Not the whole article....but enough. Women's United Soccer League Halts Operations After Three Years 2003-09-15 15:43 (New York) Women's United Soccer League Halts Operations After Three Years Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The Women's United Soccer Association is suspending operations, five days before the start of the biggest event in women's soccer. The decision was made by the league's board today in New York because of ``insufficient revenue'' and lack of corporate sponsorship, WUSA spokesman Dan Courtemanche said in an interview. The three-year-old league has scheduled a teleconference at 4 p.m. New York time with Commissioner Lynn Morgan and Chairman John Hendricks. ....... --Brian Trusdell at the Princeton Sports Desk, (1) or btrusdell@bloomberg.net. Editor: Warner. Story illustration: For functions related to this story, click on {CNP 10254610410 <GO>}.
so increased coverage of women's soccer is coming in 5 days- they could be talking about how good our league is and how most of the players in the WWC play in WUSA. Instead the talk throughout the tourney will be our lack of a leage and its failure. Maybe they're hoping for some pity $$
It seems like the definition of 'crappy timing', not so much for the league itself, which is dead anyway, but for the WWC. Who's gonna get excited about attending the wake of women's pro soccer?
Indeed. I guess they decided that making payroll and expenses for even one more month was too much. That's a fairly reasonable business decision if you think you won't be back in business next season, but still.
Could be the timing of this is directly related to the spotlight on women's soccer - they're hemmoraging money and hoping somebody steps forward and provides a life preserver. That, or they have a crappy sense of timing.
WUSA dead I'll take the opposing view and say that the timing might actually be good here, particularly if the view was that the WUSA was a patient that could not be saved. My guess is the timing is about getting this done early enough to leave open the possibility of having enough time for a replacement to move in. Indeed, regardless of this news, there's going to be a lot of people attending Women's Soccer matches in this country in the next month or so, so the chances of someone saying "wait a minute, this still could work" might be greater a month from now than at any other point in the next four years. IOW, the WUSA == Women's Pro Soccer is not necessarily the case. Convince enough people that Women's Pro Soccer is a viable product and that the WUSA's problems were management problems and you may be able to find enough dollars to find a temporarily suitable, if somewhat less ambitious, replacment. Whether Women's Pro Soccer is a viable product, I don't know, but I think it's clear that various management decisions by the WUSA were pretty disastrous. I would prefer a much less centralized structure than the WUSA had or MLS has as it would give multiple people multiple opportunities to make this thing work and give the sport a better chance of someone finding ways to sell the product (as a sport). But that's me.
I agree that by closing now there's a better chance for a replacement emerging next year, though I think it's a small chance. I haven't followed WUSA but before it started one of my friends said that the only chance for success was through a partnership with MLS. Not necessarily a merger but at the very least a coordinated effort with a maximum number of double headers. Was that ever a possibility? I seem to recall that WUSA spurned any joint ventures and elected to pretty much go it alone. Getting back to the future, I think all women's sports have the same problem: the majority of women aren't sports fans and the majority of sports fans (i.e., men) don't find women's sports interesting. Given that, I think the chances of a new league emerging are slim and the chances of success even slimmer.
I disagree. Severely. The league marketed to the jobless (i.e., 10-14-year-old girls) whose tastes vacillate from My Little Pony to Buffy faster than you could say "Julie Foudy." Mind you, this does seem like a ploy. My high school made a big announcement it was shutting down and it "miraculously" opened a day later after a huge outcry. This being said, the collapse of WUSA does not bode well for MLS.
>>>>MOD NOTE: If you want to discuss the WUSA dying here, cool. If you want to use this thread as a forum for pissing on women's soccer or specific players, you'll be carded.<<<<<
I disagree with the last point. The future of any women's soccer league is now tied to how much they can piggyback on the base MLS has established. Specifically, the stadiums that have been/are being built for soccer and the operations/marketing support MLS/SUM has in place.
