yeah, well, i figured with this hurricane coming and living about two miles from the oceanfront, now is the time to come clean
I mentioned this in another thread already but, well, what the Hell, I'll post the idea here too ... Maybe WUSA is to women's soccer in this country what the NASL was to men's. The poster LMoroney was at the press conference today and reported this: "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." But there's actually another lesson here, the lesson that the NASL taught MLS. The NASL spent themselves into oblivion. So MLS learned to strictly control costs, be modest and grow slowly. It would seem then that WUSA's big mistake was not appreciating that lesson. Now I'm not claiming that WUSA's and the NASL's problems were identical (and they certainly were of a different scale) but to my mind the two leagues resemble each other in these respects.
Well, I was never an out and out fan of WUSA. I'd watch it if it was on. I enjoyed the play of a couple of the players (one mid from Atlanta in particular played an attractive/aggressive style). I won't act disappointed when I'm not, but even if you hated WUSA, there is no cause for celebration. Who cares if they spurned MLS in their early years? Who cares if Foudy made that comment? The fans lost there teams, and that is the only thing that brings any emotion out of me from this event. As far as a soccer fan, I was indifferent to the WUSA. However, as a Metros fan, I cringe to even think how I would feel upon hearing that my team was gone. My heart goes out to the folks who bled WUSA for 3 years (or 4? I'm never sure). Hopefully someone can revive your teams down the road.
I think the WUSA's demise has more to do with greedy sponsors and the hubris of the leagues founders than supposed lack of interest in women's sports. Unlike those of the MLS, the WUSA's sponsors were clearly not in it for the long haul. WUSA was obviously too carried away with the success of the WWC to think that any of the lessons that the MLS learned applied to them. Consequently they hit the same wall as the MLS did - lower than expected attendances and TV ratings after the initial novelty wore off in season two. But MLS was smart enough to have set itself up with backers who had a long term vision. Yes, but this does beg the question : if A-League teams like the PIttsburgh Riverhounds can survive on average attendances in the region of 4000, why can't the WUSA teams do the same ? Are the Riverhounds getting paid that much less than the Freedom ? And even if they are, its better than pumping gas, right ? Maybe the WUSA could survive in a cut-down form if people could be persuaded to invest in the more successful teams and have them play in Maryland Soccerplex style stadia, with a skeleton staff. It would be more grass-roots (like the A-league) and less glamorous, but it might work.
Very well said. And like Meridian stated the message to the US soccer community is somewhat chilling indeed. Let's not forget about the NASL (the death of 1st division soccer in the USA). Let's not forget how many investors MLS currently has. Let's not forget how little corporate sponsorship MLS currently has.
Did you notice how, between games of the doubleheader, they removed the Budweiser sign in front of the Barra and replaced it with one advertising prunes?
Oh yeah that would just be horrific (the only thing good about MLS folding and losing DC United forever is that I wouldnt have to look at your sorry a$$ Metros either ) p.s. Sorry it's in my nature...
Not a problem! I linked to this thread from the BS main page, so I didn't even realize what forum it was in until after I'd posted it. Once I saw the forum, I figured it be only a matter of seconds until I got at LEAST one wiseass comment! All in good fun. Still sucks for those fans though. At any rate, at least the Freedom fans got to see their team go out on top. That's something at any rate. BTW, How's the leg?
Re: Re: Re: Re: No chick soccer I think there's enough idiocy in that one post to feed several people's sig lines.
Re: Sad, but a fact of life But then the question begs...how many more girls play tennis than soccer...yet how much more WTA coverage do you see over WUSA? It seems to me that WUSA made three huge mistakes. The first being that it turned (intentionally or not) itself into the female version of the NASL. By packing itself with all-stars from top to bottom it left no room for growth the way MLS has. You saw the same players season in and season out. New, unknowns were far and few between comared to the multitudes of domestic and foreign WWC stars. Naturally, it's harder to get a real flow going with the general global infancy that Womens' soccer is in right now (despite healthy female leagues all over Europe and South America that continue to grow), but it nonetheless contributed. The second, mistake was that it marketed itself as a Womens' league instead of as a Soccer league for women. Instead of taking crap scheduling on ESPN or FSW (like the WTA and LPGA did for a LONG time before gaining media acceptance), it took primetime timeslots on PAX. It focused more on the fact that it was girls playing than on them being athletes. This was the same mistake the WNBA made and is paying for now as well. The third mistake was in WUSA's choice of sponsors...now it's true that beggars can't be choosers...but at the same time, you look at the sponsors WUSA had (McDonald's, Clean & Clear, Dried Plums of California...etc.) and compare that to those of the WTA (Wilson, Puma, etc.) and you see the immediate flaw. WUSA took on sponsors that don't give a damn about soccer. These were investors looking to make a quick buck in a new market and when things got icky, the wallets slammed shut. MLS has sponsors like Adidas, Nike, Quikgoal, Uncle Phil, Kraft, etc....people that have a vested interest in the success of soccer in the US and a love for the game itself. I feel for these girls. I looked forward to seeing Aly Wagner and Heather O'Reilly continue to flourish. It was great to see Fotop and Heather Mitts (whom I went to school with at UF) doing so well. A lot of these girls will probably end up in the W-league or overseas...some may end up coaching in college..or out of the game competely, and that's sad. Hopefully someone's working on a plan to resurect top-flight ladies' soccer in the US again...and hopefully they'll do it right this time.
