I thought this may be fun. Send your wishes to your favorite teams, players, fellow posters, owners, coaches, refs and anyone you want to send a wish to for 2014 within the scope of what we talk on this board. Here's a few of mine: I wish for Portland fans to continue with what you do. You are the heartbeat of this league. I wish for WPS_Movement to continue posting. You keep things interesting to say the least. Just in fewer threads, please. I wish to see another game in Portland with my friends cpthomas and Cliveworshipper. I wish for the Chicago Red Stars attendance to triple this upcoming season. I wish for the Red Stars to get Kristen Press as allocation. I wish for more MLS teams to stand up and deliver support for NWSL. I wish for refereeing to get better in 2014. I wish for Alex Sahlen and Aaron Lines to have a healthy and happy newborn and make grandpa Joe proud. I wish for as few injuries as possible to these great players in this league. I wish that all 9 current teams announce next fall they are coming back and that the league is healthy. I wish health and good luck to all my fellow posters and those that don't post but lurk.
I wish that the live streams would have clarity, intelligence, and bountiful bandwidth. I wish that the artificial turf would be kind and forgiving to players' knees and ankles. And, most of all, I wish that Los Angeles would get an expansion team for 2015.
I wish for more woso news in the main media and for it to be game-based (i.e. not about Abby and Sarah's wedding and Alex's/Sydney's Hallowe'en costumes.
I can echo all these wishes, except for the Press one. I think she's a great player and potentially as dangerous as any. I think she'd fit in well with Alex and Christine. But, I guess that isn't realistic. (By the way, I think that Mautz is really good when she's on her game.)
i agree with the attendance and better streams wishes. also... not necessarily a huge portland fan, but.... i wish for alex's ankle to completely heal, and for her to come back with a vengeance. i wish for ko's ankle to completely heal, and... ditto. i wish for tobin's foot/ankle/whatever it is to completely heal, and ... ditto. i wish for an athletic, skillful wnt worthy backup for boxxy to emerge. i wish for an athletic, skillful, beast in the air (eventual replacement for abby) forward to emerge. i wish for at least one good mls backed nwsl franchise to join the league in the off season. simple wishes. nothing too difficult. (i like fckc because of how they play, but i really don't have a team in my area. so my wishes tend toward the league developing great players for the uswnt)
I second your wishes for better streams, attendence and most importantly better refereeing I wish for every ankle and any other injuries (especially Caroline Miller's) to heal I wish for Washington Spirit getting better I wish for FC Kansas City continue to play their kind of soccer I wish for finding another Tymraks and Shims (and maybe next Boxxy) I wish for this league to grow and evolve. Health and happiness for all of you
I wish for Tobs and KO to get matching leopard onesies to match with Baby Horse. But, as far as stuff affecting the league, I'd love to see more federations take interest in subsidy. Then act on that interest next year and beyond. I sure hope the kits are better this year (but I expect to be mildly disappointed again)! I wish to hear more from clubs in MLS interested in forming NWSL teams (what happened, Vancouver? I am disappoint!). More of a Southern California discussion.
I will raise you one for the NWSL. I think that with Houston joining the NWSL partnership so quickly that more will come. I think NWSL clubs could also be part of other Synergy Sports & entertainment groups as well Under their Umbrella of francises in other sprts in said cities. I would also like to see ESPN get involved with both the NWSL as well as they have with the WNBA. ESPNW has the potential to grow larger and having the NWSL headlining would be productive for both. There are a lot of young Women athletes out there and soccer and Basketball are the top two team women's sports.
Nothing "happened", the Whitecaps were never interested in the first place; they already tapped out after the "roundtable" discussion held well before NWSL was finalized. That said, I agree, some more MLS involvement in the future is key, so hopefully someone will be announced in 2014 sometime between June and October. I also wish for a higher salary cap (while teams who don't have the finances to use it be not tempted to do so) and more international slots, early in next year's offseason (as it doesn't seem like it's happen this offseason). Along the same vein, I hope we get some exciting internationals to sign for this season!
I saw something on Yahoo! (which is often not too trustworthy) that the WNBA is in quite a bit of trouble these days, and Y! would not be surprised to see it fold. Is there anything to this? Might that be good for NWSL?
I don't like basketball, so I don't know much about the WNBA. But how would the WNBA folding be good for the NWSL? I would think it would just further the perception some people have that women's sports are a joke...
The issue is that the WNBA biggest backer was NBA comiss David Stern who is retiring coupled with the fact that the has cut official ties with the WNBA and left to a team to team basis on whether they want to support a sister team. The transition has not been so smooth with some relocations and teams with NBA teams cutting ties with sister teams and no one willing to step into the ownership role. Attendnace is down likley to do with the synergy provided by the official NBA connection to the WNBA. Still the WNBA is part of the NBA site and both ESPN( TV broadcaster of the NBA and NBA TV itself still Producing and showing live WNBA action on a regular basis during the season.) I dont see the WNBA going anywhere nor do I see the NWSL ever going under either. Womens pro sports are here to stay. There was atime where induvidual womens sports like Tennis and Golf were also in this same position where many of the old boys club thought it as being much of a joke. No longer the case. The same is happening now with women's team sports. Guess what though as they get more exposure those growing up with it will see that indeed these are high level athletes playing at a high level. ESPN is the best platform to assocciate with and ESPNW brand is still in its infancy. Women's pro basketball in the US and Women's pro soccer in the US is where the best female team athletes play
I think the WNBA suffers from the same ailments as women's soccer in Europe, that is, the male version of that product is so much better that most people consider female version to be the opposite. Fortunately for NWSL, they don't have that problem in the US. However, as soccer continue its growth in the US, it will be important that NWSL survive and be a part of that growth and not get left behind. Which brings me to my wish for 2014. I will like more stability player wise for teams as that is crucial for fan growth. So far even though we have seen a lot of turn over this off season, most teams have not lost their stars of fan favorites (apart from Leroux). My second wish obviously is for more MLS backed expansions. My third is that NWSL should form a partnership with NBC sports instead of Fox soccer. There's nothing worse than paying for TV exposure and getting stuck on a channel (FS2) that no one gets. Even if it means paying NBC just to make livestreams available, I rather they do that than paying to be on FS2.
I think FS2 is carried almost everywhere FS1 is. The problem with it, IMHO, is that a lot of people only have it in SD, so they don't know to look for it there and assume they don't have it. (I only get it in SD, myself, so I was glad they aired the final on Fox Soccer Plus so I could watch it in HD) That would be silly for them to do. The point of paying for it to be on a Fox or any other channel is for the larger reach of television. If it's only going to be streamed, just keep it free on YouTube and use that money you would have spent to buy HD equipment that all the teams can use all season long.
Well apart from the fact that FS2 its only SD, most people don't have Fox sport for the simple fact that it is a premium channel that you have to pay for. That number reduced further when they lost the premier league bid. If this is on NBC stream, that only will you have it broadcast in HD but also tap into the growing number of fans that watch the premier league on NBC.
The Fox Sports channels are on the same tier as NBC Sports Network on my cable system (Time Warner). So there's no real advantage to either. Now ESPN, on the other hand, is on the basic (i.e. analog) tier so a lot more people get it. That's assuming that EPL viewers would be logging in to the "NBC Sports Live Extra" site in the off season... (which Time Warner Cable customers do not even have access to, btw)
Hopefully ESPN will show an interest in at least a package of a few games for the ESPN2 and the rest webcast on the much ore popular ESPN3/watch ESPN. being affiliated with ESPN makes a big difference. WNBA has ESPN and NBATV. NWSL some ESPN2 along with FS2, and ESPN3 would make a diference