wow! that's a whole lot of canadian teams!!! toronto, ottawa, vancouver ... now add sudbury, edmonton, calgary and montreal!! i wonder if the montreal entry is the resurgence of the laval team, as there has been talk that they would be back. and i wonder how this "shakes" up all the CWNT players in the w-league ... if they move around teams and where they will end up playing next season. elaine
Get some double-headers going with A-League! It would sure be great if some at the teams and leagues offices could coordinate some double-headers with both the A-League and W-League teams, especially now. Even if the teams from the same city aren't affiliated. If they shared planes and buses they could cut down travel expenses, news coverage would be increased and the gates would really increase. Imagine the two Aviators teams sharing an Eastern Road trip to Montreal, Toronto and Rochester, with the women Aviators playing either Sudbury or Ottawa while the men split off to Syracuse. And the Montreal teams going on a shared Edmonton/Calgary/Vancouver/Seattle swing. However, I guess there there will be a lot less inter-conference matches (IF any at all) with the much larger 37 team W-League. It would be a shame if no effort were made towards this, and I can only hopefully imagine that efforts are being made at the Whitecap's and Aviator's offices to explore this. anbody know if anything planned or any histroy of this in the past? Sudbury has a W-League team, eh! That's really great, and last year's results show they are really going to be competitive!
Okay, thanks for that info. It would still be workable within the Conferences, especially some divisions, especialy Montreal/Toronto/Rochester and Vancouver/Calgary/Edmonton/Seattle.
This is the biggest "expansion" the W-League has gone through since the merger between the W-1 and W-2 a couple years ago. I wonder how the rosters are going to reflect the on again/off again demise of the WUSA? I know some teams have been burning the phone lines trying to get some of the players locked up on their rosters for 2004.
Summary Central Conference Midwest Division (8): Cleveland Internationals (new), Detroit Jaguars (new), Fort Wayne Fever (new), West Michigan Edge (new), Cincinnati Ladyhawks, Columbus Lady Shooting Stars, Windy City Bluez, Chicago Cobras Atlantic Division (7): Richmond (new), Bradenton Athletics (new), Asheville Splash, Carolina Dynamo, Charlotte Lady Eagles, Northern Virginia Majestics, Hampton Roads Piranhas Northern Conference North Central Division (5): Rochester Ravens, Toronto Inferno, Ottawa Fury, Sudbury Canadians (new), Montreal (new) New England Division (4): New Hampshire Lady Phantoms, Boston Renegades, Rhode Island Lady Stingrays, Western Mass Lady Pioneers (new) Northeast Division (5): New Jersey Lady Stallions, New Jersey Wildcats, New York Magic, South Jersey Banshees, Long Island Lady Riders Western Conference single division (8): Edmonton Aviators Women (new), Calgary (new), Arizona Heatwave, Denver Lady Cougars, Fort Collins Force, Mile High Mustangs, Vancouver Whitecaps, Seattle Sounders
Raliegh? I was kind of surprised that a W-League team didn't pop up in Raliegh. It would seem like a natural for CASL to have a team to go along with thier PDL program. Maybe they didn't have enough time to put something together. On a side note, it's going to be a long bus/van ride to Bradenton for most of those teams in that division. Hopefully more teams will come into Florida.
Re: Raliegh? True. They could have had the second coming of the Raliegh Wings from pre-WUSA. That region may be banking on WUSA coming back and filling their soccer taste.
Re: Raliegh? The Carolina Dynamo are in nearby Greensboro. I think that most teams fly down to Florida.