The U.S. Soccer Federation Foundation, set up to
administer profits from the '94 World Cup, granted a $2.5M
loan to the '99 FIFA Women's World Cup Organizing Committee
"to enable it to get itself established and begin the
process of staging the event." The money is to be paid back
with profits from revenues of the '99 event (U.S. Soccer).
SINK OR SWIM FOR NSA? Plans to launch the National
Soccer Alliance, an eight-team women's soccer league, were
examined by Ann Killion of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, who
noted, "A few years ago the concept of such a league would
have been ridiculed. After all, there wasn't even a
national women's soccer team until 1985 and soccer was a
dirty word in sports marketing. ... [But] the idea of a
women's professional league is no longer a stretch."
Killion wrote of problems the NSA will face, such as "no one
is sure where the money will come from. Word is investors
in NSA will need to come up with about a million dollars for
each team." Killion adds that "one shining moment such as
the Olympics doesn't automatically create a market for a
professional league" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 5/14).
