I'm assuming that the teams that can afford to stay professional would jump over to NISA and the clubs that can't would go back to amateur NPSL.
I think this is a natural consequence of what happens when fools and their money are separated. When folks of decent means catch Eurosnob-fever and get all wrapped up on pro/rel and open leagues and jump into bed with the Cosmos and Miami FC before realizing that they're not just paying a lot of money to be the Washington Generals - the anointed patsies as the Cosmos try to add yet another glorious professional championship to their increasingly watered down list.
Who doesn't have a soccer league in the US? They are popping up like mushrooms after an overnight rain.
And to think all it's going to take is find that one front office genius who can market the team properly and do things right and they'll be no stopping them!
They got a couple thousand for a game their first year. I was only able to get two crowd figures for them for 2018 (350 avg.). I like their chances better than, say, the Oakland Roots, but they don't strike me as a candidate for a full-fledged pro league.
This is going to sound way more doomsday than I think it really is, but is this the way you kill a growing sport in this country? Between these guys and the women, do you think that everyone using lawsuits to get "their rightful piece of the pie", does this kill the golden goose? For what it's worth, I think MLS owners know that they have a good thing going, and will protect it, whatever else goes on. However, this feels like the bad old days when the internal squabbling killed multiple leagues, just with a bigger, more mature market backing the sport now.
From today's Soccer America email: U.S. Soccer outside legal fees FY AMOUNT 2014: $427,000 2015: $2.1 million 2016: $3.4 million 2017: $2.6 million 2018: $3.0 million 2019: $2.9 million (projected) 2020: $3.0 million (budgeted)
Provided they win of course.............kind of a pre-requisite for "Victory Tour" after all. It'll be interesting to see how/if their stance changes if they fail to win the World Cup or have a poor showing.
I doubt they win. Normally, they win when they have their heads together, and they very clearly do not this time around. Just look at the SheBelieves Cup. I'm projecting Semis.
Smart money would be on the host nation France winning it. The rest of the world is quickly passing the US women by while they pout and shout for even more money & their guaranteed spots. Meanwhile the development of the women's game in the US might as well be stuck in the stone ages. They hopefully will figure out what the men figured out decades ago: the rest of the world is playing chess (technically and tactically superior players) and the US is playing checkers (everyone is an athlete, but lacks the basic technical and tactical skills to compete).
I agree with the former, but the latter is horseshit. There are some structural issues and some financial reasons that often prevent the USWNT from playing at its' best. But the U.S. isn't being passed by anymore than the Brazil men are - even though they don't win every World Cup.
No, I think the last World Cup proved that is if the US is hungry, they are still easily the team to beat. When they start believing their own BS, that's when they get beat. Right now, they're believing the hype.
I don't think it's that they believe the hype. I think most of the players are very cognizant of the shortcomings, but much like 2003 or 2007, players aren't generally going to voluntarily step aside for someone better. I am very strongly pro-union, but the USWNTPA is a big part of the problem. The USWNTPA CBA is structurally very different from the USMNTPA's. The bar for entry into the union is higher. Tom Sermanni was axed within a couple of months of effectively doubling the size of the union by continuing to try new players and give them caps - which would've severely watered down the strength of the existing union members. US Soccer and the USWNTPA are pretty much beholden to each other and the weakest link tends to be the head coach. Ellis survives because she understands her weakness. Alex Morgan should never have gone to Canada. We take injured players to Olympics and World Cups all the time for marketing reasons. Megan Rapinoe should never have gone to Rio. These are self-inflicted wounds. Currently the biggest weakness on the squad is outside back. The WNT program refuses to use the best American outside back for political reasons. The backlash in a very loud and motivated subset of the fan base makes it really hard. But that's all it is. The women at this level just want to win, they don't want to be your friend, but they'll be your teammate if you help them win. That same player has played in the last three NWSL finals with a team that won two of them, and has won the last two NWSL Shields - the last one as the most dominant women's soccer team on the planet. And it's captained by a publicly gay woman. They've played next to each other on the back line. There are no problems in the locker room. But the player in question is considered too toxic social media-wise for the USWNT despite an obvious need. These are the sorts of self-limiting issues that are currently holding the WNT back. I would still give them a very good chance to win it all, but not as the favorite, just because our talent pool is so good and so deep.
This is a huge issue. Listen, I've never hid that I'm a liberal, but that doesn't mean anyone who disagrees with me doesn't get to do their job. Unless she's using her status as a USNT to push her political beliefs (and as far as I know she's not) or her teammate s have an issue with her (and as you point out, there's no evidence of that) then what she believes has no bearing on her ability to play for the Nats. Its the same idea as people kneeling for the anthem (though admittedly kneeling while wearing the U.S. badge is slightly different than doing it while playing for a pro team), what you believe doesn't affect how you play. Of course the strong overlap between pro-women and pro-LGBT supporters on social media is a large cause of the problem you refer to (and the first person to use SJW as a derogatory term in this discussion gets blocked, and I don't block anyone). But none of that matters if the game is hurt because of stupid policies like this one.
Honestly, this is what I meant by believing the hype. Not so much, "We can't be beat", but rather "We are the team." It should be the best team we can muster, a la the defender you referenced, but instead we have a team run like a sorority. I would dearly love for Ellis to have the option of leaving home an aging Carli Lloyd, rather than carrying players just there for the paycheck.
Had a tour in 2011 despite not winning the World Cup. Which is why I specifically did not say "Victory Tour."
Didn’t her persona non grata status start because she refused a call-up where she would have had to wear the pride jersey a couple years ago?