WUSA folds (Women's Pro Soccer ) (1 Viewer)

[ChrisMatson]

After three seasons, the league has run out of money and was forced to end operations--just five days before the World Cup. I enjoy soccer, but I never got into the WUSA. I am sad to see it go. I believe that the league had a big influence for many young players around the world.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlin...277350&cc=5901

 

[Carl Johnson]

I'm not much of a soccer fan but in general I keep up with sports. Between listening to ESPNradio almost daily, my subscription to The Sporting News magazine and reading sportingnews.com on a regular basis I hadn't even heard of the WUSA.

 

[Andy_Bu]

I am a huge soccer fan and have/had a WUSA franchise in my city but even I never got into it. I watched partial games on TV a couple of times over the past 3 years but I never got hooked.

The discussions of the failure of this league will inevitably be focused around 2 issues, womens team sports don't work in America and soccer does not work in America.

The first holds a small amount of water seeing as how the WNBA is also on life support right now, but the second issue is old and tired and really no longer true.

In the end, the WUSA failed because of good old fashioned horrendous business decisions. In the press conference yesterday, the head guy even admitted to some of the egregious mistakes they made, none of which had to do with being womens sports or being soccer. I won't even go into the decision to spur working with MLS and the way they splintered the small soccer community in the US in their arrogance that they did not need MLS's support.

The timing of the announcement was interesting coming just before the WWC. Since they are "suspending operations" and not officially shutting down till the spring, this may be a cry for help from the sponsorship community that may be paying more attention to the WWC.

This league will fade into memory and in the end 350 people will need to find some work.

Andy

 

[Josh Lowe]

WUSA is owned by my company and headquartered in my building. I've met and worked with (in the IT realm) Lynn Morgan, the president/CEO of the league as well as Tony DiCicco, the league commissioner. They're great people. I feel bad for them, they gave it a good try but the fact is soccer is never going to take off as a professional sport in the USA. Every 10 years you hear someone say "in 10 years the USA will be as crazy about soccer as the rest of the world is" and the same thing happens every time: it doesn't come true. Soccer is a very popular sport for kids to play, but it just isn't going to make it as a professional sport for adults to watch/attend like they do NFL/MLB/NHL/NASCAR/etc. That's just how it is in this country.

 

[wally]

Soccer is a very popular sport for kids to play, but it just isn't going to make it as a professional sport for adults to watch/attend like they do NFL/MLB/NHL/NASCAR/etc. That's just how it is in this country.

I agree. I was in London last week and watched several "football" games from a number of leagues. No offence, but I don’t get what all the fuss is. And cricket, well that’s an entirely different story, what the heck is that?

 

[Blu]

The discussions of the failure of this league will inevitably be focused around 2 issues, womens team sports don't work in America and soccer does not work in America.

I believe the WNBA is next to fold as well as the Men's soccer league.

Soccer will never be the sport in the USA it is in the rest of the world. We have too many other ways to entertain ourselves with other professional sports that soccer will never be mainstream.

I believe the WNBA playoffs are going on right now in fact but I hear very very little about them and watch a fair amount of sports! The only reason I might know about the playoffs is that I think I saw a blurb on ESPN about it.

I know I have seen a very small part of a game midseason and there might have been a couple of hundred people watching in the stands.

 

[ThomasC]

Yeesh, Blu, now that you mention it, I just checked ESPN's website, and they say that Game 3 of the WNBA Finals are tonight! The WNBA has really gone down the tubes.

 

[Andy_Bu]

Soccer is a very popular sport for kids to play, but it just isn't going to make it as a professional sport for adults to watch/attend like they do NFL/MLB/NHL/NASCAR/etc. That's just how it is in this country.

You need to take the NHL out of this list. NHL average attendance and ratings are BARELY better than MLS's and their league is in MUCH more financial trouble than MLS, which is why many feel the league may have to shut down for a long time during the upcoming strike/lockout so that the finacial side of the sport can be fixed.

