Re: Mr. Lopresti, USAtoday, opines about soccer and the WUSA I just stop buy the USA Today, its a rink dink newspaper.
Was looking at the attendance figures since the league began and without it in front of me, I think there was only one team that showed any growth at all, and it wasn't much. So try as they did, they weren't able to grow the product -- at all. But I think going through that much cash and pulling the plug so soon only indicates the expectations of those who put the cash up to start the league were totally out of whack. Like men's soccer, women's soccer is going to require a long term approach to make it. That means growing incrementally as fan interest gets built. To make soccer work in this country you have to have a passion for it, because that passion is the only way you're going to make a long term commitment to make it work. Uncle Phil and Lamar Hunt certainly have the passion. I get the impression that WUSA's founders looked at the World Cup success and saw dollar signs, but didn't give a rat's ass about the sport itself. With that approach they were doomed to failure before the league even started.
Re: Re: Mr. Lopresti, USAtoday, opines about soccer and the WUSA Uhh, have you noticed that the percentage of NHL clubs in the United States has gone from 2/3 of the NHL in 1980 to nearly 4/5 today? What an ahsshole.
That's pretty short-sighted to demonize the 1999 World Cup champions that way. I believe, however, that their "handlers" relied too much on focus groups that told them that they should market to teen girls. Poppycock.
Indeed. I think this is much more about the challenges that face womens' pro sports than about soccer. Still, in the end, WUSA may be remembered as the NASL of the womens' game...a failed business model that may provide lessons for future success. I never watched much WUSA--I barely have time to follow MLS and random games from other leagues--but had I had daughters instead of sons I'm sure it would have been different. I certainly wished them well, and I can't see this as anything but bad news. I really thought they would wait to try and get some 'bump' from the WWC. I assume they had been leaning on some potential investors already. If they were this sure that no immediate money was coming, even without seeing how the Cup went this time around, the situation must have been bleak. Best wishes to all WUSA employees and players. Hope you all find a way to make a living in the game you love.
I meant the people who actually invested the money to form the league. Certainly the players themselves did everything they could to make it work including taking pay cuts. WUSA's failure had absolutely nothing to do with them or any of the players for that matter.
That's a pretty broad brush you're using there. Beerking is one "San Hose" fan. He's entitled to his view. Many other "Quacks" fans find no pleasure at all in the demise of the WUSA. I suspect that the same diversity of opinion can be found amongst supporters of your own team. Oh, and congratulations on all of that winning, attractive soccer that United has been playing over the last three years.
The most beautiful thing I've ever seen is a tie. O'Brian's goal against the overated ones, that and Madonna and Britney Spears, I will never forgot those two moments.
The last segment in tonights NBC nightly news was about the WUSA. There were a few quotes from both Mia and Brandi. Brokaw's opener went something like this The piece itself was about 4 minutes long. NBC might hate soccer but Brokaw seems to love it. He was the only Anchor of the Big 3 to preview the league in 2001. And last year durring the WC he did another piece not just on the WC but on the womens game too. He also seems to be smitten by Mia. He always has something flattering to say about her.
according to MLS they went separate ways a couple seasons ago. got this from Soccer America WUSA AFTERMATH: Despite declaring a truce that included double-headers and some cooperative ventures, the men's and women's pro leagues were always bound to go their separate ways. MLS officials weren't pleased several years ago when proponents of a women's league suddenly broke off discussions and took their own course. "It came as a complete shock to us at the time," said a source. "They at least could have informed us prior to their announcement but if that's how they want to do business, that's fine." According to another source, MLS executive vice president Mark Abbott devoted many hours to formulating and drawing up a business plan for a women's league. "He gave it to them, and they tore it up and wrote their own business plan," said the source. "We certainly don't have all the answers, but we tried to tell them what we'd learned about the market and they wouldn't listen."
I think this sums it up perfectly: [Emphasis mine.] I think the emphasis by some within the league to emphasis the WUSA as women's soccer didn't help any. It would have been entirely possible to paint this league as a step forward both for soccer in general and for women's sports. Today is a sad day for US soccer, male or female.
