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 They got 'mo' Women's soccer hopes to follow WNBA
Posted: Monday July 19, 1999 07:36 PM
By Sonja Steptoe, CNN/SI
NEW YORK -- This summer the U.S. Women's Soccer team became America's darlings. Their mixture of athleticism and exhuberance created a fervor throughout the country. For some WNBA all-stars, the soccer mania brings back happy memories of their sport's shining moment, the U.S. women's basketball team's gold medal victory at the 1996 summer Olympics. "I felt the emotions they were going through," said Nikki McCray now with the Washington Mystics. "Preparation came down to winning that game the way we did and it was really something special." "After what the World Cup soccer team did, I think they not only did something for themselves but they did a lot for women's professional sports in general," added Sheryl Swoopes of the Houston Comets. Those basketball olympians went on to do what their soccer sisters now hope to do: Use the national jubilation over their triumph as a springboard to launch a financially successful professional league of their own. "Well we're obviously optimistic but we're are a little biased of course," said Team USA member Julie Foudy. "But I think we also realize the World Cup is a unique situation. It's three weeks. A huge event. America always responds to huge events. So it's going to take a lot of work." But a women's pro soccer league will have to sustain the high level of interest the World Cup spawned, without the benefit of the accompanying patriotic fervor. The members of the '96 Olympic basketball team struggled for attention when they traded in their red, white and blue uniforms for WNBA team colors. "Well I think what we have done is that we have continued to communicate with our fans," McCray said. "I think that is the most important thing." But the fans are also being called into question by some market analysts. "Are fans going to come out on a Thursday night in Foxboro Stadium for a game against two teams that are fighting for fourth and fifth place?" asks Peter Kaplan, co-CEO of the National Media Group. "There's a real question about that." The ABL, the first women's basketball league out of the blocks after the '96 summer games, didn't have the answer and collapsed last December in the middle of its third season. "Our marketing was a big issue because they put all the money into players' salaries, making it a players league. But they only put $1 million into marketing," says Taj McWilliams, a former ABL player. "So it really was kinda uneven." "They just didn't have the resources," added Kaplan. "They didn't have the TV deal, they didn't have the corporate support. And a lot of people felt they had a beter product on the court, that it was more genuine, but they didn't make it past year two." The WNBA on the other hand has made all the right moves to survive, thanks to some help from an organization which knew a little something about marketing.
"Because of the NBA, they have brought all their expertise to the WNBA," said the Comets' Cynthia Cooper. "And I tell you what, they have done a terrific job promoting all the different athletes, the different teams, and really organizing a wonderful professional league." Plus they got that one piece of the puzzle that can make or break any league. "And pershaps most importantly, they got the TV deals in place. You really have to have all those engines charging together," Kaplan said. How the WNBA conducts its business has not gone unnoticed, especially by members of Team USA. "I'd love to be in a league like the WNBA because I think they have structured it so that it can be sustainable through a long period of time," Mia Hamm said. The WNBA has built a solid base for itself in the women's sports arena. And, it has the marketing muscle of the NBA behind it. Yet sports marketing experts say a women's soccer league could take a bite out of that fan, sponsor and media support. "I'm not sure that there will be direct cannibalization, but the more competition there is out there for the sponsorship dollars, the harder it gets for any one sport to attract those dollars," says Kaplan. But not everyone thinks there will be a negative impact. "I don't see us versus soccer," said Van Chancellor, coach and general manager of the Comets. "I see women's sports really going well. I see women's sports really flourishing for the first time." But so far this season, average attendance at WNBA games is down from last year's levels. And in what they hope isn't a foreshadowing of things to come, league officials acknowledge that part of the reason is that women's soccer has dominated the spotlight. Clearly aware that it can't live much longer on its past Olympic glory, the WNBA played it's innaugural All-Star game Wednesday night in New York. "You put it at the best, the oldest, most known gym in the world," says McWilliams. "Who doesn't know Madison Square Garden? Even overseas they know Madison Square Garden. I think the WNBA capitalized on that and at the time that it was. What better time for women than now?"
Unlike basketball which is already an established sport in this country, any women's pro soccer league faces two challenges. One is creating a viable new women's sports league. The other is getting American fans to embrace the sport of soccer. "I think soccer's been growing faster than women's basketball," McWilliams said. My daughter loves soccer. I can't get her to talk about basketball, but she's gonna talk about Mia, Scurry, everybody but basketball players." Women's soccer has clearly enjoyed the thrills of big event fever, but the bottom line, as women's basketball knows is that feverish growth and profits are the keys to long-term success.
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