OT - WUSA Folds http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14251-2003Sep15.html While not exactly DC related, the business end of this will certainly have some impact (no doubleheaders for one) and the message to the US soccer community has to at least be somewhat chilling.
That's just awful. As a guy who grew up at a VERY young age playing soccer when the NASL was around, it was hard to have the sport you know suddenly gone. The girls who played soccer and idolized the WUSA players won't be able to do that anymore anytime soon, maybe never again. That's why I keep telling you guys MLS has to do WHATEVER it takes to bring fans in-even fans we all may not like (ex-Salvadoran fans). I've always thought girls playing soccer is a great thing for them. D**n
Re: OT - WUSA Folds I disagree. It says more about the support of professional womens team sports than soccer. WNBA is close to folding as well. When MLS folds, that will be a chilling message.
Re: Re: OT - WUSA Folds Really. That I don't care about. I've always thought of soccer as better for the average girl. Basketball's too physical and urban.
Well, I suppose I can say that I am surprised by this. If MLS has had a difficult time growing, then the WUSA must have had it much worse. In addition, both leagues, essentially competed against each other on some front. It is a dissappointment, especially since the league was the premier women's league in the world... or surely one of the premier. It's just too bad that the support wasn't there. Another doomed nature of the women's league was that the WNBA was born after several decades of a successful NBA campaign. Soccer just doesn't have the foundation that basketball boast in order to keep two professional leagues a float. This is assuming of course that the WNBA is succeeding. sad day for soccer... only to be overshadowed by the WWC.
... i guess WNBA isn't surviving... our society just isn't at a stage to support a women's league i guess. Could mean more room for MLS on tv... but then again, you never know
I wonder if WMLS would have fared any better? I feel bad for all those players and the fans. ... and Bud, what do you mean by saying basketball is too "urban"?
Re: Re: Re: OT - WUSA Folds You mean your average white girl? I could care less about either one, its just a more favorable comparison than the MLS. WUSA has lost $12m to date, and their contract only extends through 2004. Its probable they'll continue, but only where the NBA owners control the arena and needs events. Bottomline is women aren't sports fans, and men don't like women's sports.
Sad, but a fact of life WUSA was destined to fail after banking on the success of a World Cup champion in a sport that has no credible history outside of that one event. Both women's college soccer and international soccer need to grow beyond a few good programs/countries before a real pro league can be assembled. At this stage, where so many other established sports exist, new sports need to draw on a more grass roots history (i.e. high school, college) and then proceed to a pro league. For better or worse, another women's pro league is a long ways away.
If MLS needs time on PAX, we're in deeper trouble. The PAX deal is a definite player in WUSA's demise. As a former NASL, and USFL fan, I feel sorry for the WUSA fans.
Women as sports fans I'm a woman and I am a sports fan. I watched every WUSA game on in my area. I traveled 6 hours out of my way to see Beat games when I am a Freedom fan. I watch my beloved Indianapolis Colts every Sunday as well watch every MLS game I can. The first game I ever saw live was a DC United game. The success of women's leagues is a broader issue than that. I will save you all from my long, drawn out opinion on that. In short, I am very disappointed for myself, my little sister, and every fan of the game. This was a very special league. It will be missed. I just hope it can be revived later.
That sucks royally...that measn I can't take a "Marry Me, Abby" sign to any more Freedom games. At least La Norte got to represent at one match. It was a little too quiet and well-behaved for my liking, but I did enjoy watching the Freedom. They were a damn sight better than some pro mens' matches I've seen.
Sweet Yahweh! This has to be one of the better "unintential comedy" threads in a long time... And it's still pretty fresh. Let's see, so far I've learned: 1) Women aren't sports fans. 2) Basketball is too physical and urban for the ladies. 3) A professional sports league has to have international roots to be successful in one country. (that's hard to even type, it's such a strange notion.)
I was at this year's WUSA Final. It was a terrific game, both in terms of the play on the field and the stadium experience. Actually, I enjoyed every WUSA game I went to, despite the 2 hour drive. This sucks royally. It sucks even worse that this is happening not because the league didn't put enough butts in seats, but because of problems with sponsors and (probably) the Pax fiasco. I hope they're able to revive the league in some way.