Well, the Riverhounds might not be the best example as they just opted to drop out of the A-League next year and will play in the D-3/Pro Select League.
This sucks. Soccer regardless of sex is a a community. With the women's league closing we have lost another ambassodor of soccer. I will never tire of defending soccer to those of pointy ball or worse baseball but now we have lost an ally. I had already planned for my yet to be born little girl to be playing professionaly in the US hopefully there will be a new league by the time she is old enough. I love soccer and it bums me out when anyone's dream are ended. They played with passion, talent, and creativity and I will miss them.
Re: Re: No chick soccer Mike, Lanky and BarbDett--thanks for the very quick response on this one. I completely agree with y'all in response to SSS. We can nitpick about WUSA vs. MLS but basically, the difference between the two leagues is we have Phil Anschutz and Lamar Hunt--and WUSA didn't. To argue that WUSA was not thrifty when they've got rosters of 19 players and everyone took big paycuts the past 2 years--nah. They could have done it better and thriftier at the start. But the bottom line is that both leagues had sponsors bail (can anyone say: Kluge? Subotnik? Horowitz? SMG?). When it happened in WUSA, the league folded and when it happend in MLS, Anschutz and Hunt bought up more teams. Right about now, I've feeling very, very, very fortunate that Anschutz got involved with MLS. And I have a hard time believing this is some conspiracy to go after MLS. I think Hendricks' point (in the WP) was a good one: they were out of money (and it wasn't coming forward)--something good CEO's learn is if the money isn't there, end it now (instead of prolonging it and just going further into depth); and if you pull the plug now, there is an outside chance that something might happen in the WC to draw in an investor or two to make it last for a season. No--the economy is still tough, corporate sponsorship is down (period--donations and sponsorship for everything, starting with charities and PBS, is way down). MLS has been struggling to get new owners to come on board. We're going to go into San Diego (despite their p***-poor all-star game results--b/c that is the only place we can attract a new owner). Please cut out the sexism and misogyny and stereotypes--this decision is all about corporate dollars. MLS has 2 guys with very deep pockets and WUSA didn't. Any other argument (men enjoy sports more, NASL laid the groundwork, WUSA wasted money the first year, PAX fiasco, level of play, etc.) really isn't the deciding factor in this one I think.
Agreed. But can everyone relax a bit? Eh. That's a Richie Williams-esque shadow, my man. That storyline will run about 1 day. The fact of the matter is that MLS is renewing corporate sponsors, TV deals are doing fine, and stadia are popping up all over. The fact that WUSA claims attendance was "where it needed to be" is a bit silly, isn't it? Corporate sponsors tend to look at attendance as a factor when they think about signing on the dotted line. Dude? Can you remind me which WUSA team plays in LA? Columbus? How 'bout Dallas? And if we want to get into hypotheticals, what WUSA squad plays (oops, played) in Chicago? I'm not saying I disagree with your point altogether, but I think a decent deal-maker could point to these venues and figure out a way to spin out of this pretty easily. These other stadia were built... WUSA wasn't the only potential secondary/tertiary tenant for a DC SSS. And, full circle, I agree with your basic sentiment here. I have a little girl (only 3) and liked the idea of taking her to WUSA games and giving her real life soccer heroes to idolize. Something in the timing and the way this came down makes me think they may be setting up for a post WWC comeback. In the meantime, let's all chill out with the doom and gloom stuff.
I hope so too, but if you were a sponsor/investor/what not are you going to be in an all fire hurry to invest in soccer again? Sure if you're a soccer identified/targeting company (Adidas, Nike, Kwik Goal, etc) probably, but the other types who are just looking for some branding, you'd probably be in the "once bitten twice shy" camp.
You sound like the Eurosnobs that "Saw one MSL game back in 96 or 97". It sucked, never watched another. Yeah, there were some crappy games in the WUSA. Especially if you watched the Washington Freedom back in 2001. But just like MLS, it got better. A lot better.
Possibly. Different markets, different target audiences. I doubt will see Gillette Venus as a sponsor but maybe one or two of the others. Some other points I'd like to bring out. Yes it's great that MLS has Anschutz but WUSA had Hendricks how has semi-deep pockets and Amos forget his last name from one of the cable companies who is loaded. I think they got scared off by the amount of money they were losing especially when it came to freebies they had to give sponsors to make up for the low ratings they had. I know MLS' ratings aren't much to brag about but the WUSA's were really bad and that had to have an impact on sponsors and on the leagues ability to attract new sponsors. I always thought that the cable guys never really leveraged the league into programming at least on a regional level. Also the league had some stadium issues. They had cut costs to the bone but as we all know there are some things you can't do anything about and stadium rent is one of the big ones. I also thought the league suffered fromsome delusions of granduer based on the success of the WWC. As we know the US loves big one time events, which the 99 Cup was. People want to be part of that but it is hard to translate it to the daily grind of a league. There's a reason MLS waited 2 years after the '94 cup to start up. I liked the league, enjoyed most of the play but economically they had a poor business plan based more on fiction than fact.