My condolences to you 'Rays fans. I attended my first two games this year and they wern't half bad. Too bad we wont see more doubleheaders and such.
Buddy, no jokes about the ladies trying to hit on me please especially the rally Boof or was it Mandy tried at the next to last game. You and the gang should have done the pitch invasion bit but then it would mean not seeing the Quakes although you could get away with that and a few of us can't. Still, good to see some of you crossover for a few games to check out the ladies. Cheers!
A very sad day, indeed. (I can't seem to think of anything else to say.) Nap and Guy, I enjoyed doing the Rayistas thing with you two (and the Sam's Army for the USWNT). Zach, hang in. I hope something happens to turn this around. If, and this is a big if, we have another women's league, I hope that the men's league and women's league will work together and spare us some of the animosity I have seen in the past.
Radnich has just spoken. I don't like all of what he said: "It's the low scoring" that keeps people away from coming to the games. However, he did make one good point. You've got to find a way to get the "non-soccer fan" out to the matches (I think this applies to MLS as well). We will not survive with just us, the hard core. However, I would not listen to Radnich and his ilk in providing a solution to that conundrum. In that they are totally incapable.
See, that 'it's low scoring' argument has never worked for me. A baseball no hitter is huge news, and until they juiced the balls, corked the bats, and started using performance enhancing drugs, baseball scores were typically low. I see huge baseball scores and wonder where the heck the pitching was. Football scores huge? No, not really. Sure, a team can 'score' 21 points, but that breaks down to putting the ball across the goal line only a handful of times. Tennis? Four points and it's a game. How about ice hockey? Sure, some games put up huge numbers of goals, relatively speaking, but again, one asks where was the defense and goal keeping when that happens. I'm sick and tired of that argument, and Radnich was right when he said that what he thought about it was the last thing the diehard fans want to hear. Non-soccer fans are not going to spend money on going to a soccer game, just like I won't spend money to go watch the NBA (or WNBA, even though I like women's basketball, just not the WNBA), but marketing strictly to kids and families was a mistake for the WUSA, IMHO, and I'm too heartbroken to even begin thinking about what the answer may be right now. I just want to know where all the people who supported the '99 World Cup are?
WUSA, CyberRays folding By Jennifer Starks CONTRA COSTA TIMES ------ So where the hell am I gonna be able to take a pic with Cookie now!?!?! ------ Spartan Stadium holds a special place in my heart. It's where I attended my first ever WUSA match back in 2001...the Beat beat you guys 1-0 I believe. It's also where I met several BS'ers (you know who y'all are). Since then I have attended a couple of more WUSA matches at Spartan with the last one being the ill-fated Freedom doubleheader (I'm still VERY BITTER). I always tell my friends that I believed the Cyberrays ran a class organization...head and shoulders above a certain east coast team *cough* *cough*...the vibe was great at Spartan, I LOVED the player walk-throughs prior to the match, the great customer service, the garlic fries!!! etc. It's a sad day for FearM9 and the rest of his WUSA fan bretheren.
Some jumbled thoughts while tired and wanting to go to bed after a totally lousy day: Sigh. I'm really, really, really sad I wasn't able to make a trip down there this season. rbatc, to answer your last question, MLS has had the same question with the fans of the '94 WC. I remember one guy I worked with who mentioned he'd taken a trip to see a game or two in California. I don't think I've ever seen him at a Sounders game. Event soccer is easy to sell; getting people to follow a league is a tougher task, whether it's MLS, WUSA, the A-League or W-League. MLS had the deep pockets to build a long runway for takeoff; WUSA's runway obviously was a little bit shorter. In one of the worst recessions in 70 years, it's amazing that WUSA had as long a run as it did. Let's hope that somehow some sponsors step forth to help bring about a fourth season, although I'm not optimistic right now. Still, as the Liverpool fans sing: When you walk through a storm Hold your head up high, And don't be afraid of the dark. At the end of a storm, There's a golden sky, And the sweet silver song of a lark. Walk on through the wind, Walk on through the rain, Though your dreams be tossed and blown... Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, And you'll never walk alone... You'll never walk alone. Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, And you'll never walk alone... You'll never walk alone.
