If the RED STARS go they have nothing. They will lose all media and any form of visibility for market growth.
It's a hell of a lot better than Non Existant Soccer League. I don't see any In and Out Burgers this far out east. I guess the franchise must be an unsuccessful one.
Just a shame they can still assert they're "Tier 1" when the league probably won't extend any farther west than Atlanta.
Who else in this country is big enough here to make that claim? What other league is on their level in this country? Haters to the left.
Star change your name to batman..And Sccl will be your damsel in harms way. Cheerleaders on the right.
FCGP took a chance...It obviously hoped that the attendance will increase significantly...That didn't happen... Would any other team take a chance like FCGP did? I would like to see her play in WPS next season...But...That may not happen...
And if you listen to the interview FCGP GM Ilisa Kessler did with CLS, one of the key negatives was that increased attendance was not happening. From the FCGP forum: When she gets to the point of discussing the championship game, I think that may have been the point where the owners may have had second of continuing with the team.
Interestingly, they drew better at the high school in the first part of the season than they did at Hayward.
check the old attendance thread. there's a link in there to a wiki on WPS stadium capacity. eta: ah. here it is. some wiki editor moves fast. FCGP is already listed as "former." And of course, playing at a high school doesn't provide the sorts of amenities for fans that Hayward does in terms of seating, concessions, professional feel, locker rooms, pretty much everything.
4,500 at Castro Valley, 5,000 at Hayward. Problem wasn't the size of the stadium it was the location. The Hayward stadium was a decent way off the highway in the middle of nowhere between Oakland and San Jose. Castro Valley was closer to the highway and was still nowhere but was near a very popular girls soccer area. In the end FC Gold Pride's two biggest mistakes were moving to the east bay from Santa Clara and hiring Marta.
So the WPS may be a east coast soccer league only. It's a shame. I hope an investor steps up for Chicago. We still had one of the highest attendance averages even though we had a losing team both seasons. IMO, we would be on top in attendance if we had winning seasons and made the play-offs. The Red Stars have a very good fan base to build on. IMO, it would be a big shame not to have a team(s) in the midwest or anywhere east of the Miss river in what is supposed to be the "best" league in the world. I read on individual team threads, the vultures are already out picking at FC Gold Pride and they are circling Toyota Park waiting for CRS to die so they can pick our players. I just hope we keep that from happening.
This is kind of off-topic, but the concern is that it didn't seem like an upset. The better team (on the night, at least) won.
Thanks for the info. At least from the GM's perspective, they had high expectations that Marta would increase attendance and attract more sponsors. The Championship attendance was the straw that broke the camel's back. The market was not at the level they hoped to be and didn't see change coming.
Sorry to break into the argument, but we've been OT for several dozen posts now. There's an entire of forum for people to go and argue about the viability of the W-League and such. (Also: I think people need to update their 'ignore' lists.... obvious troll is obvious) I would like to see this thread return to any fallout of BAY folding.
I may just use my ignore list soon rather than try to comprehend bizarre personal attacks against Andy, but I thought this point deserved a response: I would answer this with a question: How many English Premier League teams are west of the Atlantic? And how many people watch the league in the USA? No, going all-East Coast isn't ideal, but it's not the end of the world, as Columbus proved. (Or Leif Eriksson, or perhaps Brendan the Navigator.) And from yesterday's conference call, we know the plan is to head westward again in 2012. Sure, they'll have a lot of hurdles to clear before that happens, but it's not as if they're giving up. The point Andy was making on ownership is that you need team owners to have a team. This isn't a league that says, "Oh, we like these cities -- let's put teams there." They look for owners who have the interest and the money to be in the league. That's not unusual. See NFL, lack of Los Angeles team in.
The WPS vs W-League argument has moved. Please keep this thread to WPS news and happenings about foldings and 'not' foldings, as the case may be.
Since we're back to talking FCGP folding... I got distracted was it mentioned here that it seems the FCGP GM got about a month's notice that the NeSmiths were pulling out? (there's a new interview where I think she says that) Sure, I guess some businesses don't get that much notice b/f they fold. But that just seems well, more crappy.
Have we heard/read anything from the NeSmiths themselves? I haven't. No statement? No apologies? No thank you's to the die-hard fans that did support the team? Nothing?!
I wonder if the NeSmiths asked Marta to take a big pay cut (from her guaranteed contract) and were turned down. I have nothing to base this on at all; I'm just flumoxed because the NeSmiths seemed to be upstanding owners and then to pull the rug out that fast doesn't add up.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Marta paid by her team a normal player salary, but then Amway and Puma picked up the large remainder? Also: It will be interesting to see if Amway follows Marta to an East-coast team, and what happens if they don't.