Actually, this isn't strictly true, since in essence the draft works like a cartel. A true free market would allow the player to negotiate with any club she wanted, thus giving her the opportunity to look for the best possible wage and the best possible situation. This brings up a question I wondered about: if a player is traded away to another team (or if she is involuntarily "transfered" in the expansion draft), can she break her contract without penalty?
I doubt it...What if a player picked by Philly doesn't want to play for Philly? I guess that she could quit WPS, meaning she will not be paid by any team...
There were a few cases before season one where teams worked out deals -- player for a draft pick, for example, when the player wanted to play for a different team. Joanna Lohman comes to mind. She had established non-soccer business relationships in the DC area. Here's the transaction: Jan. 16, 2009: Saint Louis Athletica trades Joanna Lohman and the 23rd pick in the 2009 WPS Draft to the Washington Freedom for the 21st pick in the 2009 WPS Draft. If the player and the team(s) can't work out an accomodation, I suppose she has to retire until the contract expires. I don't think she could play for another team, say, in France, if she's not thrilled with a trade or expansion draft destination, due to FIFA transfer rules.
Hey Karyn, random question that just popped into my mind: How likely is it that the WPS teams will participate in the 2010 women's US Open Cup? I've seen the idea mentioned a couple times both here and on the WPS fan site. Then again, I also know the competition as of right now isn't the most organized/recognized because of the antagonism between the WPSL and the W-League, and it would also mean a more complicated WPS schedule. But if WPS could work something out with WPSL/W-League to make it work, I think that would be awesome. Just an idea.
I agree with your first comment. While it helps a player get a better wage, she is restricted in who she can negotiate with, so isn't a pure free agent situation. I would think that a player couldn't break a contract because of a trade. I'm sure there is some language in the contract regarding that. The only possibility might be if there was a player option in the contract, but there probably aren't many of those, if any (Marta?). And really that wouldn't be breaking a contract, it would just be a player deciding not to exercise the option. Making draft information available to the public is certainly a good way to get fans involved. I was thinking back to last year's January draft, which was very well attended. They really needed a bigger room, because there were people standing at the back of the room and spilling out into the hallway. Sure things thinned out by the 10th round, but I thought it was a very good moment for the league that it had that much interest early on, even if it was in conjunction with the NSCAA convention. I wish I could make it to Philadelphia for the next one, but I doubt it.
This is an absolutely brilliant idea! I've thrown around the idea a few times myself. It would make the competition more legit and give the smaller clubs a chance to knock off the big dogs. In the men's US Open Cup, the USL-1 and USL-2 clubs draw very well when the MLS teams have to come calling. Much more spirited in the stands for those games than to have the smaller clubs coming to MLS stadiums.
I haven't been aware of the antagonism wbetween the WL and WPSL. That's unfortunate, as since WPS started I have seen the WL as a Div. II league and WPSL as Div. III. They shouldn't be competing...except in a Women's Open Cup. I was sad when WUSA folded because back then, I had this same idea, and wondered when it would be put together. Good thoughts for '10!
As I understand it, the WPSL was formed when a bunch of west coast teams got fed up with the W-League and decided to form their own league, which is why the WPSL has a lot of west coast teams while the W-League has very few.
Karyn, Would WPS teams please put information about off-season loans on the transactions page on the WPS site? Fans are interested in following players while they are playing in different leagues. Some information can be gleaned thru net searches but the league could continue to get hits to the site and build fan interest and involvement by posting such news.
I would say the key thing for WPS is the TV situation. I couldn't watch either the quarterfinal or the final live, even though my local team was in it, because MSG (our local FSN) didn't broadcast the game live. That's terrible. If you can't close to 100% live clearance for the playoff games, put them on FSC live. On the other hand, that's really the only major complaint that I have. Thanks for listening. Oh, and kill whomever you need to to make sure that WPS games on FSC are in HD next year, as FSC will launch a HD version in early 2010.
One thing to add...personally, I liked the "extraordinary" promo ads. I see that the Aussies are trying something similar with "football with style" ads, except they seem to have a fixation with big hair..... http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=29470 http://www.a-league.com.au/default.aspx?s=wleague_newsdisplay&id=29476 Good ad campaigns can help if they reach enough people through enough outlets.
They need to recruit Arakawa.... I'd like to see them do more "extraordinary" ads with players other than the national teamers, and to make them more suited to the players' personalities. For example, they should have had Abby doing a diving header rather than a bicycle kick.
To reinforce several previous comments, web-casting of more games would be a very fan friendly way to generate greater loyalty and interest. Chicago did this a couple of times and it was great to watch. I think many fans are starved for more games to watch and we live in a multi-media age. Many college programs already provide on line streaming of their games and some even charge for them. Don't think it is that expensive in terms of equipment required and costs to stream live, so not sure what the obstacle is here. Quality of the broadcasts varies widely but regardless a visual view of game vastly superior to match tracker experience. Point 2 - as I am sure you already know, iphones cannot access any WPS sites that use adobe flash because they do not have flash capabilities. This is a large smart phone market that WPS site incompatible with - maybe you need a text only or small graphics sub-page on your site so iphones could easily access for game results/general info.
