| |
 The $64 million question Most agree a pro league is needed, but would it work?
Posted: Friday July 16, 1999 07:27 AM
Slowly but surely, the post-match hoopla will die down, and life as we know it in American soccer will return to normal. Then, cooler heads will start really pondering if a women's professional soccer league will be a viable option -- not a flash in the pan, but a lasting legacy of the Women's World Cup. Virtually everyone -- from U.S. Soccer Federation officials to coach Tony DiCicco to the players -- feels the United States needs a pro league so players can develop at the highest level. Even with three titles in four major tournaments this decade, they all realize that the rest of the world is quickly catching up to the U.S. But can a women's professional soccer league work? Now that's the $64 million question. And from some reports, that figure is in the neighborhood of what could very well be the amount needed to get this project off the ground. After all, there are the front office personnel and players to pay and the money needed to market the teams and pay for day-to-day operating expenses (travel, stadium rental, etc.). On paper, a women's league, which will include many of the U.S. National Team players and some of the top international stars, sounds intriguing. But when you're talking millions of dollars, you can't afford for such an endeavor to be a failure. There are some serious questions and potential ramifications to consider:
Yes, the Sydney Olympics are scheduled for September 2000, and soccer officials are hoping that tournament will further fuel, or re-ignite, interest. Their plans are for a league to start in spring 2001. But unless those games are televised by NBC and the U.S. is successful --another gold medal in an eight-team field that will even be more difficult than USA '99 -- momentum will be stifled. The original game plan was for Major League Soccer to kick off in 1995, but soccer officials decided to delay the league's start for a year because they wanted to do it right. In retrospect, it was the correct and prudent decision, but one can only wonder how much momentum was lost. Just remember that the U.S. National Team won't be participating as a whole, but rather split up among eight to 10 teams. Let's say there are 30 really good players in the national pool. You divide by eight teams, which gives us about four National Team players per team. That doesn't include Michelle Akers, who might retire from soccer even before the 2000 Olympics, and defenders and "soccer moms" Carla Overbeck and Joy Fawcett, who are over 30 and might be contemplating retirement as well. And please be advised that Mia Hamm will be available to play for only one team.
Except for the marquee women players, those "average players" won't come close to earning the MLS average.
Burton Haimes, a New York City attorney who chaired the committee that led to the establishment of a men's league, heads the USSF's women's professional league development committee as well. The committee met in Los Angeles on Friday with some heavy hitters from the domestic game in attendance. The impressive list of 25 people included USSF president Dr. Bob Contiguglia, USSF general secretary Hank Steinbrecher, former USSF president and 1994 World Cup organizing committee head Alan I. Rothenberg, U.S. soccer guru Sunil Gulati, MLS commissioner Doug Logan, several MLS owners, Women's World Cup sponsors adidas, Nike and Anheuser-Busch, IMG (the USSF's marketing arm) and the Marquis Group, among others.
Also attending were Mark Abbott, the former chief operating officer of MLS who wrote that league's business plan and has put together one for a women's league, and John Hendricks, the founder of the Discovery Channel, who is funding the USSF's feasibility study. The plan is supposed to be presented to potential investors early next year. Haimes came out of the meeting sounding cautiously optimistic, feeling that there will be a league, although he did not know in which shape or form it will take. "The key is realistic expectations and managed expectations," he said. "We don't want anyone to go out and expect the attendances of 80,000 and 90,000 for the opening and championship games of the World Cup to happen ... We need to create a league that the women feel they can have an income and not starvation wages. "We came out of that meeting knowing that it ain't going to be MLS, and ain't going to be the WNBA, but a league that is something unique. Ultimately, it will be the decision of the investors." Haimes, who is chairman of the American Youth Soccer Organization, isn't venturing into this lightly. So, it shouldn't be surprising that he had more questions than answers at this juncture. "Should you be in major markets?" he asked. "Everyone agrees that we should be in New York, Chicago and L.A. After that, should we follow the success of the Rochester Raging Rhinos [in the second division A-League] and go into smaller markets? "Do we need a national TV contract? The National Lacrosse League makes money and doesn't have a TV contract. Can the owners be content with attracting 5,000 a game? What type of stadiums do we want to be in?" These will take time, and some of those answers women's supporters may not want to hear. For the record, there already is a women's soccer league in this country -- the W-League, an amateur league that sends its regional division winners to a national championship in August. While it has been a struggle for many of the franchises, there have been some sterling success stories, such as the Boston Renegades, who have drawn crowds of more than 3,000 without marquee-type National Team players. A number of current and former National Team players have performed in that league. Shannon MacMillan once played with the Portland team; former U.S. international goalkeeper Kim Wyant stars for the Long Island Lady Riders, and Canadian striker Charmaine Hooper fills the net regularly for the Chicago Cobras. While the owners have their hearts in the right places, moving franchises from the W-League to a new pro league isn't the answer at this moment. It also would be unfair and unwise to use the WNBA as a model, because that league had and has one of the great marketing arms of the sporting world -- the NBA itself -- to fuel it, and it fills a void when those arenas are empty. In contrast, a women's pro league probably will be operated in the spring and summer, the same time of the year as MLS. At the present time, MLS is not interested in starting a women's league, although it is willing to give advice and some of the league's individual owners and investors might be interested in investing on their own. MLS, which still is going through plenty of growing pains in its fourth season, has more than enough on its plate. Whatever plan is unveiled, it won't be easy. Take it from someone who has a passion for the sport, who has seen a generation of great ideas and potential leagues come and go, soccer is a difficult sell in this country when it comes to professional leagues. It's still in its infancy stage in many respects. The gut feeling here is that there will be a pro soccer league the women will be able call their own, but probably not as "glamorous" as many of its supporters and fans would want. Moreover, just starting it would be a major accomplishment, and it could grow from there. Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News and is editor of Soccer Magazine.
| |||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||||
