Well it's Monday and no announcement to speak of...

But it's only Monday.
If I tell you I'm going to pay you "this week", or if I tell the boss that I'll have it done "this week" - it's gonna be closer to Friday, than Monday, before either happens. And that's only in the unlikely event that this is a good week :0)

But, yeah, I don't think it's the first time that a supposed date for news has past without any.

 

In the name of credibility, they need to stop doing that. Go with "soon" or "near future" or nothing, rather than Monday and then Monday never comes.
Teasers )

 

We are impatient, aren't we?

Sometime between now and April would be my guess.

Where did that impression come from? The only thing I'm aware of is a off-hand, totally discountable, comment by Tom Stone. Was there something more substantial than that?

Doing what? I don't know where the expectation that there'd be an announcement this week even came from.

Well, if the Mercury News expected an announcement we'd better have an investigation.

We'll know more when we know more.

And no sooner.

 

The real question any corp. should have is why should we support (charity for womens sports as some have put it) or invest in a League which has the same "owners" and "management" who put it in the cellar and out with the trash to begin with?

I think that is the big error the NT girls are making. They should hook up with some people with experience and gumption to make it happen again.

They don't need to know poop about soccer, just about business, for that is what will keep it running.

But, the names I've seen are the same mgmt. team as before. Can you teach a dog new tricks?

 

Play resumes

Even if there was a league this summer it would already be way behind on ticket sales and individual team sponsorhip deals so the smart thing to do is announce that the WUSA will be back in 2005 and put the individual team pieces together in the long off-season.

 

BF, that's BS.

Neither the WUSA nor any follow-on entity will get any legs from matching up with MLS teams. Most of the MLS fans that I know couldn't care less about a women's match. To them it's an excuse to hangout at the pre-game tailgate longer or a chance to begin the post-game tailgate sooner.

As a hardcore women's soccer fan, I'd have to admit that the longest afternoons that I've spent at the stadium have been due to MLS/WUSA DH. The large stadiums don't fit the smaller crowd and 5 hours in stadium seats is unhealthy. It interfered with the pre/post-game activities on the pitch and made noone happy. (The only thing worse was the Gold Cup TH in Foxboro this year - yikes.)

There is about a 20% overlap (maybe less) in fan base for the men's and women's professional game. This is not enough to entice MLS to begin a WMLS nor is it enough springboard from which to launch a WUSA2.

FUGGEDABOUDIT

 

Not this again...

Could someone please explain to me why they think that NOW the league can be successful, after it's already failed once and the USA didn't even make it to the WWC Final? If this league ever had a chance, it was after the 1999 victory (even went to the game myself), but now? Honestly? I don't want to be a buzzkill or anything, but I just can't see people investing their time and money into something like this again after they got burned the first time around when the possibilities were never larger.

To this day, not a single women's team sports league has ever fluorished and prospered. Forget the TV deals and the big contracts - just let the gals go out and play for the love of the game. If it's that good, the people will come, and then you can talk about TV deals and salary structures.

Until then, it's all just foolhearty. Sorry to speak the truth, but that's simply what it is...

 

MLS has enough problems on it's own...it needs to steer clear of anything having to do with women's soccer.

 

On this we can agree.

Y'know. I'm an MLS inaugural season ticket holder, but I have to say that "classy" is an adjective that I have never associated with the MLS organization.

 

And it's now January 11th, and still nothing. I just did a Google news search and came up with a bunch of pieces mentioning former WUSA players and a host of the same piece (must have been an AP story) about the Redskins hiring of Joe Gibbs being part of this area's attempt to regain winning ways of it's sports teams...the recently folded Freedom being in the story as part of that.

So I'm getting this very gloomy feeling that it's over. Just look at the shrinking size of the WUSA section of BigSoccer...kind of reflects what's happening, doesn't it?

 

It seems to me it would be best to cut all ties with the WUSA. Call it something else. Why associate with a failed league just for namesake?

