As many of you know, our WUSA team (Freedom) has reached the 2002 WUSA final by winning in Philadelphia yesterday. How do you think their success will affect public awareness or perception of United and professional soccer in DC (especially if they win the title in Atlanta this Saturday)? Do you think United will get looked down on (like some people think the US men were after 1999 when the women won) because they are struggling or is any soccer publicity in DC good publicity for United? How will it be for Freedom when the situation is flipped (and we all know United will rise again)? I personally believe any publicity of soccer is good for United, just thought it might make interesting discussion.
Who are the Freedom? Congrats to them. I hope the WUSA game continues to improve. It is still too slow and tentative for my taste, but I watched the game (with one eye) on Saturday and delighted in their nice goal. Good luck in Atlanta, but I'd rather not be discussing WUSA here in the DC United forum. GM
I'm sure the stupid Freedom fans with no sense of history (And you KNOW the kind, "MLS played for 5 years before we had a league??? I just can't believe that") will look down on United, especially with our current predicament. However, anyone who knows anything would understand that it will be quite some time before anybody in MLS or WUSA could say they are as accomplished as United or as dominating as United had been. And I agree with GM, kudos go to the ladies, but I'd rather not discuss them here.
I'm well aware that United has won three MLS titles and a few others, but all were before WUSA/Freedom's existance so this is sort of a new situation. The idea is not to talk about Freedom (we know there's a separate board for that), but to talk about how a possible big story about another local soccer team will affect United for better or for worse (or maybe not at all).
Ron, I'm not a big fan of the WUSA but I know you and your group put a lot of time into supporting the team, so I hope they win it and you all enjoy every minute of it. Bill
It's all good. ANYTHING that will get breathless "pointyball preseason from Japan" out of the papers is a bonus in my book. And for the record, the Atlanta-Charlotte game had the "high-squeal content" that RFK used to have for the Freedom games. DC supports soccer well. Even when it's missing from the home side at times, the fans around here appreciate a well-played game. And without hurting the ears of the neighborhood dogs, too. Will the Freedom's success grow the sport? Can't hurt. Let's hope some rubs off. dadman
Should help somewhat. They will still get less print than the Mystics get for a semifinal, win or lose. The Mystics got first page, big article coverage (and I think a column as well) for their quarterfinal win. The Freedom got 2nd page coverage, for making the championship game. The comment will be made "well, basketball's a big-time sport".... well, the women's game sure isn't. The Mystics game was played in front of 6000 people. A few hundred less than attended the Freedom game, in spite of the blazing heat at the soccer game. There's no justification for giving WNBA more press than WUSA. I was blown away by the excellent Sunday Magazine cover article on the Freedom earlier in the season. I hope that means they're just looking for an excuse to write about the Freedom. But I'm not holding my breath. But tying it in with United and MLS, there have been too many "THIS time maybe the popularity will take off!" pronouncements. Our first championship. Our second championship. Our Interamerican Cup. Our third championship. "Now they'll take us seriously!" Women's World Cup. WC02. The bottom line is that each good showing is a very minor victory in the press and attendance battles. The press simply isn't going to significantly ramp up coverage until many years from now, when (hopefully) the league has been around for a while, the attendance has gradually grown, etc.,etc. So all we can hope is that our leagues survive and we can continue to enjoy entertaining soccer in RFK. Expecting anything beyond that is simply going to be disappointing.
Good luck to the Freedom. I don't think their success/failure will have much impact on the men's game hereabouts.
The Mystics game in Charlotte was played in front of that small crowd (they had the second lowest average attendance in the league and are likely a lame-duck team playing in their last game), but the home game in that series was played in front of over 14,000.
I think the sad thing is the fact that MLS and WUSA are separate. It would have been great if the bankrollers of WUSA had put their bucks into MLS and the same group then managed both franchises where there are two teams in a city. In fact, that probably would have increased the number of matches. Two teams could justify new stadiums more quickly; they would give more clout in negotiating for TV; they could avoid scheduling conflicts while can cause a lot of anguish for those of us whose families have members who follow both teams, but prefer one over the other for gender reasons. That said, the more success for soccer -- any soccer -- the better. I just hope the powers that be in USSF, MLS and WUSA don't let their egos and the turf wars do any more damage than necessary.