Re: Women as sports fans I hope that the World Cup will bring fresh investors to the league or to the players saying "Let's do this right, 10k - 30k seat arenas where we are guaranteed a profit" and do it with individuals owning teams. I'm sad for my daughter, but I don't think this is permanent, just a shedding of skin, and it will back in the spring [/fingers crossed]
League officials held out hope that the World Cup would create so much interest in women's soccer this month that the league could be revived. But Hendricks admitted that the players would have to do much of that work because the league no longer has any employees. "Teams and league offices will essentially shut down," Button said. "If we are able to, during the World Cup, because of the excitement generated by that, be in a position to restart operations we will certainly do this." That quote makes me wonder if some outside involvement is in the works and the current shutting down of the league is just a way to write off those debts.
Moderators--could you please remove the "OT" from this thread title? B/c the demise of WUSA has SIGNIFICANT implications for DCU and MLS. 1. The "mainstream" media will report this as a statement about soccer. And it will cast a shadow on MLS. Not a fatal one. But at a time when MLS is trying to get corporate sponsors, this does not help. And note, the WUSA folks indicated that the problem was a lack of corporate sponsorship--that fan support was about where it needed to be. 2. The case for soccer specific stadia just got harder. Not impossible, but harder. Why? Well, before a DCU could "sell" a SSS on the rationale of: DCU would get the parking and concessions, would sell more season tickets (b/c you weren't guaranteed a ticket as a walkup--like now), it could get money from medium-size events like concerts and tractor pulls and church revivals. And WUSA would be a tennant for such a stadium. Not now. 3. I originally felt that WUSA was not good for MLS (crowding out media coverage and sponsorship dollars) but came to feel that this is not a fixed pie or zero-sum game. WUSA might crowd out MSL time on ESPN. But basically the fan groups are different. And getting more people to go to soccer events of ANY kind is basically a good thing for MLS. For instance, the DCU/Freedom doubleheaders (once the ego issues got sorted out) were good events that resulted in more numbers and some cross-exposure--those are both good things. The arguments about WNBA or fans and women just aren't true. As the Post article indicated, the problem was with corporate sponsorship. And that's a problem that MLS has getting on TV (selling ad time to make TV deals profitable) and getting owners and sponsors as well--but no-one's arguing that men don't attend sporting events. For instance, DCU folks do a lot of clinics around the area (regardless of gender of coaches and fans). Ditto with the Freedom players. And now that is lost. 4. David Vanole now probably becomes a fulltime GK coach (though he's pretty close to it now) for DCU. 5. Last of all, I think this means John Hendricks has less involvement in soccer. And that's not a good thing--for this area or for soccer in the USA. He's got money, he's in media and my understanding is that the excitement of his daughters got him heavily into soccer. I thought that included the Germantown soccerplex and then WUSA. Anytime someone in the DC area with money and an interest in soccer steps back from the sport (rather than closer) that doesn't help MLS and DCU. Condolences to the Freedom fans and players. While they're the primary losers in this, so is anyone who supports soccer.
More than anything, I feel sorry for all these players who've basically just been put out of work... I don't know how their salaries would get paid, but it would be great for DCUnited to start up a women's team and take on some of the Freedom's players to form it. Yeah, yeah, I know a DCUnited Developmental team should definitely come first, but I am really gonna miss watching Mia and Abby Wambaugh next season. The worse thing is the quality of WUSA's game play has gotten better and better every year, so where and how are these players now going to play and improve their games? The US women's nats team just can't accommodate all of the talented women we have in the pipeline. Maybe when MLS gets a few more SSSs, then a women's league could spring from that and more favorable leasing agreements that might come about.
Where were you when you heard WUSA was dead? I was on the freeway listening to NPR and I don't know whether I was more surprised that WUSA was shutting down or that it was announced on NPR apparently minutes after the decision was handed out. I really didn't follow WUSA at all so I'm somewhat surprised that this happened. From what I did know I just thought they were gonna contract a few teams. I read on another board that at the press conference there was some admittance that the league was ill-planned from the start. That's probably true and perhaps in time another women's league will start up and try to grow more modestly. And I can't help but wonder whether it wouldn't make sense to MLS to have a few women's teams playing in the stadiums where it controls the revenue. I suspect that a lot of the infrastructure and staff could be share with the already existing MLS clubs.