Comments on: New U.S. women’s pro league: No need to forget this first non-impression

By: LT

LT — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 02:03:26 +0000

Really strong points, Richard, well done. Your last line nails it. So frustrating. C’mon y’all, do it right or don’t do it at all.

By: nickp91

nickp91 — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 23:32:17 +0000

I hope that there’s NO DAN BORISLOW ANYMORE TO DESTROY ANOTHER GENERATION OF WOMENS SOCCER

By: footballer4ever

footballer4ever — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 19:08:39 +0000

I do see it succeeding in a way. There’s plenty of girls and parents who will attend their matches. Hopefully, the investors that are backing this future women’s league are visionaries and not just to milk the USWNT current popularity for profit purposes only. I am rooting for you girls to shine on and succeed as a pro league.

By: brakengo

brakengo — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 18:49:05 +0000

A new women’s professional soccer league … I just don’t see it succeeding.

By: starcityfan

starcityfan — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 18:37:14 +0000

I don’t have that much of a problem with the timing. As soon as the whistle blew on the gold medal match, people were going to be asking what the players are going to be doing next year. This at least starts to provide an answer.

By: footballer4ever

footballer4ever — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 16:39:51 +0000

When things are not done the right way at the beginning, it’s very doubtful the outcome will be a successful. With all due respect to the USWNT, they are being used, abused and disrespected along the way. I hope i am wrong because the women play great football and should have their own successful domestic league.

By: dhagentj

dhagentj — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 16:32:43 +0000

I think there can be enough interest, the problem is that club soccer hasn’t broken out in the US and that Women’s soccer hasn’t been handled correctly.

For example, the Sounders Women last year were the 24th highest attended soccer club in the United States this year, only four slots behind the lowest-ranked MLS team. Half of that was to see the stars in Solo, Rapinoe, Morgan, and Leroux, and half of that was the relevance of the Sounders name. I don’t expect a team with any other name to sell as sweetly. So it is important that this owner finds a way to get the Sounders branding on his club. (And keep at least Solo and Leroux, if not Morgan, whose boyfriend plays on the Sounders men)

By: jamezyjamez

jamezyjamez — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 15:18:14 +0000

Sorry to have to be the one to say it, but there’s not enough interest in women’s soccer in the US to sustain a league. The men’s version is only recently moved from viability questions to some level of stability. I put women’s soccer in the same category as volleyball, swimming and track. Great sports that will capture the public’s attention periodically and for short spans (e.g. olympics, world championships, world cups), but not able to sustain. Similar to those other sports, these talented women athletes should seek employment overseas where the sports are commercially viable.

By: tylerbetts

tylerbetts — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 14:55:00 +0000

Looks doomed to failure to me. I want a professional women’s soccer league to succeed in America. I just don’t see this as being the right solution.

By: whordy

whordy — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 14:40:33 +0000

I feel bad for Womans soccer in America, one because all these players dont know if they will have a club and two because not having a stable league in America will only hurt our NT over time.
I also think Womans soccer is really the best female sport product in sports as well, much better than something like the WNBA, for sure.
But, isnt the obvious and best chance for a womans league one that is affiliated with the MLS? They can ride the success of the league. And lets be honest, there is no reason to expect these random womans leagues that pop up every month to stick.

By: dfstell

dfstell — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 13:35:23 +0000

Good points all. Thanks for being willing to talk about them. To me, this just looks like a the WPS in a less organized fashion without the owner who caused so much trouble.

I’m just really skeptical of any group that doesn’t sound like a real business when they launch these things. Do you have a product that people want? Do you have financial backing? Do you have a model that will generate early revenues with a likelihood of growth? Are you controlling expenses and keeping them within your sustainable revenue OR are your expenses high and you NEED the revenue growth or you’re dead meat?

To me, the biggest mistake these women’s leagues seem to make is that they seem built around a central premise of keeping the USWNT players in the US. That’s not a reason to have a league. We don’t have that on the men’s side where almost all the guys play outside the US. But, we do have a sustainable MLS and an increasingly sustainable NASL, USL Pro, USL PDL system built around showing Americans the soccer that America is willing to pay for.

Why not do that one the women’s side: Look at what the public is willing to pay for in terms of sponsorships, TV rights, tickets, etc. and then build a league that fits that model. Then look for an opportunity to grow. If Hope Solo and Alex Morgan can make more money in Sweden, then they’re no different than Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard and Jozy Altidore and every other starter on the USMNT besides Landon (who is a weird situation anyway).