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What a concept! Competing women's leagues need to cooperate
Posted: Friday April 14, 2000 01:47 PM
Regardless which group is awarded the right to operate a women's professional soccer league beginning next spring, the operators and organizers face a huge challenge. Earlier this week, the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), spearheaded by the Discovery Channel boss John Hendricks, unveiled details of its plans. Major League Soccer, which plans to file an application with U.S. Soccer by the May 1 deadline, hasn't revealed a single detail -- yet. They're the only two serious candidates. U.S. Soccer's decision could come as early as a board of directors meeting in June or at the organization's annual general meeting in New York City in August, depending on whom you talk to. Still, there are plenty of questions to answer. Are there enough fans to go around? There is a misconception that the men's and women's leagues will be fighting for the same fans. Not exactly. While there are millions and millions of soccer fans in this country, not everyone follows the same group or level. For example, many fans with strong ties to Europe and South America will follow a clubs or national teams from their native country. Just take a look at the success of the CONCACAF Gold Cup at the Orange Bowl in Miami, where crowds of 20,000, 30,000 and even 40,000 came out to support teams from Peru, Honduras and Colombia. But where are they at Miami Fusion games, some 40 miles up the road in Fort Lauderdale? The Fusion struggle just to reach 10,000 a game. Every Saturday and Sunday, millions of soccer parents who grace thousands of fields. Do they all attend MLS, A-League or D3 Pro League matches? Only a small percentage do. Yes, they are soccer fans -- fans of their children playing soccer. And believe it or not, not every child who plays soccer is a pro soccer fan, or even realizes there are professional leagues. You get the picture. They are just about two entirely different fan bases. At the Women's World Cup final at the Rose Bowl last year -- I'll try to be as politically correct as possible in these sensitive times -- the crowd at the Rose Bowl for the Women's World Cup final was Anglo-American, with Soccer Moms and Dads, families, girls, etc. Can you remember the last time a soccer crowd that big was predominantly American? No, I can't either. There are probably many MLS fans who won't consider going to a women's match and many young girls who would rather watch Mia Hamm, Julio Foudy and company than Hristo Stoitchkov and Jason Kreis. Fine. Where these two leagues probably will butt heads is over part of the youth market. Let's say a girls' youth team or group attends San Jose Earthquakes games several times a season. Next year, the players will have the choice of watching the new women's team in San Francisco. There is a limit of how much money these players and fans can spend. Can the league sustain itself over the long haul? That's the $64 million question. While the American public fell in love with the national team at the Women's World Cup last summer, setting attendance records for the sport and women's athletics, and U.S. soccer TV high-water marks, we must remember a few things. All of this was accomplished over an intense three-week period, and much of the interest came from fans at the U.S. games. In this brave new world of women's professional soccer, the national team will be broken up into eight teams, some good, some mediocre, some bad. That means each team will get three established American players, tops. Whichever team gets Mia Hamm obviously will be the big drawing card. But how many true women's stars are that the soccer public know and get excited about? Let's see, there's Briana Scurry, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain, Kristine Lilly, and maybe Tiffeny Milbrett (sorry all you Michelle Akers fans; she is a long-shot because of her ongoing ailments). The rest of the rosters will be filled out by several top-line foreign players and up-and-coming U.S. players, and the best of what the existing W-League has to offer. While the Sun Wens and Sissis of the world are superb soccer players, they aren't necessarily big draws. Just ask MLS, which has more high-profile foreigners, but still struggles in several markets. Then there's the issue of attendance itself. My gut feeling is that attendance will be strong for the opening weeks due to a curiosity factor but then will drop off, not unlike what transpired in MLS in 1996. The true challenge for the WUSA or WMLS will be keeping the interest after the initial buzz. How many people show up when a pair of 4-12 teams without Hamm play in mid-July? Don't get me wrong. There is an interest in women's soccer. The Boston Renegades average close to 3,000 a game -- paid -- and the Long Island Lady Riders slightly more than 1,000, and neither team has a marquee player. Whether this eight-team league can sustain sizable crowds (the WUSA expects 6,500 per game in its first year) on a regular basis leads us to another question: Can they find the right-sized stadiums? The bigger the metropolitan area, the more difficult it is to find a small- or medium-sized stadium. That's why MLS has embarked on building its own stadiums. The women's league could find it difficult to find a small, first-class facility in many of its markets. Nothing is worse than having having a decent sized crowd of 20,000 looking lost in a cavernous stadium. Just ask MLS. So, which group should get the nod from U.S. Soccer? Good question, because both sides bring certain strengths to the table. The WUSA already has eight teams in place with investors and operators (remember, this is a single entity, so the word owner is not used formally), a TV contract (with Time Warner, which, incidentally is the parent company of CNNSI.com, but doesn't sway the opinion of your's truly one bit) and a commitment from the women's national team. MLS is an established entity that has operated a pro league for five years. The league has the expertise. It has been there, knows the ins and outs of sports marketing, and knows where the traps are. In a perfect world, I would like to see MLS just worry about the men's game. It has enough on its plate already. Not every MLS market can necessarily support a women's team. Trying to organize a women's league would take away its focus. But this is far from a perfect world. One scenario, according to an educated soccer observer, has both leagues working together as a single business operation. Hendricks already said that won't work, though he has offered to cooperated with MLS on such topics as scheduling, cross-promotions and stadiums. Don't be surprised if U.S. Soccer, which many times works in strange ways, tells both sides to find a way to work it out. In the long run, it would be the best thing for American soccer. Cooperation in American soccer? My, what a concept! Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News. His third book, Soccer For Dummies, will be published in the spring. To submit a question or comment to Michael Lewis, click here.
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