Women's United Soccer Association

The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), (currently on hiatus) was the first entire league of full-time professional women's soccer players in the world. Formed in 2001, of eight teams nation-wide in the United States, the WUSA was a successor to and competitor with the semi-professional women's W-League. The WUSA was unique amongst women's soccer leagues because 100% of its teams' members were full-time pro soccer players.

History

Founders

As a result of the US Women's National Team's (US WNT) first place showing in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, a seemingly viable market for the sport germinated. Feeding off of the momentum of their victory, the 20 US WNT players sought out the investors, markets, and players necessary to form the 8 team league. The 20 founding players are: Michelle Akers, Brandi Chastain, Tracy Ducar, Lorrie Fair, Joy Fawcett, Danielle Fotopoulos, Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Shannon MacMillan, Tiffeny Milbrett, Carla Overbeck, Cindy Parlow, Christie Pearce, Tiffany Roberts, Briana Scurry, Kate (Markgraf) Sobrero, Tisha Venturini, Saskia Webber and Sara Whalen.

Teams and Championship

Each roster primarily consisted of players from the United States, although up to four international players were allowed on each team's roster. Among the international players were stars of powerhouse teams such as the following players: China's Sun Wen and Bai Jie, Germany's Birgit Prinz, Conny Pohlers and Maren Meinert, Norway's Hege Riise and Dagny Mellgren, Brazil's Katia and Pretinha, and Canada's Charmaine Hooper and Christine Latham. The league also hosted singular talents from nations which were not at the forefront of women's soccer, such as Maribel Dominguez of Mexico, Julie Fleeting of Scotland, Cheryl Salisbury of Australia, and Kelly Smith of England.

2001-2003 teams

The WUSA franchises were in Philadelphia, PA; Boston, MA; New York, NY; Washington, D.C.; Cary, NC; Atlanta, GA; San Jose, CA; and San Diego, CA:

Founders' Cup champions

Teams competed for the Founders' Cup, the WUSA's equivalent of the Super Bowl trophy.

2001 Bay Area CyberRays 3-3 (4-2Pks) Atlanta Beat
2002 Carolina Courage 3-2 Washington Freedom
2003 Washington Freedom 2-1 (OT) Atlanta Beat

Match Attendance

On June 19, 2004, the New York Power and the Atlanta Beat played to a 2-2 draw in Blaine, Minnesota; on the same day the Washington Freedom and the Boston Breakers played to a 3-3 draw. The NY-Atlanta game drew just over 2,000 fans, the Freedom-Breakers just over 5,000. A doubleheader played in Carson, California on June 28, 2004 involving all of the four other teams drew over 7,000.

Television

At various times, games were televised on CBS, ESPN, ESPN2, Fox Sports Net, and PAX TV.

WUSA suspends operations

The WUSA played for three full seasons. However it suspended operations in September 2003, immediately preceding the FIFA Women's World Cup 2003, in which the United States failed to reach the final.

The WUSA was set up such that each founding player held an equity stake in the league. There is much conjecture suggesting that the unique business form of the WUSA is what in large measure led to its suspension of operations on September 15, 2003. Attempts to revive the league are ongoing, and all rights to team nicknames, logos, and similar propeties have been preserved. Efforts to line up new sources of capital and operating funds continue as well. Whether the WUSA will be able to resume operations as an ongoing enterprise is an open question. The US WNT's 2004 Olympics success revived hopes that the league may be re-launched. Although the retirement of Mia Hamm from competitive soccer removed the WUSA's top draw, pioneer and senior players remain enthusiastic about passing the torch to new top players.

With the WUSA on hiatus, the W-League has regained some of the players it had formerly lost to the WUSA. And in early 2005, the Washington Freedom became an associate member of the W-League, the de facto top women's division in North America after the WUSA's demise. Freedom played a limited exhibition schedule against various regional W-League teams.

Women’s Soccer Initiative, Inc. announces re-launch effort

On December 7 2004, the Women’s Soccer Initiative, Inc. (WSII), announced its intention to "guide the re-launch of women’s professional soccer in the United States." WSII hired a CEO, Tonya Antonucci, the executive who produced Yahoo! Sports and was General Manager of Yahoo's FIFA World Cup web site. In a FOXNews.com article on 28 June 2006 ^*, politics reporter, Liza Porteus, wrote that the target date for re-launch is 2008. The extent to which a re-launched league will resemble a continuation or revival of the WUSA is unknown.

Business plan and phases of re-launch

CEO, Antonucci, has reitterated that any attempt to operate a women's professional soccer league must be based on a solid business plan. She has initiated a three phase plan for the re-launch, as follows:

Phase I final milestone is "reaching a tipping point of investors and sponsors signing on the dotted line."^*
Phase II is developing a marketing strategy and launch date.
Phase III is the launch.

Reports are that WSII is in discussions with Major League Soccer (MLS) about the possibility of a partnership. MLS commissioner, Don Garber, and Antonucci both confirmed the possibility of sharing "soccer-specific stadiums" (SSS). Antonucci is looking for opportunities to share business infrastructure as well^*. The five existing SSSs are The Home Depot Center (HDC) where U.S. Soccer’s National Training Center (NTC) is based, Columbus Crew Stadium, Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois, and PAETEC Park in Rochester, New York. Three more stadiums are expected to open in 2007 and 2008, in Salt Lake, Denver and Toronto.

External links

http://www.wusa.com/
http://www.wusa.com/news/

External news links

FOXNews.com article "U.S. Women's Pro League Prepares to Blast Back Onto Soccer Scene" by Liza Porteus, 28 June 2006
mysoccerblog article "Pro Women's soccer looking to return in 2007," 19 January 2006
ESPN article "Antonucci lays the groundwork," 20 March 2005

United States soccer competitions (defunct) | Women's football (soccer) competitions | 2001 establishments | 2003 disestablishments | Professional sports leagues

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