A new league and another new dawn for US women's soccer

The National Women's Soccer League will be the third professional league for women in the US this century. Will it fare better than its predecessors?

 

Here we go again: The United States Soccer Federation has announced that a new league known as the National Women's Soccer League will launch in 2013 administered by US Soccer.

The league will begin with eight clubs, the four left over from the recently-extinguished Women's Professional Soccer league (Boston, Chicago, New Jersey, Buffalo) and four new clubs. The names range from overly regional minor league names (Western New York Flash) to cheeky (Portland Thorns FC) to names that have survived all three women's leagues (Boston Breakers). Those clubs will join the Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, Sky Blue FC, Washington Spirit, and the as-yet-unnamed Seattle club.

US Soccer will also subsidize the salaries of up to 24 US women's national team players while the Canadian Soccer Association and Federation of Mexican Football will each do the same for up to 16 players.
Since the US women began their tour celebrating their gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, the question has lingered: Where will these women play when this is all over? From the moment when the WPS had to suspend its operations, the US national team players have been bullish on the ability of a league to come back. But at the beginning of the post-Olympic tour, when asked where they would be playing next season, the overwhelming response from the players was "I don't know".

For Abby Wambach and Hope Solo, who are past the soccer magic age line of 30, certainly there's been a good deal of soul searching over the last year. Emerging stars like Alex Morgan suddenly had a wrench thrown in their future.

That the North American soccer federations are now willing to subsidize the salaries of its players goes to show just how serious the organisation is about giving their national team stars a home. Canada is slated to host the Women's world cup in 2015, and the thrilling match between Canada and the US during the 2012 London Olympics is still fresh in everyone's mind. The goal now is to carry that excitement over the next three years.

This is the third such attempt in the United States to have a top-level women's soccer league. The Women's United soccer league after the 1999 Women's World Cup was the first attempt at a fully professional league. Attendance and TV ratings didn't meet expectations, and the league burnt through a $40 million nest egg in one year (it was supposed to last five). The WUSA folded before the next Women's World Cup. By the time its successor WPS got up and running all of the first generation stars had retired, even though revival efforts began as soon as the WUSA folded.

The Sports Business journal wrote in 2009 that the WUSA had relied on brand bomb advertising, while the WPS was going to use grassroots promotion. Coming off the heels of the quite successful Women's World Cup in the US, with its picturesque final, it was assumed that getting the word out loudly would attract that same audience. The blast didn't pay off and proved too costly.

The WPS' grassroots effort wasn't a grand success either. The league played in smaller stadiums (5k capacity instead of 10k) and instead of traditional American team names like the Washington Freedom of WUSA there were more European style names (FC Gold Pride) and sponsor-named teams (magicJack).

Having a match of the week on the Fox Soccer channel was supposed to help get the word out about the quality of the league. One hit wonder LA Sol folded despite a championship appearance, the best women's player in the world, and AEG footing part of the bill. Simply having a good product doesn't always mean success in the sports business world.

Elsewhere in the world, for example in England, the women's game is semi-pro and often affiliated with a men's club. Same story with the women's basketball league in America, and yet MLS has not been involved in anything relative to women's soccer.

The downside of a semi-pro league is the necessity for a secondary source of income. Rachel Yankey, who plays for Arsenal Ladies Football Club and was on Team GB at the London Olympics, has worked as a coach in schools. Her teammate Kelly Smith came over and played in the American leagues attaining professional status..........
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/dec/18/us-women-soccer-national-league-launch?INTCMP=SRCH