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United front Women's World Cup champs committed to WUSA
Posted: Monday April 17, 2000 06:48 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- All 20 members of the U.S. women's team that won the World Cup last summer are committed to the Women's United Soccer Association -- the new eight-team league that is to start next April. The 1999 World Cup champions released a statement Monday calling themselves the "founding players" of the league, details of which were announced last week. The WUSA has submitted a business plan to the U.S. Soccer Federation, the national sanctioning body. Major League Soccer is expected to submit a competing proposal by May 1. The players said they want to dispel any suggestion that they might play in a league other than the WUSA. "There seems to be some speculation that we are without a choice in determining which league we will play in," they said. "Frankly, this speculation concerns us and we are issuing this statement to clarify the situation." The players said they were committed to a women's league that is "vibrant, strong, independent and has the singular mission of developing women's pro soccer into all that it can be." The WUSA approved eight cities: Atlanta, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Orlando-Tampa, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington. Turner Broadcasting reached a four-year agreement with the WUSA to televise games on TNT and CNN/Sports Illustrated, mostly on weekend afternoons. "The world's top female soccer talent came together to make sure that the WUSA is the very best women's pro soccer league in the world," the statement said.
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