WPS Cancels '12 Season As Owners' Resources Go Toward Legal Fight

WPS Sky Blue FC President & CEO Thomas Hofstetter said that he expects the legal battle with former magicJack FC Owner Dan Borislow to "last most of the year" and that the other WPS team owners could "not commit to the league and a legal fight at the same time," according to Frank Giase of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. Hofstetter said, "I know people will say we are dead and there’s nothing I can do about that. I know that we’re working on starting the league for (2013). If we come back next year with eight teams, people will say we did the right thing." Hofstetter added, "We terminated him [Borislow] for a reason. The guy’s impossible to deal with. We felt very strongly that it would destroy the league. We have to look forward and concentrate on what we need to do to survive long-term." Hofstetter "insists he and the other owners are committed -- in spirit and financially -- to WPS and they expect three expansion franchises to come aboard in 2013." Giase writes if there was a year where "such a bold move could be accomplished, this is it." WPS was going to "shut down for the Olympics this summer, which would have made for a disjointed season" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 1/31). Hofstetter said yesterday, "Looking back, we didn’t do enough due diligence and we knew it. At that point last year, we didn’t have a choice, we were not in a position to be very picky. As bad as it seems to be, I actually feel good about making the decision. If we played this season I felt the league would be done. I believe there would not be a 2013 season. If we want to be around long term we have to fix some of the issues." WPS CEO Jennifer O'Sullivan said that the league was "close to a deal with a new equipment sponsor and several other national sponsors." O’Sullivan said that those deals are "no longer moving forward" (NYTIMES.com, 1/30).

CHANCE FOR RECOVERY? In Vancouver, Bruce Constantineau notes WPS -- which began play in '09 -- recently received a "special waiver from the U.S. Soccer Federation to operate as a top-tier women's league this year, under the condition that it expand to at least eight teams by 2014" (VANCOUVER SUN, 1/31). O’Sullivan said that owners "chose to cancel the season over possibly working with Borislow in the league again." O'Sullivan: "We have diverted so many resources into litigation. This is something that needs to be resolved before we can move forward with play." O’Sullivan was not yet CEO when Borislow "was approved as an owner, but she acknowledged the vetting process might have been hurried." She said, "I do think the league at the time was in a situation where they were in a bit of a rush" (AP, 1/30). Borislow wrote in an e-mail, "I settled with them, so there was going to be very little additional legal expenses. I also thought Pam Fulmer, their lawyer, was donating her time" (PALM BEACH POST, 1/31). In DC, Steven Goff noted WPS officials and investors said that they will "reorganize and hope to relaunch in 2013, but with each failure, the prospects of a top-tier women’s league succeeding in this country dims." Even without the "Borislow distraction, one has to wonder about the lasting power of women’s pro soccer" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 1/30). ESPNW.com's Mechelle Voepel wrote it "remains to be seen whether WPS can recover from this suspension; the survival of the pro sports league impacts current and future generations of women's soccer players, not just here in the United States, but globally" (ESPNW.com, 1/30). WPS Breakers F Kelly Smith said, "If a professional women's league was going to happen anywhere it's the US but that seems to have failed, so maybe that's not the way forward" (BBC.co.uk, 1/31). Breakers draftee Stephanie Ochs said, "It was very surprising, I had no idea, I guess I didn’t expect it. I figured since they had the draft, everything was fine and would go according to plan. But that’s life. These things happen" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/31).

IMPACT ON U.S. NATIONAL TEAM: ESPNW.com's Jeff Carlisle wrote there is "universal agreement that WPS is a critical component in developing players and feeding the national team, thus leading to the hope that the league will return in 2013 and not slide into oblivion." But precisely how this "impacts the team's preparations for the Olympics is a different matter." In fact, in some ways, the "absence of a domestic league makes" U.S. women's national team head coach Pia Sundhage's "job easier." She will have "full control over the workout regimens of her players," instead of having to "constantly take the desires of league clubs into account." One apparent downside is the "lack of league games that players will get, but opinions vary as to how much that will affect the national team's preparations." Former Sky Blue FC GM Gerry Marrone insisted that WPS "going on hiatus would be completely irrelevant to the Olympics." He said, "The players were only going to be available for eight games, and would only train with their teams when the national team made them available. I think it will have zero impact on Olympic preparation. And I think for any player who is carrying an injury it will be a positive." But former U.S. women's national team coach Tony DiCicco said, "It's going to be hard to get enough meaningful games" (ESPNW.com, 1/30). ESPNW.com's Julie Foudy, who is a former U.S. national women's soccer team member, wrote, "The ultimate irony? Having no league is actually better for the U.S. national team as it prepares for the Olympics." Foudy: "The players control their training, travel and preparation schedule. No more shuttling between clubs and countries" (ESPNW.com, 1/30).

A POTENTIAL SILVER LINING: ESPNW.com's Beau Dure noted leagues "usually don't fare well in coming back from a hiatus." However, one "precedent in the American sports landscape is the Arena Football League, which went into bankruptcy and was reborn after missing a season." Dure: "One executive from that period of Arena Football League history: O'Sullivan" (ESPNW.com, 1/30).