 

That lack of overlap is the point - right now, there is little if any overlap. But if you actually work on the cross-promotion (and cross-savings by teaming up) you might (A) build your fan base and (B) save money. Or are we not interested in that?

It sure seems that many in the current leadership structure of the womens program are insisting on doing it on their own, and look at the big numbers from the WWCs and think that will happen on the club level.

Unless they disabuse themselves of that notion, or are removed in favor of people who have some business sense, things will not get better.

MLS, Sam's Army, the MNT - none of that happened in a vacuum. Those things grew because people put a business plan together and made it happen. Sam's Army started off as 25 people. Now, for big games, they have 500. Funny, but not at WNT games. Why? Because the people in charge of the womens program will not work with those in Sam's Army. The only reason there was a Sam's Army section in Dallas for the Mexico game was because we knew the Burn staff well enough to get it set up anyway.

I am sure a lot of it comes from the vision they have in their head - and it is a good one - of a professional womens league where you have good salaries, good venues, etc.

But they went the way of the NASL - aiming too high too early. You have to build a foundation, folks. And I am sorry, but there is a HUGE difference between the numbers you get when you have a single event once or twice a year in a particular venue, with one of the best teams in the world, as opposed to 14 or 16 or however many regular games with a diluted talent pool.

You know what makes me the most uncomfortable about the business sense of it all? The salaries. MLS has been draconian in their salaries, but they made it. They are turning the corner. Until WUSA 1.1 turns the corner, they need to be draconian, too.

This is NOT a "build it and they will come" situation. It is a LONG row to hoe to build a league - any league - let alone one that is a soccer league AND a womens league. WUSA showed there is in fact a market for a professional womens soccer league. But until WUSA is willing to look at their expenses and organization and do some major surgery, I don't want to hear about "give little girls their dreams" because it isn't the sponsors who are keeping the dream from being a reality, it is the league organizers.

And cross promotion is one of the keys. Absolute keys. You can't just say, "Well, they're not interested right now" and throw up your hands. I sure as hell didn't - and frankly I had every right to last November. See, I'm a part of Sam's Army and a member of The Inferno (supporters for the Dallas Burn). For those who don't follow MLS, the Burn just had one of the worst MLS seasons ever - and that includes the stadium situation. When the Fed said that the WNT was going to play Mexico in Dallas on Nov. 2, I thought how perfect it would be - you have a whole slew of disaffected hard-core soccer fans itching for something to get the bad taste out of out mouths after the pathetic experience that was the 2003 Dallas Burn in Southlake.

The vast majority wouldn't even return an email. Some of the hardest-core Sam's Army members wouldn't return phone calls. I could have written it off and said, "no one cares, nothing I can do."

Instead, I accepted the reality - which isn't any different for anyone trying to support soccer in the US today - that there is work to be done. I made sure that those who WERE willing to be there were going to have a good time, and we did.

And two things happened which prove my point to those who doubt that there can be converts and that the WNT will notice Sam's Army.

Dustin Christmann, founder and president emeritus of The Inferno, a guy who had spent the vast majority of the past eight years telling anyone who would listen that he doesn't like the womens game because it is too slow, made the game, led us in chants and had a blast. (My favorite was "Mejor que Los Hombres" - since the Mexican WNT actually scored in that game, as opposed to the Mexican MNT who hasn't scored in the vast majority of the previous USA-Mexico games. Another was "Brianna, do you need a hammock?")

See? Even the hardest of hearts can be overcome.

Second, I got Shannon MacMillan's game-worn shoes and she signed my jersey - which is pretty cool but is a lot cooler when you know the context that they were told NOT to do signatures.

For more:

http://flashpages.prodigy.net/klindstr/Etc/MacSigs.html

First off - why in the hell were they instructed not to do signatures? This was the first time they had been in Dallas in YEARS, but not to do signatures?

But second - while it was as much about the Shannon MacMillan WNT jersey I had on (where my wife had to have the number and name put on because they don't make MacMillan kits), it was also about Sam's Army. Make your presence known, be positive, help create a good atmosphere, and things will turn around.

