Alive and kicking, maybe
WUSA wants back in game, but who will foot the bill?
The Women's United Soccer Association is planning a pair of weekend revivals in June, complete with evangelicals preaching from the heart. There will be a host of impassioned soccer players under the tents, signing autographs and giving clinics, while resurrected WUSA teams play exhibition games on adjacent fields.
When it folded in September 2003, WUSA had an audience of the faithful: From packs of screeching little girls who took up their worshipful chorus at games, to the media executives who first launched and funded the league, there was an energetic core of followers who cheered the first three years of women's professional soccer in the United States, an audience that was surprised and dismayed when the league suddenly folded.
Immediately, league and team offices were flooded with letters and e-mails, and sometimes checks, as fans wrote to ask how they could help keep the league going.
A cadre of WUSA officials began plotting for the league's restoration, and the first leg of the return trip will include stops at festivals at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Minn., June 17-20, and the
"Our goal is to have the WUSA become part of the communities during the festival weekend," said Tony DiCicco, former commissioner of the WUSA, US team coach, and cochairman of the committee to relaunch the WUSA.
"We had interest from close to two dozen cities," said Joe Cummings, the committee's other cochair and former general manager of the Boston Breakers. "There is the possibility of a third festival June 10-13, and we're now considering two cities.
"We're hoping we will do the festivals and people will say, `Wow, they really are alive,' and sponsors will see that and step up for 2005."
Ex-players thrilled Former WUSA players, many left in limbo since the league folded, are predictably excited.
"I think it's great," said Breakers star Kristine Lilly, who took time out from the US team's run through the Olympic qualifying tournament in Costa Rica this week to talk about WUSA. "It's a way to keep it alive and for us to show we don't want it to go away."
Lilly said that while the players' focus is on the competition in Costa Rica, they can't help but talk about WUSA. They are all remembering they would be in the midst of preseason training now, living the dream of being a professional athlete.
"You're pretty much in your city, you're in your home," Lilly said about playing for WUSA. "That's really something that we cherish, because with the national team, we're always on the road.
"Being an athlete is a great job. You can't beat that -- wearing cleats to work instead of stockings and high heels."
Briana Scurry, goalkeeper for the Atlanta Beat, the US team, and, once upon a time, the University of Massachusetts, matched Lilly's enthusiasm. "I want to speak on behalf of all players," said Scurry. "We're very excited about not only the festival, but a relaunch of WUSA in 2005."
WUSA provided young girls with a life to dream about, and it also gave the world's top players a chance to become better. After anchoring the US team to Olympic and World Cup gold, Scurry saw her game go south, until she landed in Atlanta, playing for the Beat.
"For myself, WUSA was a relaunch of my career," Scurry said, "the springboard that's helped me become the best soccer player of my career."
Midfielder Shannon Boxx was 26 when she stepped on to the international soccer stage for the 2003 World Cup. Boxx was a standout at Notre Dame and an NCAA champion in 1995, but she didn't have an international cap before the World Cup. When she began to dominate play for WUSA's New York Power in 2003, US coach April Heinrichs took note.
"My career as a soccer player has grown because of the WUSA," said Boxx. "I wouldn't be on the national team without WUSA. Without this league, many talented players will go unnoticed."
Business side important
With the Olympic Summer Games in Athens this August, WUSA hopes to ride another surge in popularity for women's soccer. Of course, there is no predicting who will be the newest darling of the TV Olympics, and if Mia Hamm and Co. don't win the gold medal, Americans are likely to turn up their noses. But by the time Hamm and Lilly and the rest of the US Olympians take the field, a decision on WUSA's fate will have been made.
Still, WUSA officials do not perceive the festivals as a test; they are confident the interest in women's professional soccer is there. It's the sponsors who are missing -- companies willing to pony up a couple million dollars to support the league and get their name linked to a team or the league.
"2005 is still a work in progress," said Cummings. "We're having positive conversations with a number of sponsors. Has anyone written the check or nodded in the affirmative? We're not at that point."
The eight WUSA team owners, corporations and individuals, invested more than $100 million to fund the league, but as new professional sports leagues do, WUSA spent more than it earned. When the end came, WUSA was about $16 million in debt, and needed to find eight sponsors to spend $2.5 million each per year. Only Hyundai and
"Everything on the field worked," said DiCicco. "The competition worked: In three years, every team made the playoffs; every year there was a different championship team. I think our attendance worked: We averaged nearly 7,000 fans a game -- the second division of men's professional soccer in England doesn't get that. Our in-stadium environment was fantastic, exciting, and family-friendly. What didn't work was our business plan."
"Boston was the most disappointing," said Cummings. "We were a team that was on schedule to reach break-even at Year 5. We led attendance two of the three years. We led gross ticket revenue all three years. But none of that made a difference because of single-entity [ownership].
"This time around, we need to know what our revenue will be, and then build our business plan from there."
WUSA also has initiated a Keep the WUSA Dream Alive ticket fund to help gauge support. Fans can make a pledge at the WUSA.com website, and fulfillment of the pledge will take place later this year when plans for the 2005 season are announced.
"We cannot say definitely 2005 is a done deal," said DiCicco. "Things have to fall in place. That means sponsorship dollars, that means ownership, that means continued support from the soccer community."
"We're 13 months removed from the first game, so it's time to [nail down] sponsorship," said Cummings. "The deadline is sometime between now and the festivals."
Plenty of hope
The players, meanwhile, can't wait to get back on the fields, wherever they are.
"I think with the kind of people we have on this national team," Scurry said, "you can play a four-vs.-four game and we want to win. We'll give our best whatever."
Lilly acknowledged that WUSA's collapse was deeply disappointing, but added she is filled with hope. "When you put so much behind what you believe in and it doesn't come off successfully, it's disappointing," said Lilly. "But I still believe in the league and I still believe in the people.
"We had the highest level of playing in the world right in our backyard. In the big scheme, we had more that was successful than was not successful.
"When we get back on the field, we'll do our part."