Perhaps I'm alone on this, but for me it was their failure to acknowledge the differences between the two games that turned me off. Agreed
I've just finished reading the big thread in the main WUSA forum and I've come to the conclusion that any of the people who were turned off the league because some in the league insisted on distancing itself from men's soccer, wouldn't have gone to the game anyway. Are there people who went to the games soley because of the afforementioned? Possibly, but not enough to make a dent.
WUSA Postmortem Press B&M Mods: Merge this thread if you like but I figured it would be interesting to talk about some of the postmortem stories coming to print now in their own thread. Specifically I'm interested in the editorials, columns and editorializing articles coming out now to assess what happened and what it all means. Here are some examples I read earlier tonight ... Epitaph For a Dream - Mark Starr, Newsweek Just like Brandi in '99, WUSA loses its shirt - Tom Knott, Washington Times Women's pro sports find the going tough - Eric Fisher, Washington Times A Last Effort to Revive WUSA - Brian Struss, Washington Post Death of WUSA - Sports Business News, Brian Strauss (yet again) – I’m not sure but I think this might be an expanded version of his story yesterday in the Washington Post Women's Soccer Timeout – Christian Science Monitor (an editorial, I believe) A few things. I knew it was coming but I still had trouble stomaching some of the old cliched lines about soccer and why it has trouble succeeding in the states. I also found it surprising that none of these articles mentioned MLS. If they did talk about another league is was usually the WNBA. Starr’s piece is really quite astonishing at some points. And then when I read the Christian Science Monitor contend that WUSA generally played its cards right I decided that I’d had enough reading for one day.
I still believe that WUSA buried itself as soon as it refused to join in some type of partnership with MLS.
I believe part of that. I think they buried themselves when MLS got past the hump last year in 2002 and they were floundering and didn't join up. Three years ago, MLS was in trouble. But when SUM got rolling and expansion talks started again and stadium deals looked more promising, they should have swallowed their pride. Maybe they tried and MLS/SUM/AEG passed. But I think a lot of misplaced pride and arrogance contributed to the mix. Possibly on each side of the equation.
Hindsight is 20/20. But soccer in the US is a something that's unique and baffling. Additionally, women's sports are still a novelty. Call it hubris or arrogance, the decision not to band together with MLS was a mistake. WUSA could have shared costs with MLS. Perhaps more importantly, WUSA could have gotten under St. Phil's marketing umbrella. What if WUSA was bundled in with MLS, men's and women's World Cup? As for marketing the league, I can't say whether WUSA could have or should have done something different. Maybe make WUSA jerseys standard fashion for pre-teen and teen girls all over the world? I wonder what kind of control WUSA had over its costs. The league was burning forty million dollars in cash a year, with what kind of revenues coming in? Building a league from the top down is expensive. From the numbers being thrown around here, the league burned a hundred million dollars in three years. I'd imagine a similar burn rate for MLS. Luckily, MLS has a few billionares willing to stick it out for a decade.
I'd like to add that the WUSA started off with what I think is an inherently unstable business model. The big sponsors in the first season were almost all television companies - the league was essentially made for TV. Unfortunately, they set very unrealistic TV ratings expectations for the first two seasons - they actually expected to beat out MLS! - and also had very unrealistic attendance projections for seasons 2-5. Major media outlets tend to think in the short term - if it doesn't meet their (often unrealistic) expectations immediately, they pull the plug. That's what happened to the XFL, and that's pretty much what happened to the WUSA in its second season when every broadcast partner except PAX pulled out. While it is true that soccer has struggled in the US, and that no women's league in any sport has succeeded, I think the far more relevant fact in this case is that no made-for-TV league has ever lasted more than a few seasons.
Re: WUSA Postmortem Press Knott's piece, while pretty standard, had this little nugget I'd like to call him on: News of the league's demise has prompted the usual cries of sadness from the usual suspects, ever disturbed by the lack of sophistication on the part of the American public. Huh? Like a lot of you in here, I've read a TON of articles this week. I don't think I've seen this line of reasoning ONCE. Not one time in over 50-75 articles. There's enough grist for the mill, Tom. No need to trot out the inferiority complex, other than for us to chuckle at...