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Women's United Soccer Association
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), (currently on hiatus) was the first entire league of full-time professional women's soccer players in the world. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams nationwide in the United States. The WUSA was a successor to and competitor with the amateur women's W-League. The WUSA was unique amongst women's soccer leagues because 100% of its teams' members were full-time pro soccer players.
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As a result of the US Women's National Team's (US WNT) first-place showing in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, a seemingly viable market for the sport germinated. Feeding off of the momentum of their victory, the 20 US WNT players, in partnership with John Hendricks of the Discovery Channel, sought out the investors, markets, and players necessary to form the 8 team league. The 20 founding players were: Michelle Akers, Brandi Chastain, Tracy Ducar, Lorrie Fair, Joy Fawcett, Danielle Fotopoulos, Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Shannon MacMillan, Tiffeny Milbrett, Carla Overbeck, Cindy Parlow, Christie Pearce, Tiffany Roberts, Briana Scurry, Kate (Markgraf) Sobrero, Tisha Venturini, Saskia Webber and Sara Whalen.
Each roster primarily consisted of players from the United States, although up to four international players were allowed on each team's roster. Among the international players were stars of powerhouse teams such as China's Sun Wen and Bai Jie; Germany's Birgit Prinz, Conny Pohlers and Maren Meinert; Norway's Hege Riise and Dagny Mellgren; Brazil's Sissi, Katia and Pretinha; and Canada's Charmaine Hooper and Christine Latham. The league also hosted singular talents from nations which were not at the forefront of women's soccer, such as Maribel Dominguez of Mexico, Homare Sawa of Japan, Julie Fleeting of Scotland, Cheryl Salisbury of Australia, Marinette Pichon of France, and Kelly Smith of England.
The WUSA franchises were in Philadelphia, PA; Boston, MA; New York, NY; Washington, D.C.; Cary, NC; Atlanta, GA; San Jose, CA; and San Diego, CA:
- Atlanta Beat
- Boston Breakers
- Carolina Courage (originally intended to be in Orlando,FL)
- New York Power
- Philadelphia Charge
- San Diego Spirit
- San Jose CyberRays (called Bay Area CyberRays for 2001 season)
- Washington Freedom
The Founders Cup (named in honor of the 20 founding players) was awarded to the winner of a four-team, single-elimination postseason playoff.
- 2001 Bay Area CyberRays 3-3 (4-2Pks) Atlanta Beat in Foxboro, MA
- 2002 Carolina Courage 3-2 Washington Freedom in Atlanta, GA
- 2003 Washington Freedom 2-1 (OT) Atlanta Beat in San Diego, CA
At various times, games were televised on TNT, CNNSI, ESPN2, PAX TV, and various local and regional sports channels.
The WUSA played for three full seasons, suspending operations on September 15, 2003, shortly after the conclusion of the third season. Neither television ratings nor attendance met forecasts, while the league spent its initial $40 million budget, planned to last five years, by the end of the first season. Even though the players took salary cuts of up to 30% for the final season, with the founding players (who also held an equity stake in the league) taking the largest cuts, that was not enough to bring expenses under control.
Attempts to revive the league are ongoing, and all rights to team nicknames, logos, and similar propeties have been preserved. Efforts to line up new sources of capital and operating funds continue as well. Whether the WUSA will be able to resume operations as an ongoing enterprise is an open question. The US WNT's 2004 Olympics success revived hopes that the league may be re-launched. Although the retirement of Mia Hamm from competitive soccer removed the WUSA's top draw, pioneer and senior players remain enthusiastic about passing the torch to new top players.
In June 2004, the WUSA held two "WUSA Festivals," featuring matches between reconstituted WUSA teams (often with marquee players borrowed from other teams), in order to maintain the league in the public eye and sustain interest in women's professional soccer.
With the WUSA on hiatus, the W-League has regained some of the players it had formerly lost to the WUSA. And in early 2005, the Washington Freedom became an associate member of the W-League, the de facto top women's division in North America after the WUSA's demise. Freedom played a limited exhibition schedule against various regional W-League teams.
On December 7, 2004, the Women's Soccer Initiative, Inc. (WSII), announced its intention to "guide the re-launch of women's professional soccer in the United States." WSII hired a CEO, Tonya Antonucci, the executive who produced Yahoo! Sports and was General Manager of Yahoo's FIFA World Cup web site. In a FOXNews.com article on 28 June 2006[1], politics reporter Liza Porteus wrote that the target date for re-launch is 2008, a figure confirmed by United States Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati in an on-air interview with Julie Foudy during a July 30 ESPN telecast of an international "friendly" between the United States and Canada.
On February 27, 2007, Sports Illustrated confirmed a women's league would relaunch in April 2008 in an attempt to capitalize on the 2007 Women's World Cup. Five teams were announced in MLS markets, with a 6th on its way. [2] However, it was not known if this would be the continuation of the WUSA or a completely new league.
CEO, Antonucci, has reitterated that any attempt to operate a women's professional soccer league must be based on a solid business plan. She has initiated a three phase plan for the re-launch, as follows:
- Phase I final milestone is "reaching a tipping point of investors and sponsors signing on the dotted line."[3]
- Phase II is developing a marketing strategy and launch date.
- Phase III is the launch.
Reports are that WSII is in discussions with Major League Soccer (MLS) about the possibility of a partnership. MLS commissioner, Don Garber, and Antonucci both confirmed the possibility of sharing "soccer-specific stadiums" (SSS). Antonucci is looking for opportunities to share business infrastructure as well[4]. The five existing SSSs are:
- The Home Depot Center (HDC) where U.S. Soccer's National Training Center (NTC) is based
- Columbus Crew Stadium
- Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas
- Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois
- PAETEC Park in Rochester, New York.
Four more stadiums are expected to open in 2007 and 2008, in Colorado, New Jersey, Utah, Toronto.
- FOXNews.com article "U.S. Women's Pro League Prepares to Blast Back Onto Soccer Scene" by Liza Porteus, 28 June 2006
- mysoccerblog article "Pro Women's soccer looking to return in 2007," 19 January 2006
- ESPN article "Antonucci lays the groundwork," 20 March 2005
- USA Today article & timeline "WUSA decision jolts players," 15 September 2003
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