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WUSA hopes a new cadre of stars like Heather Mitts (left) can capture imagination of fans. |
The WUSA heads into its second season next month satisfied with its inaugural campaign but wary of the sophomore slump that has hit other fledgling leagues.
The league, hatched in the excitement of the U.S. women's World Cup victory in 1999, has re-signed all 10 corporate sponsors from last year and expects to add two more before the season starts April 13, and has sold more tickets than last year, when attendance averaged 8,103.
Having a year's worth of experience has helped the league prepare for year two, Women's United Soccer Association President and CEO Lynn Morgan said.
"Last year at this time, we were still doing a lot of planning, we only had five players in each of our markets and we were the unknown entity," said Morgan, the former general manager of the Atlanta franchise.
"So every time we'd pick up the phone to sell a season-ticket package or have someone consider a sponsorship, we had to spend 15 minutes explaining who we were."
This year, the league has a foundation in place for growth, Morgan said. There's more awareness of teams in their respective markets, more time to sell season-ticket and sponsorship packages, and players have been deployed to help out on grassroots initiatives. Stars like Mia Hamm often appear at youth soccer clubs, schools and local malls, places where kids and families are found.
But you know what they say about the best-laid plans. The WNBA, which has the support of the hugely successful NBA, avoided a sophomore slump, but all four of its expansion franchises from 2000 suffered declining attendance in 2001. The Indiana Fever and Seattle Storm lost 26.2 percent and 39.3 percent of their fans, respectively.
"No matter how excited fans are by a product in the first year, there's a certain number of them that for whatever reasons don't come back," said Bernie Mullin, senior vice president of team marketing and business operations for the WNBA and NBA. "So you have to take the approach of assuming not everyone in year one will come back, and with the certain percent that do come back, you try to turn them into avid fans."
Rule one is to avoid complacency. Major League Soccer officials know that firsthand. After a successful first season in 1996, when attendance averaged 17,406, league and team officials thought they had it made, said MLS chief operating officer Mark Abbott.
"In our first year, we did much better than we anticipated we'd do, and there was a feeling of 'We really made it,' " Abbott said. "Then when the second year rolled around and we saw attendance was lower, we had to redouble our efforts.
"In our case, we felt people that came in 1996 would just come back in 1997. We didn't recognize the work it would take to get them to come back, or that some weren't going to come back."
In hindsight, Abbott said he would have liked to see teams go after group and season-ticket sales earlier in the off-season. WUSA officials think they have a plan in place to maintain fan interest.
Morgan agreed. "Though we might not be as much of a novelty to them, we have to continue to find ways to surpass their expectations at games and make the overall experience something they appreciate."
Results from a survey of fans also are boosting league confidence for a successful year two. The survey commissioned by the league found 79 percent of WUSA fans who attended games said they were extremely likely to attend another. More than 90 percent said they were somewhat to extremely enthusiastic about the league. The study was conducted by Providence, R.I.-based Performance Research and at games in all eight markets midway through last season.
Market research is not always reliable, the WNBA's Mullin said.
"Historically with market research statistics that ask consumers their intent to purchase a product, the number that say they would purchase and the number that actually purchase don't correlate to a high degree."
Mullin suggested that the WUSA focus on building its fan base by targeting existing fans of the sport. He said building an avid fan base can be more effective than trying to create new fans.
"It's hard to market to people that don't have a connection to the sport," Mullin said. "Fish where the fish are. It's easier to go after soccer fans first rather than try to get people to make that first step to become a soccer fan."
