In an article by ESPN SportsTicker Contributing Editor Jamie Trecker on December 16, Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) Commissioner Tony Diccico admitted that the women's pro soccer league is in "survival mode". WUSA has lost over $80 million in its first 2 years of operations according to an online article by Soccer America Magazine Senior Editor Scott French in September. Furthermore, WUSA's national and local TV ratings have been well below expectations with the exception of local TV ratings in the San Diego market. WUSA postponed its waiver draft for the second time in 2 weeks on December 16 due to snags in negotiations between the investors (COX Enterprises, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, John Hendricks, and Amos Hostetter) and the WUSA Players' Association lead by US Women's National Team Captain Julie Foudy and attorney John Langel. Multiple sources indicate that the main sticking point in the negotiations is the demand by the investors to the 20 "founding players" (those who played on the US Women's National Team during the 1999 Women's World Cup) that the "founding players" must waive their guaranteed contracts, which run through the 2005 season, immediately in exchange for the investors' continued financial support of WUSA in 2003. In other WUSA news: Long-time Time Warner Cable executive and Carolina Courage General Manager Jerome Ramsey has resigned from the WUSA position and has been "reassigned" within the AOL Time Warner organization, according to a December 16 email article published by Soccer America Magazine. Ramsey's resignation from WUSA is the second high-profile resignation to hit the Carolina franchise in the past month. Head Coach Marcia McDermott resigned in late November, 3 months after winning the 2002 WUSA championship.
Well, this answered my question in another thread about who was on the Players Association negotiating team--Foudy and Langel. If the league is in such deep financial trouble, it seems reasoable to me to ask the founders to forego their guaranteed 5-year contracts. On the other hand, surely there are other places expenses could also be pared.
Abso-fricking-lutely. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few; not just a catchy line in Star Trek II, but something Mia, Julie, Brandi & co. need to take a good hard look at. But where can you pare expenses any more than they've already done? Paul
Whoa. There is nothing in Trecker's article that hasn't already been made public elsewhere. If you think Mia, Julie and Brandi get the bulk of their earnings from their WUSA salaries, think again. And if you think they're not equally or more invested in WUSA's survival than players without top tier salaries or sponsorship income, you're forgetting an awful lot of history. Yes, the league's finances are extremely fragile. Operating budgets have been deeply eroded. Players' salaries represent a large chunk of expenses, and they are up for restructuring earlier than expected. Doing so in a way that respects everyone's interests is a delicate process. Give it time. It's a roadbump, not yet a deathknell. Support the league. Buy season tickets. Buy them for your friends. Heck, buy them for your enemies.
Time to rally around your team , folks. I've heard that Brandi does not draw her salary; that she "re-invests" it into the league. Who knows, isn't it possible that some of the other founders who have sponsorship deals do the same? I understand that all of the teams' front office have been reduced to skeleton crews. At the same time, the front office staffs are working hard to sign up more sponsors and find ways to get more people to buy tickets and watch the game on TV. As Tock says, support the league by buying tickets. But another way to support your WUSA team is to volunteer to help them get the word out in your community. With the deep budget cuts and reduced staff, I'm sure every team can use good volunteers. Instead of wringing our hands over the a dire future, we should be calling the office of the team for which we profess to be a hard-core FAN and offer our help! Join or work with your team to set up a grassroots marketing effort like a Community Outreach Team -- to promote the the team, the sport and its values in your community. If you want to be watching Women Professional Soccer in a few years, now is the time to act. Otherwise, you better plan on saving your prior seasons' TAPES. 'Cause that might be your only option. --Socceroo
Doomsday: The Sky Is Falling With any league that is loosing money, there are bound to be Chicken Little predictions every year. I don't think this is the year they'll come true. Contraction - I don't see how the league could contract. They only have 8 teams as it is. Less than that and I don't see how it would even be a league. Relocation - If they're going to relocate a team, they'd better get started. It seems a little late in the day. Pulling the plug - They've gone this far, and both management and the players want the league to succeed. I'd be surprised if they don't at least start the season. I suspect the league will have the same 8 teams this year as they had last year. But the coming season is make or break. There had better be improvement in the numbers. The league in survival mode? Sure. So what's new? They've been in survival mode since day one. Now everybody knows it if they didn't already.
Season Ticket Holder == Unsecured Creditor Don't invest what you're not prepared to lose. If the league does go belly-up, the STHs will be at the back of the line. Of course if Chapter 11 happens, we will all lose out on profressional womens soccer for many, many years to come.
Could playing on a network that doesn't carry to many places? If they were to go to network with more coverage would they get better rateings and more marketing?
