The "player pool and investors look good" for the
Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), scheduled to
launch in spring 2001, but information on markets and
facilities for the teams was "conspicuously absent" from the
formal announcement of the eight-team league on Tuesday,
according to USA TODAY's Peter Brewington. WUSA organizers
are "known to be concentrating" on placing franchises in
"primary" markets such as Boston, N.Y., Philadelphia, DC,
Atlanta, Tampa/Orlando, Detroit and San Diego. Other
"possibilities" are Raleigh, Chicago, S.F./San Jose, Denver
and Seattle, but Brewington writes that "finding places to
play in those markets is a challenge." Brewington adds that
the WUSA is "hoping to partner with" MLS and the A-League in
building soccer-specific facilities (USA TODAY, 2/17). But
in Chicago, Bonnie DeSimone writes that the unveiling of the
WUSA "took the [USSF] and [MLS] officials by surprise," as
MLS has been working on its own business model for a
potential women's league. MLS Dir of PR Dan Courtemanche:
"Our investors have had continuing discussions and we're
still evaluating the possibility of being involved." U.S.
women's soccer team member Julie Foudy said some members of
the women's team had "some reservations about piggybacking"
on MLS: "Our first reaction was that we want to be the
priority. MLS is still in the early stages of growing
pains. It's hard to take on another entity when you're not
fully established yourselves" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/17).
MARKET STUDY: In NY, Bob Matthews writes that Rochester
"would come closer" to WUSA's target of 6,500 fans per game
than the "majority" of the eight cities that will "be chosen
to launch the league" (ROCH. DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, 2/17).
WILL IT SUCCEED? In S.F., Ray Ratto: "The WUSA will
almost surely start, founder and die. Not because its
intentions are bad, but because good intentions are punished
at a far greater rate. Not because girls don't play soccer,
but because adults don't buy soccer" (S.F. EXAMINER, 2/16).
But U.S. team member Brandi Chastain said she is convinced
about the WUSA because of the "legitimacy of the people who
are backing the league" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 2/17). The Sports
Business Group President David Carter: "I think that
marketing people are realizing that if they can find a
sports property that can reach female consumers, advertisers
will flock to it" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 2/17).
