With talk of those teams leaving USL-1 how does this after their female counterparts? Could we see them forming a female version of that league or will they try to move them to the WPS?
I wouldn't expect a whole lot of effect on the W-League because they're so different. And if teams get disgruntled with the W-League, they can always go to the WPSL (which was how the WPSL was formed in the first place). Meanwhile, a WPS team is a whole different animal from most W-League teams. I could see FC Indiana or their sister team in Buffalo migrate to WPS without much trouble because they're already professional teams, but the other teams are largely made up of college players home for the summer, and they aren't eligible for WPS.
Nice thing about North American soccer is a club can have their different sides in different organizations. A USL club can have a indoor squad in the PASL, a women's squad in the W-L, a reserve side in the CSL, and their youth squads in the AYSO, Super Y-League, or Development Academy. I doubt seriously that IF the USL-1 clubs defect that they'd take their other sides away from the USL. It would hinder their players' development.
I believe that the Buffalo Flash owners are looking forward at a shot at a WPS franchise. The issue here in the Buffalo area is the availability of a venue to play the games. The stadia that we have here right now for pro sports can't support the dimensions of the soccer field. The only option here is to use the University of Buffalo Stadium to house a WPS franchise. The question is whether or not New York State will allow a pro franchise the use of the fields. I've also heard that the expansion bid for the Philly team might be having some minor difficulties. If that is the case, and either Buffalo or Indiana want to get into WPS, it might be able to take the position of Philly in the expansion timeline. Right now, this is just a rumor....don't know how true this is or not.
Interesting rumor. The Philly folks have paid their franchise fee and started selling tickets although there is the likelyhood that the Chester facility won't be ready in time for the start (according to the expansion forum). Are there owners in Buffalo ready to pay the $$ for a team? Because I haven't seen them listed in any potential WPS expansion lists.
They might not be on the radar right now, but my source says that it's definitely the focus of the ownership over the long term. First thing that they'll need to do is to find a suitable venue for a pro team - that might not be so easy. Once they can do that, it might mean they could more forward. I can't say that I know anything of the Philly situation - everything I heard came from the same source, so I'm just taking it as face value. Aaron
Well, Philly has fired their original head coach and hired a replacement. I'd say that would fall into a "having difficulties" category. So who knows. Atlanta hasn't announced their venue (despite promises). At this point, maybe I'll just need to believe they'll be functioning WPS teams only when I actually see/hear that they've played WPS games
The W-League claims NuRock is all about helping them out.... http://equalizersoccer.com/WebPages/blog.aspx?postid=9ea69710-ba79-402d-bd48-43bed27067dc And I'm not sure where the Buffalo stuff comes from. It hasn't even been on the radar, and there are many more capable markets being targeted for WPS like Vancouver, Colorado, San Diego and Seattle.