Last week i spoke at the IWSL AGM and met with the Indiana Youth Soccer Executive Director. We're also working on a partnership agreement with FC Indiana and hoping to do similar with Chicago Gaels, but their communication has not been the best. Had some very good meetings this past week - CPWS investor meeting Tuesday in Chi and League meetings in DC Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. In Chicago, we're putting together our roadmap, vision, mission and value statements with operating principles and finalizing employment agreements with President/CEO (me) and GM (TBA). Lot going on behind the scenes with the League. January will be a pretty big month for the League. We also added a couple minor uypgrades to our website allowing email list registration and blogging with reader comments....now i have to start blogging there and adding some more content. Looking forward to adding GM, which will really help me out. peter
I'm curious as to how the player allocation works. There are quite a few players from the midwest area, Kate Markgraf, Leslie Osborne, Lindsay Tarpley, Lori Chalupny to name a few, which would be great to see playing in Chicago. Do the players express interest in playing for a certain team and that's where they go? Or is it just a luck of the draw sort of thing, people just end up wherever? Looking at the 2007 WNT player pool, there's about 35-40 players there, how many will be allocated to each team?
Player distribution mechanics are still being finalized, but we certainly will ask the WNT players their preferences with the understanding that there is no assurance on their ultimate team.
Heather Mitts would be a logical choice for Chicago since she's from Cincinnati. I wonder if Jenn Grubb would want to play for her hometown. She's not too old yet. And don't forget there's a lot of local kids in college like Notre Dame and Illinois who may be available in couple years to go pro.
Here's an even more important question. When do you think you'll start taking season ticket deposits?
The League is planning to go ahead with seven teams, but there are a couple other markets that are considering joining in time for 2009. Nothing has been finalized for those markets however. peter
Is there any chance that the pro teams will play exhibitions against the W-League teams in venues outside ther pro markets?
Yes. i think that is important for the League's growth. i tried setting one up in 2003 in Naperville, but the WUSA teams at the time did not want to do it. The teams and League allowed the coaches to veto it. That mentality of allowing coaches to make business decisions is another reason i believe the WUSA did not survive. peter
Will there still be a Cup Tourney that all teams will compete in? Like the pro teams, W-League, and WPSL.
Blog Site Added to www.chicagoprowomenssoccer.com . My first blog is here: http://www.chicagoprowomenssoccer.com/blog/ peter
FYI, a couple new posts here: http://chicagoprowomenssoccer.blogspot.com/ Prolly last ones for a week or so. Cheers, peter
They named their GM today, it's previous Northwestern and Carolina Courage head coach Marcia McDermott. from the Tribs soccer blog http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/soccer_redcard/ current profile as U of I assistant http://fightingillini.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/mcdermott_marcia00.html
Congrats Peter on hiring Marcia McDermott. Everything I've heard about her has been positive. She knows the area and has been around the women's game for a long long time and has many connections. Good luck.
Peter, Awesome job in hiring Marcia. While she was coaching the Courage, they became the only Carolina based team I followed even though I have been living in NC for 11 years. I loved the toughness and the skill her teams had.
Here's another article about the new GM. A couple of things that impress me even more about her is that when in Carolina she was also the Assistant GM and being in Medical sales that past few years. With Carolian she was involved with an organization that did well both on and off the field. Putting a good team on the field is important for this league to do well, but it's the off field details that will really contribute for success for failure. I also think that it's good that she has some sales experience outside of soccer. Because I think sales ability will be just as important in this league as is soccer knowledge. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=111852
...level of engagement from the owners. There are also really good relationships being built with the MLS... I especially like the good relationships with MLS part, which the "Founders" of WUSA didn't seem too interested in.
We're closing in on a decision, but due to coaching commitments there may or may not be a formal announcement for a few months. peter
This was in the Tribs soccer blog today that Chicago is talking to the Brazil's women's world cup coach Jorge Barcellos. I think that would be a great catch if they could get him. http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/soccer_redcard/2008/02/brazil-coach-in.html
I saw that about Barcellos. Also saw that Greg Ryan was interested before the Michigan job and that Borkowski is still a canidate. Glad to see Ryan out of the mix. A new team would not need that controversy at all. Should be interesting. Does anyone think that some teams may wait to see what happens with Pia after the Olympics?