There is almost no connection here. One could make just as many arguements that this would help MLS as much as one could make the arguements that this could hurt MLS, neither of which hold much water after peeling the onion back. Andy
It's not the piggybacking I'm talking about. If the present MLS sponsors (Radio Shack, Pepsi, etc.) sees a league flame out in three years which was spurred by 96,000 people in The Rose Bowl and all of that media buzz four years ago, there are shareholders and corporate types connected with MLS who are dumping excrement in their jockey shorts right now. Pepsi was even about 15 minutes before the close, for example, then dropped three cents just before 4 p.m. Wonder if they got word of the Morgan press conference?
Crazy thought Ok, I can't say anything about WUSA, how much money they lost, or how much money they make. But I do recall Mr. Anschutz stepping in and being one of the largest operators of movie theaters by buying what appeared to be bankrupt movie theaters... for pennies on the dollar. Not that it may be similar, but here is a league that is already "established" that he may be able to pick up for a bargain.... Not that a movie theater and the Freedom are the same, but maybe..... Paul
WUSA dead I agree. MLS, particularly after this last week which has to be considered a smashing attendance success, looks awfully healthy right now. It's players are starting to be seen as somewhat valuable and it's likely they'll pick up some additional cash from player sales over the past few years. They have several new ownership groups showing a _serious_ interest in joining, and several clubs looking to plant down roots with SSS. Considering how much MLS has limited their expenses, and the fact that their drawing as well as they are, I can't imagine MLS will be folding any time soon. There appears to be growth happening here (particularly considering the temporary situations in Dallas and Chicago) and though it is modest growth, growth of any kind is a very good sign. The immediate entity most affected is most likely the W-League. Any ideas on what their next move is?
Re: WUSA dead Likely nothing. They've got a workable model as a women's PDL. Completely amateur, structured not to interfere with collegiate eligibility. -- There is a risk to MLS. Not a major one, but the WUSA's biggest failing was in lack of corporate sponsorships. If corporate money decides that soccer isn't quite worth the risk, that can cause erosion. I don't think it'll tip any scales, but it may make things a bit leaner than they'd otherwise be.
I could just as easy say "If corporate money decides that womens sports isn't quite worth the risk, that can cause expansion in sponsorship to MLS. I don't think it'll tip any scales, but it may make things a bit stronger than they'd otherwise be." Thing is every one seems to automatically assume that the sponsors will blame this on soccer failings instead of womens sports failings. Shame though, because from what we can tell from the early returns of the press conference, it was neither. It was just good old fashioned bad business decisions and risk taking. Andy
While I disagree completely with the latter, the former is very quotable and in line with my feelings on WUSA's marketing efforts (marketing it as family entertainment instead of as a soccer league).
Anyone have any numbers about the cash burn rate, etc.? IIRC, WUSA burned up more cash in the first year than it expected to in three years. And then there was the PAX deal... What other pro-leagues will the players migrate to now?
We should come up with a list of the poor decisions WUSA made to catalouge them. Although I am not sure anything could top what Hendricks said in the press conference. From another WUSA thread LMoroney reported the following: "Perhaps the most eye-opening statement was from Hendricks, who, in his words, drunk and high on the euphoria from WWC 99, expected corporate sponsors to line up to sponsor the league. When the legue started it was then spending money as if those sponsors were already onboard. So, they learned the old lesson of counting your chickens before the eggs hatched -- the hard way." Andy
Not surprised As we reported on BigSoccer Radio Weekend a month ago, the league was unlikely to return. It took a $2M cash infusion from USSF which went into special session at the last Annual General Meeting to get the league through the Founders Cup. The loss of WUSA is a major blow to Womens sports in the US. There's been a lot of posts regarding marketing, demographics etc. etc. and I think all of them bear some truth. One of the legacy the WUSA will leave is the emergence of Pro Womens Soccer league in other parts of the world. They are starting to develop the league in England now as an adjunct to the mens teams - same stadium/practice facility and little redundant overhead. While not surprised at the announcment I am shocked at the timing. I was convinced that they would use the WWC as a showcase to garner new investment dollars