WUSA Shuts Down Their "superior brand of soccer", featuring the "Best Players in the World" and financed by deep pockets Cable TV owners is now a thing of the past. They slammed the door on the MLS offer to throw in together; they figured they had it made and would outlive the men's league. As much as anything, it was hubris that brought them down. Title IX couldn't force people to pay money or watch on TV - they were out in the real world, no longer able to bask in the shelter of government protection. And the cold, cruel, real world said there just isn't enough interest in Women's soccer.
It is unfortunate that they made the same mistakes as many other recent startups (XFL). Even with MLS help they probably would not be able to survive as the WNBA has. They might have survived longer by keeping costs down and combining offices...but for how long? the country simply isn't ready to support their product at the level required to pay their talent.
I hate seeing any soccer league go belly up. On top of that there are X fans who lost thier teams today and that must suck. Can't say I was surprised this happened. WUSA was a textbook of what not to do as a sports league. Although the brass will point fingers elsewhere, there is no one else to blame.
ok, i'll be the mediator here. we probably should put something like "Crew version" in the thread title ala the trade deadline thread "Trade Deadline: Crew Version" to prevent people from clicking on this and coming to our forum. but to the people who actually post here, why? Sorry if we wasted 5 seconds of your day, but just press "back", don't say anything, please
I guess I'm sorry to see WUSA fold, although I can't say I really watched over 20mins total of any games. I wonder who did their market studies? It seems unreasonable that they would succed with MLS still struggling with TV and quality of play issues. Interesting that they couldn't get through WWC and the attendant free publicity.
Bill Archer uses a two-dollar word like hubris to describe WUSA, and has a quote from Paul Wolfowitz in his sig line. Is he being sarcastic, or is he always such an idiot? The reason stray cats are posting here is because this thread is on the BigSoccer home page. You post crap for all of us to read. Deal with it.
Yes, most of the posts disappeared. I wasn't going to deal with another Andy v. all thread (and yes Andy, you started it). And all the "why's this here" crap is gone too. Sorry if I sent your post to the land of the recycle bin if it actually had some content. Carry on
Two dollar word like HUBRIS, Roel? You must be a product of some failed second rate California middle school. We can deal with "it", and we were having a relatively direct and unemotional discussion before some people decided that any critcism of WUSA was not PC enough for them or should be in another forum. Face it - WUSA is more interesting for the lessons learned than the actual league. We're doing WWC here and I can tell you these people are arrogant and think the world owes them something. There is little basis in reality and the novelty has worn off. They didn't get it and neither do you. Nobody here was really anti- WUSA. It was and is irrelevant except for the dissection of their mistakes. It isn't even anti-womens soccer except for the professional mistakes they made. If you don't like our threads...don't drop in. I promise we won't miss you. We don't want or need feminazis here - WE'VE got Andy to preach to all of us and define the culturally acceptable morays.
Mistake number 1(for me at least): The Allstate commercial playing all over the TV reminding me that they had beat the world at "Their own game." Every time I saw that commercial, my response, as a soccer fan who thoroughly enjoyed the 99 cup, was "Who the *#*#*#*# are they kidding?"
I too am sorry to see it go. Not that I ever watched it or cared a lick about it, but I'm all for the ladies having their own deal. I don't care about NASCAR, Triathlons or Professional Golf either, but I don't put them down. To each his (and/or her) own. The subject has been beaten to death and resurrected in order to beat it some more so much on BiigSoccer that anything you can say seems redundant. They were founded by some big time Cable owners, who wanted some relatively cheap content, but when the cab;e market went soft and the league couldn't even meet the very modest goals for viewership, the jig was up. Julie and friends thought they had tapped into the motherload of money and could ride along indefinitely. They figured they had found a way to repeal the laws of the marketplace, economics and all that numbers crap. They pretty much thumbed their noses at Rothenberg and MLS, which is understandable, but they might still be around if they hadn't. The timing is a bummer though. The WWC is, what, a few days away? Kinda puts a damper on the thing. But since I just turned down a block of free tickets, I won't notice anyway. (PS: So sorry to use such big, complicated words, like "hubris". See, on the Crew board most guys are at least marginally literate. I thoughtlessly forgot that morons like you sometimes wander in. For Roel, how about some "vocabulary building" exercizes? Maybe Sylvan or somebody. Check your Yellow pages under "jackass")
Not having done any real research concerning WUSA demographics, I wonder if there will be a direct/indirect impact on MLS. Is there a crossover market for WUSA and MLS fans, or were WUSA fans exclusive to the women's game? I know I tuned in for the overtime of the WUSA final. That's it. I tried tuning in earlier this year and couldn't stomach it. I even turned off the Nats the other day. I really enjoyed the '99 Cup, but for some odd reason my opinion on the whole women's game has soured since then. Not sure why, either. Either way, bummer for WUSA fans. I didn't care for their holier than thou attitude, thou. I can't wait to hear what Romey has to say, if he even noticed.
I think that's the key here. The talent wasn't willing to make the sacrifices nessesary for the league to survive. I don't know what their salary cap was...but they clearly had too much overhead in the way of travel and salary to be able to survive on the ticket sales. Really though, I don't think it would have survived with MLS, because they would have taken MLS to court over the fact that the salary cap would be at least $1 million less than an MLS squad. I guess, I think MLS would be hurting had they taken them on, so in some ways, I'm glad they decided to try on their own. It is unfortunate, but it's just clear that there's no market for this yet.
Maybe because they weren't playing the world's game...they were playing women's soccer. The two are pretty different.
Soccer is the world's game. It does not matter if it is men, women, dogs, or snails playing it. So are you telling me that women's soccer isn't playing globally???
Let's keep in mind that the U.S. women are the trailblazers when it comes to women's soccer. Other nations don't have the same collegiate system in place to develop women's soccer like the U.S. does. Hence, it's a completely different game. Think big picture Andy instead of focusing on the minutia of the sport. Bottom line, if it was the same game, the WUSA wouldn't have folded. They would have sustained themselves through fan support.
That's not what he is saying you fukking idiot. You don't comprehend much do you? In Men's soccer it's safe to say that the US is behind the rest of the world and it's the World's Game. In women's we've had a head start because women have been playing sports alot longer. We've had organized teams just as long as anyone. So Andy...SHUT THE FCUK UP!