I think the question to ask is WHICH network would want to carry WUSA. The 2002 average for the PAX ratings were barely .1. The ratings from TNT/CNNSI were not much better (I don't have the numbers here at work...I've got 'em buried somewhere on my laptop at home). As a decision maker at say FSWD or the Disney family...would you want to carry an entire seasons worth of games that in the past have not garnered decent ratings?
The ratings deal is sort of a "dog chasing it's tail" thing. Part of it is bad advertising. Nobody will watch a show they don't know is on. By the way, I know some posters swear it'll never happen but does anyone suppose the MLS people are just waiting in the wings for the inevitable to happen? After all, the hard part is done. They could just swoop in and "save" the league as a women's division. I know some veteran players might retire rather than play in the MLS but I bet most of them would jump in.
The PAX deal's problem was not with the broadcast reach of the network but with its demographic reach. The typical PAX viewer tends to be aged 50+, not exactly the prime fan base for women's soccer. All those PAX commercials promoting WUSA thus ended up being meaningless because the people who actually saw those commercials had virtually no interest in the WUSA product. The actual target demo of prospective WUSA fans don't tend to watch PAX, never saw those WUSA on PAX commercials and never even knew about the WUSA on PAX telecasts. End result: 0.1 rating. WUSA may have ended up checkmating itself with the PAX deal. The league is stuck on PAX (barring an unexpected renegotiation) for WUSA's season three assuming said season actually happens. There is no reason to believe that the ratings for those telecasts will significently improve on last year or come even close to the mediocre ratings WUSA drew back on TNT for season 1. After what would then be two seasons of horrendous ratings for WUSA, what outlet would even be willing to pick up WUSA for season four, assuming that season actually happens?
Re: Time to rally around your team , folks. Good for Brandi! My friends and I have often joked that the only way the 'Rays could possibly be under the cap is if Brandi's only taking $2 per game "and knowing Brandi she probably is", so to hear that our joke might actually be true is pretty cool. If she's not drawing her salary, then maybe it doesn't count againt the 'Rays cap. It would be very cool if other players who could afford to were doing the same, but not everyone is that altruistic. I've heard the CyberRays are developing something like this, but does any other team have something similar in place yet?
In respone to Andy Mead's asinine comment Andy, for someone who sits in the press box for every Courage home game (with a credential around your neck) you've got some nerve talking about the investments of STH's. 90% of the STH are supporting the team/league because they want to enjoy women's soccer and will do whatever it takes to watch it. You don't help matters by talking gloom and doom. No league in the U.S. has ever cancelled a season mid-season, that I know of. Strikes have caused that, but not bankruptcy. Put your money where your mouth is and purchase a seat in the stadium. Start helping rather than complaining. My 2 cents.
If Brandi puts her salary back into the league that's great but don't shell the players who don't. Brandi and Mia are probably the only players in the league who make six figure incomes over and above their WUSA salary. I sure can't afford to work for nothing!
Re: In respone to Andy Mead's asinine comment What complaint? If the league goes Chapter 7 (not 11, whoops), season ticket holders will likely not receive any money. First in line are employee wages and the state and federal tax moneys. Then come secured creditors. Last are unsecured creditors. Season Ticket Holders are unsecured creditors. If you want to get into dollars, I'll sit down and compare your annual out of pocket WUSA expenses with mine any day of the week. I must have a bulls-eye as an avatar. I want the league to survive. I want Season Ticket holder numbers to go up. What makes you think I don't buy season tickets? Having press credentials does not keep me from purchasing merchandise or buying tickets. Someone, namely you, needs to step back - relax - and read what I wrote, not the words you're putting into my post that don't exist. Some folks are able/willing to lose a couple hundred bucks, some aren't. My personal belief is that WUSA will play a 2003 season, and that season tickets are good investment. --------- I guess you've forgotten the ABL already.
WUSA Falling apart I feel bad that the WUSA is going under but when you have people running the ship that have never been in professional sports at any level you can learn the hard way. There are many wonderful people in the teams front offices but there is not a ton of experiance with sales tactics, promotions, marketing, etc. One problem with getting experianced staff is paying them and we all know that can't happen. It's too bad for a great sport.
