Where's the buzz??

Well, I'm lurking a lot because there isn't much to comment on yet really. After two years, we know the rosters are going to shift a bit between now and opening day. And there is a lot of uncertainty about the USWNT and how that is going to work.

I wish the teams were putting out more to up the interest.

I like how Atlanta is trickling out news about their pre-season games and hope the other teams do the same.

Mostly, I didn't want your thread to go days without a response . . .

 

I think the reason its been quiet here on BS is because the teams have been quiet. The Flash don't ever use their Twitter and MagicJack apparently doesn't know anything about PR.


I expect a lot of that to change within the next week or two as more and more teams play in preseason games.

However, I do not understand the lack of info available online from the Flash and MagicJack. I expect the Flash to get better at that as the season draws closer but MagicJack's situation really is weird. I don't understand how a professional team cannot have ANY info on a way to get tickets with less than a month until the season starts.

 

This is a great topic. I'm a longtime women's soccer fan, but haven't been a BS member for very long. It was really the buzz last offseason that prompted me to start posting. This year however, I have definitely been less invested in WPS and more interested in the international game. Part of it is the excitement of the approaching World Cup, but much more of it has to do with the state of the league and my frustrations with it. And this is coming from someone whose team is one of the more stable (Boston).

Obviously, it really blew to lose so many teams in one season. Right now, I can't seem to remember which players are on what team even though I've looked it up countless times. It's tough for the league and the teams to maintain any sort of identity when there is so much turnover - players, staff, teams - it's turned into some crazy circus you'd hesitate to revisit. And 6 teams hardly makes the week-to-week competition very interesting.

Another issue I see is the one being discussed in the other thread about club vs country - no one is sure what things will look like this season. Perhaps this will actually make things more interesting eventually, as in "who will show up this week?" One thing I am looking forward to is the potential break-out opportunities for players who haven't gotten much attention/time.

I neglected the part of your question about media/internet buzz - there does seem to be less, but this could just be the result of (personally) paying less attention.

 

lets put it this way. basically all of the teams stars havent reported. is marta still playing for santos? you'd figure wny would have called her, given she's still their player. is kelly smith with boston? uswnt team players with their clubs ?

and yes, poor updating by pretty much all the teams with jack off leading the way.

actually i think wny is doing ok, has some stuff on their old site. i thought they'd have the new site up by now. they announced it weeks ago. how long does it take since they are using the wps template?

 

Off seasons usually peak and wane. I'm not going to get heavy into the upcoming season until I finish up school. I usually am more active in the beginning of an offseason, to get a good picture of how the next season may go and to slowly wane myself off the previous season. After that I have to take a break for school and for sanity.

Many teams are releasing info on pre-season happenings and games here and there. SBFC has done a pretty good job at that and so have PHILA. Remember mediums of the dissemination of information have changed. Add a team on Twitter or FB and you're more likely to get more steady updates.

 

I'd just like them to use their Twitter. They can keep the website for a while but lets at least get some Twitter updates from them. Even if its just something like "Ali Riley flew in today".

 

I hate to say it, but I've concluded that the "leadership" of this league doesn't care. I can't see how they can. Entering such a critical year, you would assume that they would be doing more to keep us the paying consumer interested. It's as if they are assuming that we will just say invested just because. For the most part I'm assuming that's true. But it's still freaking annoying.

That being said, I'm very interested to see the press releases as the season gets closer. Nothing better than hearing PR spins as to why things have been so quiet and we've been reduced to looking at twitter and fb to get our league news. Is there even a league office anymore?? Teams should check the fax machine before they send in tomorrow's roster cuts to make sure it's actually connected HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

 

I hardly think that most of the people running/working for the league don't care - in fact, they probably care a lot to have stayed when everything was falling apart. The problem is that they are severely understaffed and underfunded.

And to everyone else: sure, it's nice to be getting regular info from Twitter, but it's ridiculous to have to dig around there for answers to basic questions. It's like playing where's waldo (while I admit that this can sometimes be fun, how will they draw in new fans this way?).

 

Now that the Freedom is no more, WPS is dead to me. BTW, there is no "buzz", WPS has descended into the W-League with greater travel distances, better players and worse financials.

 

I think that part of the problem on BS is that a lot of us who were hardcore fans from the previous two seasons don't have a team anymore. I know that you, MRAD12, are among those of us in that boat. While we (you and me and some of the others) have continued, some have left. We have picked up some new fans, thank goodness, but I don't know if we've picked up as many as we've lost.

I also think there is a cloud over the league in some respects. Going into the last two seasons, most of us thought it was a long-term situation and that the league was in a solid position. Events of the past year have changed many perceptions. I am still hopeful of it being long-term, but not as certain.

As many have said, the top players aren't really in camp yet and will be missing for a good part of the season. Another thing is that for the past two seasons, WPS was the big women's soccer event for those of us in the States, but this year the World Cup overshadows WPS.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still very much a fan of the league and care very much about it. I will continue to support it enthusiastically, but it has lost some of its luster for various reasons.

Not to mention, for the past couple of years, there was a lot of talk about road trips and supporters groups. Several of the larger supporters groups don't have teams. Boston is probably the biggest exception, but the rest of us will have to make major trips to see any games in person.

