WPS Sees High Quality Of Play, Encouraging Attendance Figures
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Led By Marta, Quality Of Play Has Been
Major Factor In Success Of WPS So Far |
Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) is "so far, so good," as the "quality of play is high and attendance figures have been encouraging roughly a month into the league's inaugural season," according to David Mosse of ESPNSOCCERNET.com. Fans have turned out to the "tune of over 6,000 per game." A "major factor in this success undoubtedly is an intelligent business model, but the trump card has been the play on the field." Women's soccer has "come a long way since the WUSA folded back in 2003, and unlike [MLS], the WPS features the best in the world" (ESPNSOCCERNET.com, 4/24). ESPNSOCCERNET.com's Steve Davis wrote, "Even if WPS gains traction, any number of gremlins could undercut the effort: players' union pressures, rampant competition for entertainment dollars, unforeseen expenses, etc." The WPS "plan was always to partner where possible with MLS clubs, efforts that can certainly reduce WPS overhead in some areas." While the concept "makes sense fiscally," Davis wondered, "Aren't the MLS and WPS entities then competing for the same customers?" We will "know more about it all in early August as the first WPS regular season winds down." WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci: "Right now, we aren't seeing any indicators that we can't meet our modest expectations" (ESPNSOCCERNET.com, 4/26).
FOLLOWING THE TREND: Antonucci has "more than 330 'followers'" on Twitter, and she said that the WPS "really followed the lead of several teams that were already 'tweeting.'" Antonucci: "We'd tried Twitter during our drafts in January. We very quickly built a good fan following." Antonucci added, "I didn't know I was that interesting. We're all so close and into our jobs, everyday, that it's easy to forget that a fan would like just a sliver of any information." Antonucci said tweeting is "very cost effective," and a "very efficient way to build a connection to our fans" (Amy Donaldson, DESERET NEWS, 4/27).
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