most of the best US players have already returned home. The money isnt there to bring in big foreign players. Next years college draft should be much weaker than this one. Im for a slow, steady build. Get to 10 teams and see what u have. In most pro leagues expansion is fueled by the buy in fees that go into the coffers of the current owners. As the NWSL seems to have an open door policy, I really see little incentive for the current owners to further dilute the talent. There r bigger fish to fry than trying to reach a league size quota.
Yeah this seems like a practical joke to me. Maybe someone is taking the piss out of women soccer fans
Losing Bock almost immediately certainly didnt help them and they never got Sameshima or Sesselman. Still none of those players would have figured in the anemic attack though they would have helped on defense. The Houston attack for the most part featured two rookies, a second year forward and an international who was more of a role player. It wasnt until Henderson arrived that the attack seemed to gel a bit. This year we can hope that Lloyd, Brian and Rosana absorb a lot of the defensive pressure and give the young attack room to operate.
I think one can help the other though. A better defense allows more freedom to the offense. More stops = more opportunities. They could also provide better service to start attacks from the rear. You can also play higher with more confidence.
I dont think they would allow a rush expansion for a club with no soccer experience connection, a strong group backing a team (MLS Club or other Major S&E group, and expecially not into a HS football stadium. They did not plan for expansion in 2014 but Houston was one they could not turn down. RSL could very well be the next and best group for expansion. Will have a new pro soccer stadium built for their Minor League USL team in which a NWSL club could play out of. With the option of using the MLS stadium as well. Getting the current clubs, who need to, get into a much better stadium situation. The star power players from USWNT and CWNT are used to playing in world class/pro style veneus. Having them play at a HS football field or a practice facility really not made for legue matches or for TV coverage. Building towards an MLS type league where there will be growing amount of US talent that may not be on the National team or no longer be on the National team. Having pro veneus and proffesional Network coverage both local and National could keep players from retiring early. Retiring because they no longer want the grind of the National team schedule, are now longer in consideration for the National team, or just below the level of being on the USWNT. Should be no reason why players who love to play see the NWSL as a great option to stay on the pitch and play in a top domestic league. Buliding to the point of where the WNBA is right now. I think there is plenty of room and plenty of women athletes now to have two top pro women's sports leagues.
I don't think you can use Houston as a good example. Their expansion draft picks were pretty baffling sometimes. Why would you pick 2 players from the last place team (one of them a defender on the worst defense), and 0 players from the first place team? Seriously, is Kika Toulouse better than Barczuk, Huffman, or Salem? All who were available (you might say well Huffman wanted to go to Portland, but then Houston could've traded Shim and Huffman for someone better than Nikki Washington...). They could've gotten Sarah Hagen from FCKC rather than Sesselmann (although too be fair they didn't know she'd get injured, but still the offense of Hagen would've been nice). Could've picked Kelley O'Hara from SBFC rather than Danesha Adams and Bock. Or they could've picked Ashley Nick who they've ended up trading for.
Atlanta-based group exploring possibility of #NWSL team (http://t.co/xOLRkqJo3x) includes Southfund Partners: http://t.co/9mPN3AgX3L— Jeff Kassouf (@JeffKassouf) January 7, 2015 If that's true... then I think they can afford to play at Silverbacks Park. Heck, I think they could just buy Silverbacks park straight up...
When it comes to talent pool stuff, I'm usually of the opinion "If you build it, they will come". I mean, look at MLS - in two different ways: -People have always cried "expansion will dilute the talent" whenever big MLS expansion comes up, but the league has only risen in quality over the years. -There are more girls playing college soccer than guys playing college soccer, so just based on that alone* you would think there's more talent out there for a pro women's league than a pro men's league in the US. *You can't base it on that alone, of course, since NWSL is on a much lower pay scale and since MLS isn't relying on college kids nearly as much as it used to simply because developmental systems and minor leagues play a bigger role in the men's game, but the general idea still stands. All that said, for that to work I think expansion has to be done gradually - add five teams in two years and the replenishment rate isn't high enough.
Your absolutely right and the timing could not be better. Women's NCAA basketball gets a lot of airtime on ESPN and with the backing of the NBA at first that combo has the WNBA now fully covered on ESPN and NBATV. With the big conferences now having their own networks womens college soccer will get more air time and with the backing of USSF the league will begin to move. Having MLS brother team gets teams into professional venues. Now there are more WNBA teams that do not have NBA team support but do have support of other groups. The Sparks are owned by the Dodgers group. Be prepared and don't panic if a team does need to fold and there will be teams moving to other cities in which an ownership group and a venue will exist. Even in the big time big 4 sports teams still lose support or move to a better situation somewhere else. The standard of an ownership group is beginning to evolve and better venue situations are beginning to happen already in just after 2 seasons. Unlike Women's basketball Canada has a popular women's soccer culture growing. Already there are 3 MLS teams in Canada where baseball, basketball still only exist in Toronto.
There will be more internationals coming over. And more Brazilians will be joining as well. 2016 is a banner year for NWSL.
Well "Backroom deals in the NWSL" would be a fascinating topic for speculation. How the shield winner wasnt fit to supply Houston a single player or how Seattle got thru it with it's starters in tact certainly wasnt a coincidence. The Hagen decision was awful if they actually had the choice to take her. U could make a case the entire expansion draft was contrived and maybe it was. 2014 NWSL Expansion Draft Results Brittany Bock (SBFC) Tiffany McCarty (WAS) Lauren Sesselmann (FCKC) Meleana Shim (PTFC) Ella Masar (CRS) Meghan Klingenberg (BOS) Arianna Romero (SRFC) Becky Edwards (PTFC) Danesha Adams (SBFC) Gabriella Toulouse (WAS) Bock & Edwards were coming off injuries, Sesselmann was in contract dispute, Klingenberg and Romero had never played with the team they were allocated to, Masar had asked to be moved and other than Shim, the rest were spare parts. Then to add to the conspiracy, Shim immediately gets traded back for another player coming off injury with a draft pick to lessen the blow. Except maybe for Klingenberg it looks like the teams chose which player the Dash got.
Which is what I said. Add one team and go from there The idea that the same talent pool plus one college draft class can support adding 3 or 5 teams is crazy.
I seriously doubt that all these teams are going to be ready to rock by next summer. Houston got away with it because all the infrastructure was in place and the Houston Dash were major players. Salt Lake hasn't built the facility they were talking about adding a women's team to yet and LAFC's men's side hasn't even played a game. And we're also assuming pure expansion and no contractions, but let's be real, we have reasons to be worried about several of the NWSL minnows. Adding 5 teams without dilution is pretty plausible when you lose 3 others.
Oddly enough, the "minnows" r the core teams who have been around forever in one form or the other. Barring a major change in the league budgetary formula, I dont see those teams going anywhere.
Except FCKC. If they have poor attendance again this year, maybe their ownership group would be looking to sell?
Doubtful since it seem most of the attendance problems were caused by moving the team and raising prices. They drew well the first year.