This idea is more focused on Boston but it can work for SkyBlue and FC Gold Pride as well. Why not have a college night. The Boston Bruins when they had problems selling tickets used to have discounted tickets to college students 3 games a season. I don't see why these 3 WPS franchises couldn't do this offer for 1 game a season. For Boston they have tons of college students within 5 miles of the stadium most with easy public transportation access to Harvard stadium. The Breakers could simply do a Harvard night with discounted tickets for everyone with a Harvard id(over 68,000 people have Harvard id's) Asking the Harvard Crimson daily newspaper to do a story on the discount offer is free advertising.
Have more games vs. WNTs - Red Stars played the Rep. of Ireland WNT during an off week on their schedule this past season. Any game against a top WNT or regional interest WNT (Red Stars or Sol vs. Mexican WNT, for example) should generate a good crowd and expose the WPS to additional fans!
Great article here on why women's soccer so popular and get's great fan support in Portland. Worth the read to see if you can glean any ideas to use for the WPS league: http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2009/09/14/where-women’s-soccer-is-king/ Good luck and hope league continues to grow/develop.
More exposure on local TV and newspapers. And on Fox Soccer Report, that's where most soccer fans I know get their news.
i think to get more fnas and this idea is a little out there so bear with. you see a TON of ties and some scoreless draws. i am all for an overtime golden goal period of 10 minutes followed by a shootout if still tied. this works well in the nhl and it adds to the excitement and entertainment value. secondly, only allowing 5 internationals on a team i am completely against, i'd like to put that to 7. ad not for 2010 but i'd like to see some expansion in the northwest in the likes of seattle, portland, vancouver.
It worked really well in MLS, also. I don't have to use an emoticon to make sure everyone knows I'm being sarcastic, do I?
It isn't an absurd idea by any means but I really don't think it's a good one for WPS at least for regular season games. For a lot of the casual fans (soccer moms and dads with kids in tow, for example), one of the nice things about a soccer game is it doesn't drag on forever. Two hours and it's over (unless the kids wait around for autographs, and if that's the case think how much that's adding in extra time-wise). The simplest, best way to increase scoring is this (which I've mentioned before): add two lines in the midfield, approximately where the blue lines are in hockey. They define the offensive zones. One of the main things you do with these lines (we can call them blue lines for fun) is this: on any corner kick or direct free kick awarded to the attacking team within its offensive zone, the defending team has to position two of its players on the other side (the midfield side) of the blue line. It increases (obviously) the goal-scoring opportunity of the side taking the free kick or corner kick. It rewards teams, generally speaking, for creating offensive opportunities and being on the attack. It is within the spirit and character of the game we know, in which CKs and free kicks are goal-scoring opportunities. By increasing the likelihood of goals arising from offensive possession, it may create a highly desirable side-effect: it may encourage teams to continue playing for an extra goal rather than relying on defense to protect their lead knowing that playing conservatively and resorting to a prevent defense will likely lead to extremely dangerous free kick chances for their opponent. So who wants to sign the petition and send it to the Commish?!
I saw a German women's league game last week: Frankfurt v. Bayern, final score 2:3. Not a blue line in sight.
Except the MLS has a ton more fans than WPS. Whichever way you look it, the games have to be entertaining, 0-0 draws are usually not fun to watch, no fans equals no league and in some cities last year attendance was terrible. sky blue fc and fc gold pride had 3 games total between the two at home where more than 4,000 fans showed up, and i didn't count the opening game because obviously that was a big deal, it's the games after that where it was terrible. Something needs to be done from an entertainment standpoint or these cities will end up being gone.
Damn. I feel pressure to come up with something clever when those Emissaries arrive on the scene from that region of Big Soccer Hell known as Women's Rivalry. And I can't think of anything right now. I don't even know if Birgit Prinz is still with Frankfurt. I didn't even know Bayern had a credible women's team that could play with the big girls, but I suppose that's good - it's nice to know that Audi sponsorship will be good for something. The point is most soccer fans (even those who call it football) at some point or another belie some frustration that it gets too defensive. Men's Euro 2008 went smashingly well but you remember all the complaints about Euro 2004 won by Greece? "Belie" (or "betray"?) is the word because they won't admit it, A) when the game is being criticized by someone who calls it "soccer", and B) certainly not when someone who calls it "soccer", an American no less, starts tinkering with the game and comes up with ways to "fix it". True, that is such an American thing to do...(!) (Smiley, old boy, time to use a smiley for those kids out there... Smaller typeface, too.)