post-mortem

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by falcon6
i'm not taking pleasure in their loss. I think a few of those women could use a good dose of humility.
Especially Foudy and Chastain.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



The world has a way of dealing with those who fly too close to the sun a la Icarus.

The mythical "woofing gods" have dealt with Foudy and Brandi harshly for their hubris.

Both Foudy and Brandi definitely flew too close to the sun with respect to their remarks in 2000-2001 regarding WUSA (Brandi to San Jose Mercury News: "WUSA is only soccer league in the US with world class players") and MLS (Foudy to Jay Leno: "MLS, what's that?"; allegedy both Foudy and Brandi to several reporters: "We don't want MLS piggybacking with [WUSA's/USWNT's] attendances).

Foudy (and to a lesser extent Brandi) are central figures in a long-running saga that has played out like a Greek tragedy. The end of the story was predictable. This was a matter of when, not if. Their luck couldh't be good forever.

Both Foudy and Brandi should have figured out by now that their time in the industry is definitely up.

Time waits for no one in the cruel world of sports entertainment.

The US women's national team program will be rebuilt with a new group of core players for the 2007-2008 cycle. With the Foudy/Brandi group gone, the program will get a much-needed breath of fresh air. Hopefully, the new group of players will have paid attention and learned by observing
the price Foudy and Brandi are paying because of their hubris.

As for another attempt at a women's pro league in the US: I can't see one until after the 2011/2012 cycle at the earliest.

The current group of managers associated with WUSA (and that includes the players' association) has such a poor track record of managing the finances, delivering what they promised to sponsors, and simply telling the truth to the media (they lied not once, but twice about receiving TV rights fees, from Turner and PAX respectively) that I can't see enough sponsors picking up the expenses to keep WUSA in business in 2004 as anything other than perhaps a barnstorming tour of friendlies prior to the Olympics.

WUSA was an interesting business experiment. It was a made-for-cable-exclusive regional TV product that investors were convinced that it could sell even without much paid support in the stadiums.

The corporate investors, Comcast in particular, thought they were buying into the next NBA and wanted immediate results.

When the WUSA missed its projected TV ratings, the corporate investors, starting with Comcast (in May 2001) and then Time Warner Cable (in November 2002), didn't hesitate to put their operating rights to WUSA teams up for sale.

WUSA probably lasted 2 years more than it should have after looking back at all the numbers.

If WUSA were a traditional TV programming series instead of a women's sports league with its associated political correctness, the cable TV outfits would have cancelled the TV series after year 1.