Three planned weekend soccer festivals intended to revive the WUSA will go on regardless of whether sponsorships are sold for the events, but a lack of sales would end hope of bringing back the league, said a representative of the committee working to resuscitate the property.
"[It] would be the end of the WUSA," committee member Joe Cummings said during a panel discussion at the recent National Soccer Coaches Association of America's annual convention in Charlotte.
Cummings said the group has sent out 22 requests for proposal to communities, stadiums and organizing committees interested in hosting the festivals. The events would include media opportunities, sponsor luncheons and clinics, capped by Saturday evening doubleheaders.
Women's United Soccer Association officials announced in September that the league was suspending operations after three seasons of play. League founder John Hendricks is expected to continue work in the coming months to sell sponsorships for the June festivals.
Cummings, speaking after the panel discussion, said that while WUSA teams will not have offices or a playing presence in their respective home cities this summer, the business components of the teams will still exist. Cummings is president and general manager of the league's Boston Breakers.
Kevin Payne, president and CEO of Major League Soccer's D.C. United, told the panel that the large staffs of several WUSA teams drained their profitability, noting that some clubs had the same size staff as MLS teams despite only 20 percent of the revenue.
Payne suggested that MLS and WUSA teams consider working together in the future. He said combined staffs could have saved some teams up to $1 million.
"It's silly to replicate the cost structure, the operating and administrative structure, that already exists," Payne said.
Former WUSA Commissioner Tony DiCicco said a collaborative model was discussed when the WUSA was formed, but WUSA owners and players opted against it. "[They] felt it would be better to go it alone with the different ownership group," he said.
Payne also suggested that WUSA made a mistake by paying players full-time salaries.
"It was not a full-time league; it was four months, 10 home games," he said. "It's not possible to drive enough revenues in that model to pay people on a full-time basis."
Former Breakers goalkeeper Tracy Ducar said that a part-time league with lower salaries could work for some players if the time commitment allowed them to get second jobs, but she noted that the level of play in the league would suffer.
Josh Rosen is a staff writer for sister publication The Sports Business Daily.