WUSA was a good effort to bring professional women's sports to a new level. The challenge for all us fans of the women's game is to figure out what to do next. In the Silicon Valley, we are lucky in that we have two great college programs in Stanford and Santa Clara University. But how are we going to stay in contact with athletes like Betsy Barr, Michelle French and LaKeysia Beene? You won't find a nicer bunch of professional athletes than American soccer players.
That should have been done after the Women's World Cup. Also one flaw that allowed the league to fold was the focus on TV ratings and a bit less on attendance. Putting more butts in the seats should have been the focus. It will be a struggle for some just to watch the upcoming tournament, but hopefully it will mean new fans. I would not mind reorganizing a new league for 2005, and focusing the women on Athens. I don't think that MLS has the money to spinoff into WMLS much akin to how the NBA has kept the WNBA going. To quote Marlene: "It's not a dead end, but a detour." Cheers!
Maybe cost-cutting like putting more butts in the seats of smaller venues will help. Certainly Washington playing at RFK and San Jose playing at Spartan lent "big-time soccer" credence to the league...but at what cost?
In order to cover expenses, bills, pay, etc., with the money that was left, they didn't have a choice.
If they have electronic assembly skills, my company might be hiring soon...the pay will probably be better. (sorry, gallows humor) After talking with fans from other teams, they were surprised with the pre-game walk throughs, the parties at Stoddards, the friendliness, and accessibility of the players, the parties . They are an incredible and unique bunch of folks!!! Hopefully, something will rise out of these ashes. It was an honor drumming for them.
Yes, I realize that it's more difficult to sustain and build support for a league, rather then just an event. That thought I had about where are the people from the '99 WC was just a jumble in my head last night, along with everything else. I just think the marketing should've been better, and hitting different demographics, as well as hitting the corporate sponsors from the '99 WC.
One of the problems was lack of TV. Other then soccer diehards, people just didn't know about the league. Hell, if they watched any news yesterday or read a newspaper today, they sure know about it now. That in and of itself -- how much coverage there is now -- is making me sick. TV news that wouldn't even report a score covered it, and newspapers that didn't have room before sure have room now. Bah! But, yes, putting more butts in the seats should've been more of a focus as well, I just think that better TV coverage could have helped to that end. Of course, better marketing all around could have helped to that end. I rarely heard the WUSA being marketed to anything but "little girls," and how they had dreams too. Well, I haven't been a little girl for many years, and neither have my friends who have no children and disposable incomes. So many untapped demographics.....*sigh* As for the upcoming tournament, I for one am going to plaster myself in WUSA/CyberRays gear and chase TV cameras espousing the virtues of the WUSA and why professional women's soccer needs to not go away. I'm heartbroken for the players right now. I worked with players on every team, and watched the 2000 Olympic team players work so hard on getting this league off the ground, I just know this is killing them.
https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?postid=1599611 From the Quakes boards. The original premise was the possibility of the Rays moving to LA and then with the announcement on September 15 it has delved into something similar here. I'm not taking sides given that I hold season tickets to both teams. The women tried to do things their own way dating back to the pre-WUSA days such as sitting out the 2000 Australian tourney and trying to do their own Victory tour after the WWC with the arena stops. True they wanted to be independent, but maybe a bit of stubborness should have been set aside for trying to do something in the long term. Yes television was a key factor. TNT/CNN-SI when it had deep pockets was a fine alternative to the ESPN networks, but when they started to sell some of their properties from the Time-Warner-AOL merger they had to shop for another deal and they ended up with PAX. (Note: CNN-SI has been shut down since then, not to mention TWAOL selling such ventures as the Thrashers and Hawks.) Maybe if the ladies went to ESPN things would have been different, but obviously ratings are a tough sell as shown with the dip in the WUSA TV ratings, not to mention competing with MLS on ESPN2. Great idea to wear all the WUSA gear rbatc. In fact I might have to get a Rays jersey though the first priority is trying to renew my Quakes tix for 2004. Cheers!