Trust me after 11 years of driving to see United, it sucks. That being said I do think Charge! is overreacting. We won't have a suitable SSS for a couple more years. Let's get a profitable men's team first so that the symbiotic relationship can be developed. Having a SSS is key. The fake stuff at Nova and everywhere else in this region is not desirable. With an average attendance of 7,000 and a quiet atmosphere (if the 03 WWC was an indication) Philadelphia's new team the Liberty should be sufficient for now. Help support women's soccer now. There is an investor, Matt Driver, et al., and there will be a team this year.
Re: NEW Pro Womens League 2008 NO, I meant "the last time someone started a DI women's pro league, did the W-League and WPSL go away?"
Re: NEW Pro Womens League 2008 Number of W-League teams by year: 1995...19 1996...24 1997...32 1998...31 1999...34 2000...36 --------- 2001...38 2002...35 2003...26 --------- 2004...39 2005...34 2006...39 2007...35
Begin wishful thinking... Please Atlanta. Please Atlanta. I hope an ownership group steps up. End wishful thinking... On a more realistic note, how are they going to afford a league on that budget. I realize that they are piggybacking on MLS somewhat but they still would have to pay player salaries and a cross country transportation costs. I guess that it is going to be really bare bones at first with players having to hold second jobs. At this point anything is better than nothing. Let's hope that the league takes off from this starting point.
But that budget is pretty close to what the USL 1 budget is. My guess is that we're talking about a player budget of around 500 - 800k. So the question for groups like Atlanta is can they afford two similar priced teams at the same time. There will be some share front office resources, but they will still need to expand their staff. As for the future of the W-Leagu and WPSL, it shouldn't really be effected by this. The exception for this might be teams that share the same market. But even then probably not. Most of these teams only avg a couple hundred fans a game. If anything it will level the playing field, because less of the top teams will have the extra post college players to pull in. Neither league has claimed to have pro aspirations, they are for the most part a summer college level league. And there are a ton of college soccer programs in this country. So getting players should never be a problem.
Re: NEW Pro Womens League 2008 It didn't go away, and won't, since there are still a lot of high school and college players who want to play who would not be eligible for a pro league. I would expect that the level of play of the high-end teams would dip, as their best eligible players will migrate to the pro league. I'm curious to see what kind of relationship we see between U.S. Soccer and the league. Will they look at the league as a way to cut down on their expenses, since they won't need to have as much residency time for the players to stay in top form? Will the nats be allocated to the teams as they were before? What kind of player draft will there be? It will be very interesting to see who winds up where.
Good radio interview, not sure if anyone posted this: Melissa Block talks with Tonya Antonucci, CEO of the Women's Soccer Initiative, Inc., and Julie Foudy. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7627084
Re: NEW Pro Womens League 2008 I think you'll see some sort of allocation draft/lottery somewhere between how the WUSA distributed founders and how MLS did it's initial "Allocated" players. I don't think it will be as player driven as the WUSA or as team driven as MLS, but somewhere in the middle. I think you'll see as many WNT pool players as possible placed where 1) they played in the WUSA, 2) their home town, 3) their college town. For overlapping WUSA markets, like the Washington Freedom, it's quite possible that a third or up to a half of the team are players from 2003, but I wouldn't necessarily book Abby Wambach there if Rochester ends up being in the league. That's all just pure speculation, and I'm guessing the nuts and bolts of player allocation haven't really been discussed.
Re: NEW Pro Womens League 2008 maybe it's just me, but it seems like there have been a lot more womens nat players through nats camps recently, making me think there are more players that could get allocated. then again, 1999 made so many names so recognizable that there are fewer "marquee" names this time around.
The Freedom just announced the signing of two ex-U Santa Clara players from England. Don't know much about them though
Re: Coaches I'd look for college coaches that get fired next fall, and various US YNT coaches. I wouldn't be shocked to see some former MLS and WUSA players who currently don't have paying coaching jobs to step forward. Someone like Carla Overbeck who is an assistant (upaid, I believe) at Duke might be a candidate. Nobody with a cushy top level college job is going to make the move.
Well, I'm disappointed that there will be no team in Philadelphia. Maybe the stupid Eagles ownership and the Owls are stopping us. But anyway, the league does not bode well in one way; no derbies or even close to derbies. We need rivalries. American sports are all about great rivalries. Also the teams are really spread out too. Hard to build up excitement. But then again rivalries may have no geographical bearing either too. So let's hope the rivalries start because of great games. Also the Charge put in that new grass after the first season and it was okay. MLS attendance rates are actually not bad if you consider the world. We are 21st(of all sports) in or so when it comes to average attendance. And 12th in the world for soccer. Not bad at all. But alas, business owners don't have the patience that they used to. American football took decades and so did the NBA. But many people were patient for them to reach their high levels.
Ahhh, remember when.... a - There's no definitive in or out for any city yet. Six teams have been announced (in five markets). They're hoping for two more. There's no reason one of them couldn't be in Philadelphia. b - Maybe it's the fact that NO INVESTOR IN PHILADELPHIA HAS STEPPED UP is what's stopping you.
The release I saw said they have 6 current investors and are trying to get two more for the launch of the league. I don't recall reading anything saying that Philly was definitely out.
For those folks that seem to be in the know like Kenn and Andy...are you guys hearing anything about TV coverage (if any) for the new league? At this point, I'll be happy with any type of internet streaming.
I think it's waaaaaaaaaaaaay too early for that. I think they'll be fortunate to get the thing off the ground, much less get a decent TV deal straightaway. I'd say they have a great many other ducks to put in a row before they worry about TV.
I know for a fact that there is no one in Philly working on this at this time. I listened to the interveiw and read the material so far: here is my take... Travel Costs will be the main spending in this league. Players will play for less than then while in the WUSA, not a good sign.. I think the Majority of players were making less than 30K. Looking to get 4500 average attendance... this may be the biggest hurdle they face... you can give away tickets but they still need to make that bottom line without the stadium costing an arm and a leg Maybe I am cynical but what players or teams are going to have that kind of Draw ? W-League finals in 2005 only drew 3000 fans... I may catch a game or 2 but with no team with 2 hours of me would make getting to games very difficult, especially for most families. They are going to have be creative in getting people to come out to games, especially since there is no "Founders boost" to sell tickets. Nova's field was not great but the setup for fans was.
Well, there's not currently a league. Just a plan with investors that has yet to launch. There are rumors of SUM, LLC being involved. I would guess that any national coverage would be vended through SUM. If I had to guess, I would not really expect a lot of TV coverage. Maybe a couple of markets might get some local coverage that might show up on RSNs which satellite subscribers would get, but I really wouldn't plan on seeing many out of market games. It is possible that SUM might do a time buy on FSC or GolTV as an infomercial for the league, but that's really speculative. I think TV plans need to wait until after the league actually launches and a marketing plan/budget are put in place. Any TV coverage will have to be in the "pay as they go" model. And for a league that's trying to save money, slashing the broadcast budget is a way to save a lot of money real easily.
Re: NEW Pro Womens League 2008 Why would those leagues and teams go away? When MLS started in 1996 the existing men's pro teams and leagues didn't just close up shop. There is room for everyone. Lower division leagues are necessary to continue soccer's growth. With a proper league structure more players get a chance.
So are we going to blame the league for that, the Eagles, or Temple? Just want to make sure we have our scapegoat in place.
Blame AJ Feeley, for not putting it in his contract that the Eagles needed to fund this to keep his woman in town