But to garble a quote from Wayne Gretzky - you never score on the shots you never take.

I'll leave you with this about building foundations - when the Dodgers moved to LA, they put together a plan on how they would integrate themselves into the community and become the local baseball team. Any idea on the length of the plan? TEN YEARS. And that was Major League Baseball - "America's Pastime." At the time, it was as American as American could be, yet they still planned like it was going to take a decade to establish themselves.

Notice how it was about ten years after the NASL started its grass roots efforts to teach the sport that you had kids really start to get into it? Notice how it is getting close to the tenth year of MLS and they are starting to get around the corner?

WUSA 1.1 needs to have THAT kind of vision - of longevity, and of growth. Will you ever get 100% cross-over between the two leagues? No. But why not try to get that 20% up to 50%? It isn't like you have to teach them the game.

My broken record theme on this, though - soccer needs soccer. Until every professional soccer match has 20,000 a game, and 1,000 of them fanaticos, there is room for growth. The "we don't need them" attitude is nothing but a quick way to end up in the dump heap of failed soccer leagues in the US. Take a gander at the list sometime - look at the list of failed mens leagues sometime, read through the reasons why they failed, and you will see very clearly that going it alone is a quick way to die.

Go here for the full list - there is at least 30.

http://www.sover.net/~spectrum/#leagues

Socceer needs soccer - no league can continue to reinvent the wheel - not when you have as many strikes against you as a professional womens league or a professional soccer league have. And WUSA is BOTH.

There is a market - of that there is no doubt.

But until the Founders put a real business plan together, the foundation they laid down in 2000 will not endure.

 

you rule drum'r boy!!!!!!!! well, well, well, said!!!!!!!

 

(blush) Thanks.

Sorry for the verbose post, but my history is of a fan of the NASL who was just getting into the league when it died, and then had to endure 12 years of hell until MLS came around.

As you can see, it has given me much food for thought - and is the reason why I am pretty protective of "For the love of the game" and not real patient with people who don't do everything they can to protect it.

We all have splendorous visions and implausible dreams in our heads about this game we love so much - but we have to be careful that the right foundation is put down so that it will endure for decades, not three years.

 

Hey Drum'r Boy, I went to your site about the MacMillan signature and hope others do too. It reminded me of how much I love these women and what they've accomplished and how much I enjoy watching the next generation, such as Abby.

I just don't want this to end with a wimper. I think your several posts are right on target, and particularly you're line about 'soccer needs soccer'. Couldn't agree more.

So let's hope that someday soon there'll be that announcement.

 

A friend sent me this..............

The league will hold soccer festivals on three consecutive weekends in June -- June 11-13, 18-20, and 25-27. Twenty-two communities across the country have been sent proposals as the WUSA revival committee is seeking to select the cities to host the festivals.

The festivals will combine both on- and off-field activities to showcase WUSA players to the community. The plan calls for at least 90 players to be involved in each festival. During the day on Saturday, 26-plus WUSA players will direct clinics in the community. That evening, the remaining 64 players will divide into four squads to play a doubleheader. If a festival is held in a WUSA city, the core of one of the teams would come from that city's former club.

credit-Karyn Lush at the United soccer athletes site...evidently you need a password to access it:

http://www.ponytailposse.com

 

This was my first though when I saw this thread. like the leisure suit, the WUSA is gone. Let it go. Concentrate on the WNT and go from there.

 

WUSA 2.0 will not likely be announced until after the Olympics at the earliest.

Their business plan depends on their revenue stream moving forward. At this point their only commitments are the festivals mentioned above. And even those are merely dates on a calendar.

 

Oh, and did you bother checking the www.wusa.com

It's back in business - as DiCicco said it would be at the "Will Womens Pro Soccer Survive?" panel discussion.

Granted, it's just a blurb, but it's the first sign of life since the WWC.

 

sweet, any signs of life are a good thing at this point