WUSA: What went wrong? (Beginning or the end?)

Discussion in 'NWSL' started by truthandlife, Oct 13, 2003.

  1. truthandlife

    truthandlife Member

    Jul 28, 2003
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    What Went Wrong?

    from the October 6 2003 issue of Soccer America Magazine
    BEGINNING or the END? (excerpts)

    The WUSA, unable to meet sponsorship goals, suspended operations, but the response to the league's demise, in the backdrop of the Women's World Cup, sparked optimism that women's pro soccer could resume in some form next spring.

    When the end, as it were, finally arrived, there were expressions of shock among the WUSA's corps of players, executives and front-office employees, but the surprise wasn't that the world's best women's league was finished, just that it was finished now.

    A business plan built on unrealistic expectations finally crumpled around the Women's United Soccer Association, forcing a suspension of operations - the first step in a dissolution process expected to be completed next spring - just six days before the U.S. women's national team opened defense of its Women's World Cup title.

    The timing was either brilliant or horrible, maybe a little of both.

    WUSA officials had hoped the fourth edition of the women's championships would shine a spotlight on their enterprise and lure desperately needed dollars from investors and sponsors. Turned out the desperation was far worse than anyone imagined.

    After watching more than $100 million of investment capital disappear in less than four years, the WUSA's board of governors unanimously voted to pull the plug when it became clear that a projected annual budget shortfall of $16 million could not, would not, be closed....

    (TO READ REST OF ARTICLE GO TO http://www.socceramerica.com/article.asp?Art_ID=562133897 )
     

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