Director of W-League Operations Melanie Fitzgerald season recap

I have heard that there are several teams very upset with this W League. There has been rumors of teams pulling out all over the country.
The league seems to have the have and the have nots. Scores in the east were 12-0, 7-0 etc. NY's field was 100 x 50. The playoffs were a joke. MPS was invited and turned it down(who does that)
W Mass and Ct had to take forfeits during the regular season what a joke for a top league.
Did the Hudson Valley and Washington players get anything out of pounding these teams?? When Hudson Valley finally played Pali they got smacked 5-0.
This league is a joke and seems to be a money maker for the A League for the men.Where does all the $$$ go.
Give this league a few years and it will be done

 

A bunch of issues here:

- Haves and have-nots: True, but that's been the case ever since I've been following the W-League. Some organizations recruit heavily and bring in "ringers" from international teams, while others just have their local college players who are home for the summer. (I'm proud of the Freedom, incidentally, who manage to produce a quality team while still relying on players with local ties.) The rival league, the WPSL, has the same situation. Looking at their schedule I see similar 7-0, 8-0, 8-1 results.

- Renegades turning down a playoff spot: I wonder if they had second thoughts about that after the team that replaced them beat the host team on their own turf.

- Pali rout of Hudson Valley: In Quickstrike's defense, they were missing most of their top players, who had already been called into college training camp, while the Blues were nearly full-strength. Note that when Pali was similarly depleted, they had their hands full beating the (also depleted) Freedom, a team that couldn't beat the Quickstrike Lady Blues during the regular season.

- League survival: Well, the league has been around since 1995 and survived the WUSA era, so I wouldn't count them out yet.

 

Thank you Jerry Zanelli!

 

You must be new to the W-League

W-League and "money maker" have never been put in the same sentence.

 

The league cost over $25,000 to join. Then you have to pay over $8,000 in league fees and what do you get?

It is the biggest waste of money ever.

 

Ok, the W-League doesn't have anything to do with the A-League. This ain't Australia, dude. The W-League has been a stable, reliable "joke" since 1995, which is an eternity in US soccer history. And, BTW, they've had teams pull out and move to another league before. So it's no biggie.

 

With the NCAA women's schedule starting a week earlier, the W-league will need to adjust accordingly unless they want more playoff embarrassments like this year. What's the point of having playoffs if most teams will be missing their top collegiate players? Were they just not paying attention? Or was the NCAA schedule change made after the W-league had already locked in their schedules for the year?

 

[FONT=Arial,Verdana,Geneva,Helvetica,sans-serif]USL announces Executive Restructuring
[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Verdana,Geneva,Helvetica,sans-serif] Papadakis assumes CEO role; Holt named USL President;
Marcos to focus on international development
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]TAMPA, FL (Aug 31, 2009) – United Soccer Leagues announced Monday the restructuring of its executive management team following last week’s acquisition of USL by NuRock Soccer Holdings from Nike. NuRock’s Rob Hoskins will serve as Chairman with Alec Papadakis being named CEO. USL’s Tim Holt has been named President of the organization with founder Francisco Marcos transitioning to the position of President Emeritus and Senior Director of International Development.

Hoskins, the Chairman of NuRock Soccer Holdings brings his valuable management and branding experience to the soccer industry.

Papadakis, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of NuRock Soccer Holdings, is a franchise attorney with domestic and international expansion experience. As a player in the North American Soccer League for the Atlanta Chiefs and the Boston Minutemen, Papadakis has had a long, storied soccer career in the United States at the collegiate and professional level, with numerous accolades.

Holt has served as the Executive Vice President and COO the past two years after previously being named Vice President in 2004. He joined USL as the Director of USL First Division Operations in April 1999 and added the responsibility of overseeing the operations of all USL senior leagues in November of 2002.

Marcos founded United Soccer Leagues in 1986 as a five-team indoor soccer league in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico and oversaw its growth to over 100 franchises in two professional men’s divisions, an elite men’s development league and a women’s league as well as the creation of two youth development leagues.

