With the WPS suspending play for 2012, the future of women’s soccer is uncertain.
We all know that suspending play or taking a hiatus is not a good sign, especially when the 5 remaining WPS teams are all doing their own thing. Western New York and Boston have opted for the WPSL Elite League, Sky Blue is headed to Japan for a training camp and tour, Philadelphia isn’t playing in a league in 2012, and no one knows what Atlanta has planned.
No one is really saying it, but they know this could be a long-term situation since there is no guarantee of a WPS return, especially if they don’t change their ways. Riding crowds coming off a successful World Cup run or an exciting challenge for Olympic gold is not a marketing plan or a solution.
But it isn’t a time to throw in the towel because the sport is currently in the capable hands of the WPSL and the USL’s W-League. The WPSL is the largest women’s soccer league in the world thanks to 70+ members, while the W-League is part of North America’s largest league and one that includes every aspect of amateur and professional soccer.
Most importantly both leagues have a better business model for moving the women’s game forward. The WPS claimed to be something different, but fell into many of the same pitfalls encountered by the defunct WUSA.
The WPSL is a low-cost, fast growing, and expansive league that spans from coast to coast. They can claim two WPS teams, including several national team stars. The W-League doesn’t have any WPS teams and doesn’t look like any are headed their way, but they do have Dancing with the Stars and goalkeeping extraordinare Hope Solo and star in the making Sydney Leroux. Both Solo and Leroux recently signed with the Seattle Sounders Women, providing the W-League with some serious star power and talent to boot.
So who is going to lead the way for women’s soccer in 2012? Our guess is the WPSL, who now have multiple levels of play in nearly every market imaginable. They take the game to large and small markets and thanks to a modest overhead give their franchises a chance to break even, or dare we say make a modest profit. Five teams isn’t going to grow the game to where it should be, 30 might, but more than 70 may actually give the sport a shot coast to coast.
The best case scenario would be the leagues vying for the top talent and becoming the other’s real competition. Think the AFL and the NFL or the ABA and the NBA. Maybe the USSF could even kick in for a Women’s Open Cup that could pit WPSL, WPSL Elite, W-League, and the remaining WPS teams against each other in a true cup format. Maybe even play some games at neutral sites in traditionally non-soccer markets.
We need a plan for moving forward. We have two great leagues and lots of good ideas. Lets get to work!
