Starting a new topic for 2012 WPSL Elite info. Reposting, with Breakers-specific info called out: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/boston/news/general/120209-Breakers-are-back.aspx From an email sent to 2012 season ticket-holders: From an attachment to the email:
Hmm... the new website name is long. I know WPS was criticized (at least on the boards here) for having something that couldn't be typed in quickly. Oh well. I guess this is also the thread to talk about player announcements, etc.? Same article quoted in first post: http://www.womensprosoccer.com/Home/boston/news/general/120209-Breakers-are-back.aspx
Interesteing, I am a season tciket holder and this is not the email on Friday. This one is much more informative.
(Cross-posted from the WPSL forum.) Interestingly, a second Boston-area team has joined the WPSL Elite league. Aztec MA is based in the North Shore area (Beverly). http://twitter.com/#!/BostonBreakers/status/169441573858328576 The Boston Aztec previously fielded a "Boston Aztec Breakers’ Reserves" team in WPSL, although I never really understood the relationship between that team and the Boston Breakers. I'm guessing that the Aztec MA might be a formed as a non-professional team under college eligibility rules. I hadn't expected a second team so geographically close by. It would seem that there are now twice as many home games to attend for fans in the area. I wonder how having a second area team will affect Breakers attendance and ticket sales?
Leslie Osborne signs with Boston Breakers for 2012 Elite Season. http://twitter.com/#!/BostonBreakers
Completely confused. Can someone explain the difference between W-league and WPSL and WPSL-EL and Riley's Supergroup? ... i.e., in which ways they are or are not connected to WPS? Forgive me if this is an utterly stupid question.
W-League: Existing league beneath WPS; all amateur (I think) but in the past has had pro/semi-pro teams WPSL: Existing league beneath WPS; mostly amateur but has some pro/semi-pro teams WPSL-EL: New "league" within WPSL that's focusing on more professionalism, currently housing 3 ex-WPS teams Riley's supergroup: just sounds like a training camp to me. AFAIK none of the four have explicit connections to WPS as entire organizations, though individual teams have connections to WPS teams (e.g. Boston Aztecs)
The question is a bit off-topic. This topic is about the Boston Breakers in the WPSL Elite league. (Though I concede that there might not be many better places to discuss differences between W-League and WPSL without the discussion getting heated.) I think that a WPSL-based league was the right choice for Boston. Based on what I've read, WPSL is more lightweight and agile than W-league as far as league governance and administration is concerned, making it easier for the Breakers to join. In other news, a third Massachusetts team has joined WPSL Elite, the New England Mutiny based in Northampton, MA about 2 hours away from Boston: http://www.mutinysoccer.com/021612-MUTINY-ELITE.html To be honest, with three teams in the area I'm feeling a bit dizzy thinking about the number of games to attend this year. I hope it's not too much. I don't want to burn out like that one year when I had season tickets to baseball. Breakers tickets this year seem to be more expensive ($12) compared to the other teams' ticket prices last year (New England Mutiny $6, Boston Aztec Breakers Reserve $5). I wonder if ticket prices for the other teams will go up.
You want to see ELITE teams, you have to pay ELITE prices! Seriously, my understanding is that the costs for these teams are going to be significantly more than for a standard WPSL team - you can't blame them for setting ticket prices accordingly.
It will be interesting to see how the Mutiny attendance turns out. With Smith, Amherst, Hampshire, U Mass, and Mt. Holyoke all within a small radius, that's a lot of the "intellectual elite" -- meaning faculty and staff -- in the area. In my mind, that's a potentially very good audience for quality women's soccer. It's not a densely populated area, but it will be interesting to see what happens.
Mutiny should indeed be interesting. I initially went to college up I-91 in southern Vermont. I used to go malling at Holyoke Mall, and used to use Bradley Field in Windsor Locks, CT. From that, I've heard that Spfld. and Hartford are only about 26 miles apart. So, UHart really isn't all that far, and I guess UConn as well, though I've never been east of I-91 in CT, so I don't know. But yeah, that should be very interesting, and I hope that's a good market for the EL.
Thank you!! Last questions: what is the point of having TWO sub-WPS leagues? Do they serve entirely different regions, pick up towns and cities that the other does not want to include, or just, in effect, act as competitors? And, when the WPS comes back, will all the players immediately jump ship or could this cause trouble for WPS?
If you're talking about the W-League and WPSL, they're pretty much competitors after the WPSL broke away from the W-League in the late 1990s. The WPSL is less formal, cheaper, controlled by the teams, and based on the west coast, while the W-League is more formal, more expensive, controlled by a central office, and based on the east coast. I could imagine that some players might choose to play professional at a lower level if that's an option, given the uncertain job security with WPS, but I would think most would want to play at the highest level available to them. It's not as if they have a whole lot of job security to start with.
WPSL W-League One broke off from the other, so that makes them competition. I'd say the top names go back to the WPS. non-WNT stars have flocked to European and Nordic teams pretty much. Obviously, USWNT players would stay home for camps and what nots so there's the reasoning for them to join those teams.
Interesting.... I thought MRAD said the two Aussies were considering filing for legal compensation in light of WPS suspending after they had turned down offers elsewhere? First, I wonder if that was even true or just a rumor, and if true, I wonder what their contracts look like now.
From http://twitter.com/#!/BostonBreakers Melissa Henderson joins Boston Breakers. Good job Boston. One heck of a player.
The Boston Breakers' new website is live: http://www.bostonbreakerssoccer.com/ Home games will be played at Dilboy Stadium in Somerville.
Cool. That's pretty close to my house. Only thing better would have been playing at Tufts (I think the WUSA Breakers considered playing there).
I agree that I was surprised to see the cost of tickets per game for the Breakers Elite team. While the Breakers are proving they will be an "elite" team with many former WPS players on it, I've yet to see the same commitment from the other teams. I guess once rosters are finally out we'll see how things stack up. But I don't know how open I am going to be to treking two plus hours to Somerville to see the Breakers destroy an amateur team pretending to be worth the "elite" tag. I'm more likely to stay closer to home and hit up Mutiny games, especially when they play the Breakers.
Well I live nowhere near the northeast and I already bought my pair of season tickets to the Breakers. I will continue to support these teams. I hope they get back on track next year.
The Breakers will have a very good team. The Red Stars will be no chopped liver. They've already signed some good players in Chalupny, Buczkowski, Julianne Sitch and I'm sure Cinalli and Weber will sign again. I don't know but maybe Ella Masar might play after her France stint. Don't quote me but I've heard rumors that FC Indiana will have a lot of Haitian National Team players. WNY Flash may keep the likes of Bock and Sinclair. So there will be pretty good competition. The point is we don't know how good because the signings are barely trickling in. Once the schedule comes out then IMO there will be a rush to sign more. I still say the WPS in the form that it was is NOT coming back. If it does, it will be in a morphed form between what it was this past year and what you will see this year in the WPSL Elite. If owners pocket books do not empty as fast this year in the WPSL as they did in the past 3 years in the WPS, this league may look more attractive to the owners then we think.
I couldn't agree with you more. For starters, the Breakers deal to play in Somerville instead of Harvard has to be saving the club a ton of money in rental fees.
Of course, there is also a big drop in attendance . Breakers averaged steadily around 4500 over the 3 years at Harvard. Dilboy is 2500 seats. That will be a big hit.