Complain to the WUSA, they were the ones that thought they didn't need MLS and wanted to be totally separate. K
What I think/hope/pray that most MLS and United fans have come to realize (and perhaps maybe some WUSA fans) is that nothing, even a US men's WC victory, is going to turn soccer overnight into a popular media sport in the USA. This is going to occur very slowly, wins fans one at a time. WUSA has a long haul ahead of it. Overall attendance is down this year (just like it went down in MLS' second year). The novelty wore off. We need SSS (soccer specific stadiums). Both leagues need to support each other. Gradual and careful expansion (so the leagues are truely national ones that have a decent chance of drawing audiences other than from the teams that play in the game and a few metro centers like LA, DC, NY and maybe Chicago). And the quality of play in both leagues must improve. But given all those caveats, I'm all for the Freedom winning the the league title. As long as people put this in perspective--we're all in a battle to win support for soccer. Phrasing it as "we're better than United" or nonsense like that doesn't build cooperation.
I'm not saying they're without blame. They may be entirely to blame, for all I know. It is the result that I find troubling -- internicene warfare within soccer instead of cooperation to promote it.
WUSA apparently chose to directly compete with Soccer Saturdays (established before WUSA) for TV coverage. THe WUSA Saturday coverage is at 4:00 PM, coincident with espn coverage of MLS. If the WUSA directly competes with MLS, it is the enemy to me and I refuse to spend my dollars on their product. GM
That is a bit short sighted GM. The failure of any league. Womens or mens is bad for soccer in this country. It feeds the Frank Defords of the world.
Now, there are very few times to have the games and they made a choice. Saturday nights, you are going to compete with baseball and have no chance. Earlier Saturday afternoons and the games on the West Coast are before noon and the games on the East Coast are too damn hot. Both leagues chose the best time to show soccer games in a nationwide league. Seeing as there is VERY LITTLE crossover fans, it is not a big deal.
Let's give Foudy a break here. If she was named Ray Hudson we would all be laughing at her comments. As for the infamous "no piggyback" comment, she never made it. It was reported anonymously, and Oliver Tse of soccertv.com infamy said, with explaining why, that Foudy said it, Even though she didn't. Soon after the rumor broke, she made a statement that she liked MLS and of course wanted it to succeed, noting that she had friends who played there. That never gets mentioned.
I was in France in '98, so I never saw the US WC telecasts (a friend of mine taped them for me, when I got back, I told him to chuck them). Your problem of course is that you cannot understand the genius of Steve Sampson and the innovative 3-6-1.
Sorry guys, my team happens to be DC United. Other teams competing with it will not get any of my money (I'm sure they are trembling in their boots). I don't think their product really competes that effectively, but they still chose to televise their game of the week during the same time slot as MLS. You call me short-sighted. I supported women's soccer during the early days and will still think about going to USWNT games. But when they dis my club by dissing my league -- they can put it where the sun don't shine. Yes, winning two World Cups is an outstanding feat. It fries me when the WUSA fans and the Press compare US women success to the men's game. There is no comparison. The rest of the world has women's teams that are only beginning to compete with the advanced US athletes. They would be justified in comparative bragging if there were more than four, maybe five women's teams that can really compete (and many of those have US women that choose to play for the other part of their dual heritage such as Steffi Jones). When the competition is fierce, maybe the overall women's game will be more exciting (for me) to watch. I'm not sure how many fans support both leagues, but I would call fans of MLS who support WUSA to the detriment of MLS the short-sighted ones. Despite this, I still wish the local club the best of success in the cup. Now, these are my last words in this thread, which, IMO no longer belongs in DC United's forum. GM
Re: Re: Freedom Success and Soccer in DC [R] There are crossover fans in my household. Scheduling conflicts present a problem.