Re: In respone to Andy Mead's asinine comment Sounds a bit like the guy who said that no team, anywhere, at any time, in America, had ever thrown a game. The American Basketball League did go belly-up not quite midway through its third season, in December of 1998. The late, lamented World Football League went away in October of 1975 (which is before the conscious memories of most BS posters, it seems like) due to finances. The "new" American Basketball Association (admittedly a minor league) has cut each of its last two seasons short because of finances and gone straight to the playoffs. Teams have gone away at mid-season, it happened several times in the old World Hockey Association, including the Indianapolis Racers (trading Gretzky after just eight games didn't help their short-term finances, and, longterm, doesn't look like such a great deal in hindsight, either). Baseball had a Triple-A league, the Inter-American League, which folded midseason, years ago (it wasn't in Organized Baseball). The Continental Basketball Association folded mid-season a few years back before being re-born. It happens. Most people seem to have the foresight not to start a season if it seems like they can't finish it. I would imagine WUSA won't start the 2003 season if it doesn't look like they can make it, though it would be a big black eye with the Women's World Cup coming up (luckily we're not hosting it this time). The problem is that if you cut expenses by trimming the number of sales and marketing people in your front offices, you are cutting the roots of the tree. You're actually reducing the amount of revenue you can generate. The bottom line is that while there is a demand for this particular product, it doesn't appear to be enough of a demand to sustain it at the level of a truly national league paying decent salaries to talented players and front-office types. Sound familiar? And anyone who criticizes Andy Mead's intentions with regard to WUSA hasn't been paying attention. That's just wrong.
Uh, no one was shelling the other players. If you look back at my post you will see that I said "other players who can afford to" and "it would be cool" if they did put their money back in. I never said that they SHOULD put their money back into the league, I just meant it is a nice gesture to do so. I can't afford to work full-time for free, either, and I don't ever expect anyone else to. To follow up what everyone else has already posted, yes, the ABL went bankrupt mid-season, and no, the season ticket holders did NOT get their money back. I was one of those who was out several hundred dollars that I never saw again. Yeah, that's hundreds of dollars I would rather have had back to spend elsewhere, however, having had that experience already, and knowing the WUSA is on shaky ground, I have nevertheless paid IN FULL for my 2003 CyberRays season tickets. If my few hundred dollars contributes to buying time for the league, even if they actually do go bankrupt and I never get to see any play because of it, that's fine with me.
1st of all...andy knows his stuff...there was no reason to attack him, we butt heads often but i always respect his opinions because they are educated i think the WUSA wont fold mid season however, the schematic of things suggests that it will fold within the next 3 months (probs sooner) or there will be a 3rd season that will be played in full in hopes of gaining intrest from WWC buildup.if the league folds i think alot of blame goes to the founders, not the owners, that contract structure i never liked from the getgo and have been against from the getgo...one of the keys to success is to put greed aside so you can make something rather than nothing. I too have paid in full for my tix...and encourage other fans to do the same. My big deal here as i posted on the wusa boards is this... Define "Player" in the scenerio: if im reading trekker, ollie, and SA correctly, it seems to me that the founders are the players association looking out for their own intrests, since founders have about 5% equity in their individual clubs...wouldnt they be more minority owners...but they are the ones bitching about their contracts and changing the CBA, not the rank and file...but they are the ones with the kushy contracts...AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO SEES THE LUDICRIOUSNESS OF THIS???...the ones who are getting shafted are the Jannsses and Iversons of the world who are making lowball salaries while webber is stinking up the joint for a gaurenteed 80K a year and the 1 shirt thrown on her back regardless of what she does, or what about the Lathams of the world, the best power forward after welsh and she'll fall to 7th or maybe even the 2nd round and low pay because shes caniadian. Or here is one, what about Pichon...WUSA MVP and the best emerging star in the world and you got some 50 year old granny making 80k to sit on the bench because she has too fat an ego to step aside. If im a rank and file player...i go against the "players union" because to me the "players union" is little more than the founders, and axing the redicliously overpaying founders contracts is the best thing to keep the league going AND increase my bottom line, most of the founders contracts were ludicrious either on basis of age or on the basis of just plain stupidity (Venturini?, Ducar?, Fair??, WEBBER?!?!?!?!) Thus saying is the "union" really a union or a faction? After all reports say that most PLAYERS did not know of a players union (Hmmm)
How much WWC buildup do we think there will be, really? And how much excitement if the USA (surprise, surprise) wins it again? It won't be like the men. Brandi and Mia and Ally Wagner aren't going to be on the cover of ESPN: The Magazine or SI (and, now that SI Women is dead, there, either). And if they win their first game against a European team, it's not going to generate big headlines. There probably won't be stories about people getting up early in the morning en masse to watch the games, or having early-morning watch parties at Nickerson. I can't see a lot of buildup to the WWC, I can't see a huge amount of pub if the team does well, and I can't see any of that really helping WUSA before, during, or after the season. In stark contrast to the situation with the men.