The National Soccer Alliance (NSA) announced its eight
sites for its pro women's soccer league set to start in
April. For a full list of locations, see yesterday's DAILY.
MORE DETAILS: Each NSA team will play a 20-game
schedule which will conclude with a league championship on
July 4, according to Barbara Heubner of the BOSTON GLOBE.
Each team will be "allocated two top US players, with the
rest of the 18-player rosters filled via a draft and local
tryouts." Salaries will range from $15,000-30,000. League
Development Consultant Jennifer Rottenberg said that the
single entity structure will have a first-year operating
budget of $15M "from a consortium of still unnamed
investors." The league must be sanctioned by the US Soccer
Federation and "approval is considered likely, assuming the
NSA meets "certain funding and stadium criteria" (BOSTON
GLOBE, 9/12). Games will be played on Friday nights and
Sunday afternoons and ticket prices are "expected to" range
from $5-15 (Al Carter, DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 9/12). USA
TODAY's Jerry Langdon puts the average ticket price at
$9.40. Advisory Committee Chair Anson Dorrance: "The
quality of play will be beyond the highest level of the
college game" (USA TODAY, 9/12). Each stadium will "seat an
average" of 5,000, with per-game attendance of "about" 2,600
needed to break even financially (Lowell Sunderland,
Baltimore SUN, 9/12). In Seattle, Elliott Almond writes
that NSA organizers "seem willing to make an exception" for
the 1,800-seat stadium at the Univ. of WA, with a fund drive
set to help finance expansion (SEATTLE TIMES, 9/12).
