While MLS Commissioner Doug Logan "wants to continue
cooperation" with the U.S. women's soccer team, "such as
playing doubleheaders and promoting ticket sales, he's leery
of getting too close" to a women's start-up league,
according to Jody Meacham of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS.
Logan said that people have been calling "all week asking
whether the women's game will take over. We are absolutely
not competitive (with the women). ... People have got to be
very, very careful insofar as letting their thing be their
thing." But MLS Founder Alan Rothenberg said that "some
kind of relationship" between MLS and a women's league "is
something that is being looked at carefully."
Clash/Revolution investor-operator Jonathan Kraft said that
an MLS committee already "has been formed" to study the
issue. Kraft, on a women's pro league: "It's something
(Kraft Sports Groups) would be in favor of" (SAN JOSE
MERCURY NEWS, 7/18). Logan told the SPORTSBUSINESS
JOURNAL's Liz Mullen: "There is a genuine enthusiasm on the
part of our owners to see whether a viable commercial
enterprise can be created out of women's soccer." Mullen
writes that Galaxy/Rapids/Fire investor-operator Philip
Anschutz "is particularly interested in women's soccer" and
has expressed his "enthusiasm" for the women's game to Logan
(SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/19 issue). In Chicago, Bob
Foltman wrote that a women's pro league "could have a
fighting chance ... if some creative and bold people within
MLS formed women's teams along with the current men's
teams." He suggested men and women travel together and play
double-headers. Foltman: "Trying to sell the women's game
in major markets without joining forces with MLS would be
suicidal" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 7/18).
THEY WANT TO TAKE A LEAD: Cincinnati City Council
member Todd Portune said that a group of local leaders wants
"to secure a charter" women's pro soccer franchise for
Cincinnati and "compete for the location of the league
headquarters" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 7/17).
FROM THE SUGGESTION BOX: In his weekly column in the
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, The Bonham Group President Dean Bonham
wrote that a women's pro soccer league "is inevitable," but
it will take "a little bit of luck, lots of money, plenty of
hard work and a well-orchestrated plan." Bonham suggested
that league organizers "should begin structuring the league
immediately" and noted that WWC President & CEO Marla
Messing "would be a first-rate commissioner." Bonham added
that MLS should act "as a 'big brother' to the newcomer,
sharing facilities, marketing and operational expertise,"
while ABC/ESPN would be "a natural" as a broadcast partner
(ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 7/18). CNNSI.com's Frank Deford wrote
that "if women's soccer is to cram into a permanent spot"
among the current pro sports leagues, "it better move fast
and it better be rude and pushy." Deford, comparing a
women's soccer league with the proposed Turner Sports/NBC
football league: "For goodness sake, wouldn't a first-rate,
one-and-only women's soccer league be a more valuable
investment for serious networks than would be a football
league for NFL rejects?" (CNNSI.com, 7/16).
