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Beginnings World Cup success leads to formation of soccer league
Posted: Tuesday February 15, 2000 05:59 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Players from last summer's triumphant U.S. women's World Cup soccer team will form the core of a new professional league to be launched in the spring of 2001, organizers announced Tuesday. The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), which has already won financial backing from several major U.S. media companies, will start with eight teams across the nation, according to John Hendricks, chairman of WUSA's Board of Governors. The league would not reveal the amount of money it said U.S. media companies had committed to the venture. "The women's World Cup players have demonstrated enormous drawing power," Hendricks said. "The consensus was it was an ideal time to launch a league after the 1999 Women's World Cup." Hendricks, chairman and CEO of Discovery Communications, said investors in the league already included Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Comcast Corporation. The league will offer players an average base salary of about $40,000, which would be supplemented based on the performance of the league and its revenue, Hendricks said. International players will also be recruited. "This will really be the world's premier league for women's soccer," U.S. star Mia Hamm said in Tuesday's teleconference. "Already the enthusiasm we've gotten from international players has been unbelievable." Asked for her reaction to the league, U.S. national team player Julie Foudy said: "It's like Christmas." Hendricks said the league aimed to raise $40 million by November 1 to fund the teams plus WUSA administration for the first five years of operation. He said WUSA would operate as a single entity and that investors would gain local operating rights for a $5 million investment. Hendricks said 15 markets were under consideration for the original eight teams.
"The key challenge is the venues," said Hendricks, who said the business plan is based on an average attendance of 6,500. "We would like not to see these events held in monstrous NFL stadiums. We'd like 15- to 20,000-seat venues that would be festive, jam-packed." Hendricks said the WUSA has filed an application to the U.S. Soccer Federation for Division 1 soccer membership. "There could be other contenders for a league and it might take until August to finalize," he said. "But we're comfortable and confident in our plan." Those "other contenders" could be Major League Soccer's investors. The first-division U.S. men's league, MLS, issued a statement Tuesday on the proposed women's league. "The application from the John Hendricks group is further proof that soccer is booming in the United States," said MLS Commissioner Don Garber. "Major League Soccer supports women's soccer and looks forward to being part of this exciting development. We are confident that the U.S. Soccer Federation will successfully determine the best scenario for the continued growth for the sport of soccer in America." Garber is a member of U.S. Soccer's Women's Professional Soccer Development Committee. MLS Chief Operating Officer Mark Abbott was contracted by U.S. Soccer to write a business plan for a women's professional soccer league. The U.S. Soccer Federation on Tuesday confirmed the receipt of a petition for membership from the WUSA for acceptance as a sanctioned Division I women's professional soccer league. The pending application has been forwarded to the U.S. Soccer Federation's Rules Committee, where a detailed analysis of the bid will take place. A number of other entities have also expressed interest in the formation of a professional women's soccer league, and U.S. Soccer will assure that fairness and the best interests of the sport of soccer are addressed in studying each official proposal. In a statement, U.S. Soccer officials said they were "pleased that our investment in developing women's
soccer at every level of the sport over the last 15 years has
established a platform for the discussion and development of a
first-class women's professional soccer league in the United States."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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