 

I'm sorry but I have to respectfully disagree. They have been at this for 3 years and still haven't fixed their communication problem. Even if there are only 3 people in the league office, the communication dpt has to be a top priority. Either hire someone to do it, or out source it. My problem is a fan is that I don't trust the league suits anymore. They have lied to us or been overly secretive too many times. It's a point where I wouldn't be surprised if the league folded today at 4 pm with no warning. I hope they can ride this storm, and that next off season, we will have all 6 teams around INCLUDING the defending champion. (fingers crossed)

 

One of the things that the league can and should immediately improve on is the individual team websites. I am going to pick on the Breakers here because that is the team I know best. I think it is shameful that there has only been 2 news updates on the website since preseason started. Our game magazine does more updates on the Breakers than the Breakers do on themselves. I understand and know that the Breakers do update their twitter page but they need to do more on the website. 3 stories in the past week that should be on the site. 1. Breakers move camp to Florida as international team players rejoin the team. 2. Pavlina Scasna leaves team for injury concerns. 3. Breakers drop preseason game to MagicJack. If they can update twitter it stands to reason that should be able to update the website a lot more often as well. Are these stories earth shattering?...no, but it keeps people informed.

If Leslie Osbourne doing a sandwich contest is major news than so should the result of a preseason match. Just sayin.

 

Twitter and Facebook are the new relms of communication. I just checked the Breakers accounts on both networking sites and I see lots of recent updates. I think the WPS sites are to serve as portals to get people familiar with the team and their BIG happenings. If they posted every little thing on it, it would become cluttered and no one would bother to read it.

 

I agree. The FB pages (I don't have twitter) of philly, boston, and skyblue fc are very good and they always update. I feel like that's the approach teams are taking with their comm. ATL's is decent at best. MagicJack of course has us all in suspense waiting. WNY doesn't have anything yet either (give them a pass as an expansion). My issue with the main team website not being update (with big stories I mean) is that new fans/potential investors maybe aren't going to check facebook to see what a team is about. With the energy spent updating FB and twitter, posting the same story on the team website can't be that difficult. The main WPS site is a lost cause at this point.

 

The Boston Breakers communication person also writes for Our game magazine. Most likely the reason why you see so much there. I agree with your thoughts on updating the website, it has been very frustrating to me too. I don't do Stalkerbook and I can't monitor twitter constantly for news updates. The Breakers used to have a weekly email update that had all kinds of news, but that has gone by the wayside as well. I've been very dissapointed that their communication has lessened, with the new person they hired I thought it would get even better, but it went the opposite way.

 

One doesn't have to have a Facebook account to view the team's pages. I'm young and I don't check twitter but once or twice a week. I've bookmarked my team's pages and put them in a folder. I click them to take a gander every now and then. It's really not rocket science and as I will say again times have changed, marketing has changed.

 

That's fine for teams that are actually updating their pages. The latest on the Freedom/MJ page is them trying to sell season tickets at the SoccerPlex.

 

I still lurk around every now and then. As others have said, I lost my team after season one(LA SOL) and decided to give support to my closest team(FC Gold Pride) then they folded... I really have nothing left and feel abandoned by the league.

Changes occur so much if the whole league folded tomorrow, I wouldn't be surprised.

I used to be excited about this league, now I'm more excited about the upcoming World Cup 2011....

I will continue to watch whatever games occur online via webcasts and support the league in my own way, but I'm ultimately hurt by the way the fans were treated during the demise of the LA SOL and I will never forget that.

 

i wouldnt stop supporting the league (the ladies) because of stupid moves by the commish owners.

1. commish should have had AEG sign a 3 yr contract to run the LA SOL...not that 1 yr deal and we are out, also should have made sure AEG was obligated to pay Marta's 3yr/1.5M. if none of the above...she should have had a smaller group from day one run the SOL.

2. Jeff Cooper should have never been an owner, was interested in the MLS from day 1, just used the WPS as leverage. Again...commish should have never let him have a franchise. You see the MLS could care less about him

3. I cant say anything about the FCGP, think the owners gave it a go. The young tech crowd in San Fran isnt interested in soccer. That's it. Just a bad location for a team. i dont think MLS could make it in San Fran.

4. Chicago = cost. WPS teams cant play in MLS stadiums. That's one reason why you dont want the MLS to completely buy into the WPS. MLS bleeds money and the WPS would be history.

5. Everybody hates MagicJackOff but he is 1/2 of the equation which keep the league alive. Maybe it's a one yr fix because he will bleed money this yr, so I'm not sure he'll even keep the team after this season but it gives them a yr to find a new owner for Washington and to get Vancouver, Seatte or whomever in. I cant blame the commish for this move, she just brought the league an extra yr. Maybe I'm wrong and Jack will stay around.

None of the above has anything to do with the players...so I still support the league. I will travel to AtLanta to see 3 games again this yr. it's not the expensive. I will purchase 2 seats again to the champ game and give them away.

if i remember this is the same type of growing pain the nfl went through in its' early days.

 

Unfortunately, with those two constraints the league wouldn't have started up in the first place, at least not in 2009. Sometimes you have to roll the dice. (That being said, I almost wish they hadn't started the league because I'd least I'd still have a team - it would be W-League, but that's better than nothing.)

 

AEG could have been handled in a better way. Even if they had to take that deal...what did the WPS heads do all season long? it's like they sat all yr, and waited to the beginning of the new season to say, "we cant find an investor in California, the whole STATE of CAL". they should have been working from opening day looking for a new location for the Sol after the season ended, not weeks before the new season. You have at least 3 W-League clubs in Cal already.

Wouldnt they have had over 6 teams without Cooper? What was ST. louis' draw per game. 2009 season could have gone ahead without StL. they have the complex like washington but no owner.

I would have gone after the Battery and see if they were willing to move a team in Carolina to the WPS vs StL in season 1.

Just hindsight.