As Senior Director of International Development, Marcos will expand his recent efforts in the area of international relationships and partnerships as his primary role with the organization, utilizing his European background and residency as well as his numerous relationships with soccer leaders around the world to aid USL in its objectives to foster meaningful relationships between USL, its clubs and players with foreign clubs and organizations.

“This is the proper time for a transition to occur,” said Marcos. “I have long believed that the integration of USL with the world beyond our North American borders is a critical part in expanding the profile of our organization as well as aiding our clubs in providing additional development opportunities. I will be focusing my energies to the fullest extent to that end.”

As the new Chief Executive Officer of USL, Papadakis will immediately take USL business on as his primary full-time focus, serving as the lead executive as well as an owner.

“I look forward to meeting each individual franchise owner to familiarize myself with the key issues they are facing and the opportunities that are available throughout our system of leagues,” said Papadakis. “There are some exciting plans that we have for the professional divisions that we are in the process of forging which will raise the level of success and the profile of the leagues on and off the field.”

The executive management restructuring has been a part of the new ownership’s swift movement to immediately begin the process of increasing the success of the organization, which began with meetings with the current USL staff at its headquarters in Tampa, Fl and will continue with developing and unveiling its plans for the future with all member clubs in the coming months as the Annual General Meeting approaches.

“I am grateful for the continued opportunity to serve USL and work with our franchises and clubs throughout North America,” said Holt. “It is exciting to have new ownership that is undertaking an active hands-on role with our staff as well as with our teams. The expertise they bring to the table for USL as a business and for our member clubs will no doubt raise the level of success across the board.”

NuRock Soccer Holdings LLC
NuRock Soccer Holdings LLC is part of the umbrella family of companies known as The NuRock Companies. The Principals of NuRock have a dedicated and deep understanding of the soccer industry. As part of its family of companies, NuRock is an existing USL franchisee, with a USL Premier Development League operation in Atlanta. Robert Hoskins is the Chairman of NuRock Soccer Holdings LLC and is the Founder and Managing Principal of The NuRock Companies. Alec Papadakis is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of NuRock Soccer Holdings.

United Soccer Leagues
United Soccer Leagues (“USL”), with headquarters in Tampa, FL, is the largest organization of elite-level soccer leagues in North America. USL is comprised of six leagues, USL First and Second Divisions (men’s professional soccer), Premier Development League (men’s under-23), W-League (women’s), Super-20 League (under-20, men’s and women’s amateur), and Super Y-League (boy’s and girl’s elite youth amateur). Dedicated to growing the sport of soccer at the grassroots level, USL has provided a platform for thousands of players to reach their dreams over the last three decades.
[/FONT]

 

My understanding is that the NCAA decision wasn't finalized until May, which was way too late for the W-League to modify its schedule.

 

That would make sense. Thanks.

 

I am just saying that the league does not seem to fit all the clubs involved. You have teams like HV, Wash, Mass that are run like WPS teams. While W Mass and NY are like JV teams. Ct was like a youth team. NJ and LI were close to the top teams but just not there yet.

14 games for HV and Wash and only a few were competitve or from reading their stories very few teams even tried to play against them.

Does this type of schedule help anyone? Are the college coaches happy with the lack of competition their girls played all summer?

Just seems like a lot of money to spend for not a lot back from the league.

 

w-league wil be fine. there california clubs interested for next year

 

I just heard that the W League Boston (MPS) Renegades pulled out of the league

 

Are these additional west coast clubs? The W-League doesn't have many - it would be nice to be more evenly spread out.

 

The Renegades also declined to travel to Atlanta to participate in the Eastern Conference playoffs. I don't know if these two decisions are associated.

 

I also heard while at the BC vs UNC game tonight that the Ct team in the W League is also pulling out?Is that true?Losing both Boston and Ct will not be good for the Northeast region

 

• Looks like the Minnesota Lightning are bolting the W-League as the Minnesota Thunder are leaving USL

​

 

Both are going to the WPSL, I hear.

 

The Renegades are not participating in 2010 W-League due to economics.