In the end MLS will never be as big as the big 3 or NASCAR but that high level is not the be all and end all of "making it". MLS is set finacially for at least the next 5 years which will see it into its 13th year. Not bad for a league or a sport that supposedly can't make it here in the US.

Andy

 

[Blu]

I follow sports and watch ESPN quite a bit and haven't seen anything about MLS. How big could it be?

When sports center starts showing MLS highlights I would consider it mainstream, until then it is a minor sport in the USA at best and will never achieve the acceptance that soccer has in other countries.

 

[Andy_Bu]

When sports center starts showing MLS highlights I would consider it mainstream, until then it is a minor sport in the USA at best and will never achieve the acceptance that soccer has in other countries.

On this point we can agree.

But I hope you can see/agree that there is a large gap between becoming "mainstream" and being the "next league to fold"

Andy

 

[Blu]

I agree.

IN fact I just went to the yahoo sports site to do a little research and found out that THERE IS A SEASON GOING ON RIGHT NOW!

Now that is a serious lack of coverage on par with the WNBA.

It might not fold but it better have some real good sponsors.

 

[Andy_Bu]

It might not fold but it better have some real good sponsors.

Is this good enough for you?

http://www.mlsnet.com/partners.html

Please note that it is people like Lamar Hunt, Robert Kraft and especially Philip Anschutz (one of the richest men in America) who are the really important people in terms of the long term health of the league.

Andy

 

[Blu]

I live between 2 teams and never had a clue they even existed.

I would say as long as it is making money and putting fans in seats it will eventually get some coverage.
It is hard to believe that it isn't on one of the baby Fox sportsnets though, especially since they do a ton of localized sports.

 

[Andy_Bu]

It is hard to believe that it isn't on one of the baby Fox sportsnets though, especially since they do a ton of localized sports

I don't understand what you mean? I think every MLS team has a local contract with Fox Sports Net. My local team (NE Revolution) has had a contract with Fox Sports New England for years.

The national TV contracts are with ABC, ESPN2, Fox Sports World and HD Net and the local contracts vary from local OTA stations to the local Fox Sports Net on cable. MLS also has a PPV package like the other leagues called MLS Shootout, which can be received on satellite or most cable systems.

Andy

 

[Brian Perry]

I think this has more to do with the "women's" aspect than the "soccer" aspect.

It is simply reality that women's sports will always struggle.

 

[Andy_Bu]

I think this has more to do with the "women's" aspect than the "soccer" aspect.

It is simply reality that women's sports will always struggle.

I agree entirely with this. Knowing quite a bit about the WUSA and its problems, this is how I would chop up the blame pie as to why the league folded

Bad Business Decisions - 55%
People won't support womens team sports - 35%
People won't support soccer - 10%

Had the WNBA shut down before WUSA, then no one would be even mentioning soccer in the blame pie.

Andy

 

[Chris_Morris]

I follow sports and watch ESPN quite a bit and haven't seen anything about MLS. How big could it be?

:rolleyes

Sorry but following sports and watching ESPN are two completely different things. A better statement would be to say that you follow the sports that ESPN hypes. They have become the Wal-Mart of the sporting world.

Me, I'll stick with FSW. I just hope they don't go the route of bullying cable providers into airing the channel.


Chris

 

[Josh Lowe]

Not all women's sports leagues suffer. Women's pro tennis is huge and in my opinion far more interesting to watch than the men. The LPGA is also very popular and growing.

 

[Blu]

Sorry but following sports and watching ESPN are two completely different things. A better statement would be to say that you follow the sports that ESPN hypes. They have become the Wal-Mart of the sporting world.

Sorry but ESPN is the standard for following mainstream sports. When there is a competetive channel that becomes as huge as ESPN is then perhaps things might change but until that happens it is all ESPN.

I have Fox Southwest and have yet to see any soccer game from the Dallas Burn or anyother MLS team. I will look over their schedule though to make sure that they aren't played at odd hours however.

 

[Chris_Morris]

Sorry but ESPN is the standard for following mainstream sports

Then I must be missing something since I can keep up with "mainstream" (whatever that means) sports without ever watching ESPN.


Chris