Even a good business plan would have had a hell of a time succeeding in the present economic climate. The timing was just way off. Starting in 2001, smack dab in the middle of the present recession. Maybe the hard-core fan doesn't, but the casual fan is going to tighten up on discretionary spending in times like these. MLS has been hit by it just as WUSA has.
I was never really a fan of the women's game. However, this sucks. I can only express my sincere condolences to the fans of the WUSA.
Hey, if you keep saying the world's going to end, you'll be right eventually. That doesn't make anyone a psychic.
I can just imagine what great spirits the entire USWNT and a lot of other team's players will be in for the WC. Just losing your job can affect some people tremendously. Just imagine losing your job, a team you've put so much work and sweat into, and your dreams in one fell swoop?
I also just wanted to chime in and relay my condolences to everyone involved in the WUSA, including fans, players, and league employees. May you all see better days.
I find the women's game unwatchable..but I do feel bad about all those people losing their jobs..it must be hard..i can imagine that there are a lot of players from various teams at the WC that are a bit distracted now.. I don;t know anything about the whole Foudy issue ( told you I don;t follow the game),,but can someone give us a quick summary of the Foudy issue?
I've always found the women's game extremely watchable and will miss it extremely. Here's hoping something/someone comes through with a fix.
Great league, great teams, great players, great games. *#*#*#*#*#*# management. Sorry. We will miss you.
I am very to sorry to see WUSA fold. Although Chicago didn't have a team I followed the Beat who had hooper a former member of the chicago cobras a w league team here. Horrible timing.
Re: Re: It is not a soccer thing but a women's thing Crass as it may have been..he made some valid points profzodiac... ...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 compared 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 (despite NBA crutches). 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 and for the backstage people that are out of jobs now. I looked forward to seeing Aly Wagner and Heather O'Reilly continue to flourish. It was great to see Fotop and Heather Mitts (with whom I went to school 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
Re: Other leagues Japanese L League no longer is a power. Top-level W-League and WPSL is much stronger. The best leagues, aside from the WUSA, are the German Frauen-Bundesliga and the Swedish Damallsvenskan. Neither is anywhere near as strong as the WUSA has been. The best teams in each (FFC Frankfurt, before so many of its top players moved to the WUSA; Umea IK) can compete with the WUSA teams. But there is not the parity we've seen in the WUSA. I would think some players will go overseas, many will retire and go into coaching or "real life," the older stars will retire, and many will return to the W-League. Charmaine Hooper will probably return to the Chicago Cobras, some of the Californians will go to the WPSL. This is tragedy for the young, upcoming stars, the Lindsay Tarpleys and Leslie Osbornes and Cat Reddicks and Christine Sinclairs.
While from a sheer marketing standpoint that may have been an error...it wasn't their fatal flaw. I think most of the problems were non-gender specific and didn't relate specifically to WUSA. As has been pointed out earlier in this thread, soccer is still a "niche" sport as far as the mainstream media is concerned. That said, WUSA and MLS further splintered the niche in the following way: -Hard-core soccer fans (of all genders) tend to lean toward MLS. They are by-and-large traditionalists who will often cite "quality of play" as a reason for embracing MLS and dismissing WUSA for reasons well documented earlier in this thread. -Casual soccer fans (of all genders) and the family crowd leaned toward WUSA...and a major reason why is that the USWNT are world champions...they think women's soccer is played at the highest level because of the championship nature of the US women. Whereas MLS and the mens' game in the US are tabbed as "boring losers" because the USMNT have never won the World Cup, they're never expected to win World Cup, and MLS clubs struggle to beat clubs from other countries. Therefore, to the casual fan, mens soccer in this country is boring. It's all a matter of perception. Unfortunately for all of us, for soccer to take a solid place in the American sports pantheon, we cannot afford this perception problem to split the market. It has already cost us WUSA, and I firmly believe that this scism has damaged MLS as well.
Re: Re: Re: It is not a soccer thing but a women's thing That's what I'm holding onto right now. I'm gutted. I have really enjoyed following the Beat since the inaugural game. I'm going to miss the players and my fellow fans. Not having the league will create a big whole in my Summer. Hopefully the W-league will re-establish itself or there's always the college game. My aching heart....
Don't know it this will still be there when you get to the site but it says to check back within the hour to see the brand new site and that it will be worth the wait. It kinda says how sudden this was and how it even took the teams a bit by surprise if one was unveiling a new site look today. http://www.bostonbreakers.com/index.html
Well this certainly sheds more light on a lot of things. The timing issue is addressed. More than anything it gives hope. Julie, Mia and Joy believe it can be saved.
No offense, but you'll be waiting forever. A co-ed pro league? It would be pointless. If players are signed based on ability all the players would be male. Even the best marketing plan can't overcome biology. As for the timing of this announcement I think when they say they hadn't even sold half of the tickets for the WWC they saw the writing on the wall.
Out of the thousands of men who frequent these boards maybe 10 go out of their way to bash women's soccer. You are just as ignorant as the men you're bashing. You don't know anything about soccer or athletics.
Re: Re: Other leagues I think you're evaluations of those and the European leagues that you mention are pretty much on the mark. And a lot of the women now in college programs that many of us haven't even heard of. Like Marcie Ward from Carondelet, a local Catholic high school soccer powerhouse, who is now at Stanford and socking 'em into the old onion bag. I'm sure that she (and many others like her) were looking forward to an opportunity to play in WUSA.