New U.S. Women's Soccer League to Launch in 2008 LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A new women's professional soccer league, with help from Major League Soccer, will be launched in 2008 with teams in Los Angeles, Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago and Washington. It would replace the Women's United Soccer Association, which folded in 2003 after three years and attendance that averaged 4,500. Tonya Antonucci, chief executive officer of the Women's Soccer Initiative Inc., made the announcement Tuesday from her San Francisco office. ADVERTISEMENT "We knew we would get one chance at this relaunch," she said. "We spent a lot of time studying and researching. We knew we had to cut costs to get those in line with actual revenues." A sixth team, which already has financial backing, will be announced once it has chosen a city to play in, Antonucci said. She hopes to add two more teams in 2009. Backers of all six teams have signed letters of intent to launch the league and have made financial commitments to do so. The projected cost of operating each franchise is $1.5 million to $2.5 million a year, Antonucci said. The new league is negotiating with MLS' marketing division to handle its sponsorship and marketing. Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy, retired national team stars and WUSA founding members, enthusiastically endorsed the new league Tuesday. "The cities they talked about are great soccer communities who I think will really embrace these teams," Hamm said. The new league will begin play in April 2008, hoping to capitalize on interest generated in the 2007 Women's World Cup, to be held in China in September. Teams will play a 20-game schedule from April to August, including an All-Star game. Postseason play would extend the season into early fall. The Los Angeles team will be owned by AEG, which operates the Los Angeles Galaxy men's MLS team, and will play at Home Depot Center in Carson. AEG Sports president Shawn Hunter said having the new league's teams owned and operated by organizations with ties to MLS, along with established marketing, sales, promotional and operational departments "is a critical and significant component to launching a league that can have immediate credibility and success." The other teams will play in soccer-specific stadiums. The Chicago franchise has worked out a deal with the MLS' Chicago Fire to play in its suburban Bridgeview stadium, Antonucci said. The Chicago franchise is a partnership between former Fire president and general manager Peter Wilt, FC Indiana and the Illinois Women's Soccer League. The group is seeking a majority partner. "The Chicago area is a strong soccer market," Wilt said. The Dallas and Washington franchises are in discussions with their cities' respective MLS teams, FC Dallas and D.C. United, about sharing a stadium, she said. Foudy, who along with Hamm was elected to the national soccer hall of fame Tuesday, played for the WUSA's San Diego Spirit from 2001-03 and has been involved in efforts to revive a women's pro league. "We knew we didn't have nine lives. If we were going to do it again, we needed to do it right," she said. "(Tonya) really believes, and I feel the same, that we've got a great group together in these six owners and investors. There is a great fan base and product out there." Hamm played three seasons for the WUSA's Washington Freedom. "We're teaming up with some of the MLS teams and hopefully we'll share costs, which will eliminate a lot of the problems we had," Hamm said. "It'll be much more manageable and you already have the facilities in place." The Women's Soccer Initiative is a nonprofit organization founded to build a business plan to relaunch a pro league. It is funded by grants from the U.S. Soccer Federation and U.S. Soccer Foundation.
Instead of sports, they should show stuff on TV at which women are actually good. If people watch poker on ESPN, I'm sure they'll watch competitive cooking, vacuuming, and laundry...
Oh boy... I hope you're not married A-Train cause you might be sleeping on the couch. As for women's soccer I'm all for it. Women should have the same opportunities as men to compete at the professional level. Plus women soccer players are HOT!
I'm all for it. Doubt it gets ratings and wont show up on TV at all, but if it can hold up on its own, good for them.
Why would anyone have a problem w/ women's soccer? The only problem I see is this doesn't even look good on paper financially. Men's soccer isn't doing so well. But I'm uninformed. Is the MLS profitable now? How many of it's teams? I remember when it first started and they had a South Florida team. Seemed like a home run. And then you realize that most people in South Florida are already devoted to many teams worldwide and don't care to pay attention to the local team w/ no history. Funny thing was my high school was ghetto, and the fields were like land fills. So we played at a city stadium where the MLS soccer team played. It was not a good stadium. Really barely above the level of a nice high school stadium.
Ah, a man after my own heart! You left out sewing and churning butter, but I'll give you a pass on that.
