10-01-2003, 07:22 PM
A few weeks back, I read the news that the ladies professional soccer league folded. For one reason or another, they could not keep the revenue stream up. What a pity, but no surprise. Women's professional basketball lost a league, Nancy Lieberman's league, a few years back, and it has taken the backing of the NBA, and affiliation with the NBA for the WNBA to keep going. Good on them! (I am a bit of a Sue Byrd fan, but some of that has to do with her being a UConn player when on Shae Ralph and Svetlana Ambrosimova's great teams, and her own superior play versus Tennessee in a championship game.)
With the Women's World Cup going on now, that puts Women's professional Soccer at a high level in an odd situation -- and quite a few of the stars on the other countrie's teams played in our league -- but I supose that so long as the College and Cup teams exist, the game will go on. I certainly hope so.
The ladies are in good company, at the least.
The NASL (a U.S. men's soccer league) died a rather horrible death (the Chicago Sting, the Washington Diplomats, the New York Cosmos, et al) back in the lat 1970's, bringing that version of American professional soccer back down to earth. They were up against Mr October and The Steel Curtain and America's Team, not to mention Dr J! and Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg. If star power like Franz Beckenbauer, Pele, and Gerd Moeller can't keep the stands full, no-names won't either. (See golf tournaments nowadays where there is no Tiger Woods, no Sergio Garcia. TV Ratings plummet.) If ya can't fill the seats, and if ya can't get the TV revenues, it's over.
There is a bigger issue to resolve.
Soccer is a tough sell in the US, though it has certainly gotten some boosts from the US World Cup hosting ('94?) and the fact of the American men's league still surviving, as well as some US players playing and starting on good European teams. Maybe in 10 years, the US soccer league will be able to do for WUSA's successors what NBA did for the WNBA.
For the future Mia Hamm's of this country, I hope so.
But, this brings up a few points about women's professional sports.
Tennis and golf: ladies versus ladies, and some hard decisions on marketing. It works. But those are country club sports, sadly.
Swimming: ladies vs ladies, and no professional leagues.
Soccer. Great sport, good team sport. Me, I love it.
Mia Hamm grew up playing soccer, and even FOOTBALL, against boys. (Check the SI article on her age 12 time on a boys football team. They have a shot of her in pads.) She had to cut her sports teeth against the higher grade competition. Will more and better women's leagues make for better competition, or lower the bar? I have no idea, but I hope the bar will raise.
Lower the bar? Occhi, what are you talking about.
Well, have you ever seen women's World Cup Soccer? I have, and I ain't all that impressed.
I hate to say this, since I like soccer a lot, I support women's sports, (I used to announce games for my daughter's fast pitch softball team) but the entertainment value, for the soccer fan, leaves something to be desired.
1. Women don't seem to be great soccer fans, nor great fans of women's soccer. Take away the soccer moms who are there to see their kids, and who is left to watch professional soccer? Guys? Are women in Europe big soccer fans, or is that mostly a guy thing?
2. The ball handling, passing and from what I have seen in this and the last World Cup, the attack are substandard in comparison to the men. Once you've watched The World Cup, and seen The Real Deal, and you saw the Dutch in 98, or the Brazilians for the past 40 years, or even watched Juventus versus Inter Milan in a 2-2 tie, you know the difference.
I was watching Australia / China the other day. (I saw Nigeria versus someone, forget, it was late, and that was not such a hot game. Men's world cup has downers too.) The game simply was not played at a very high level, although I liked the Chinese attack on their breakaways and the effort expended was obvious for both teams. They weren't holding back at all.
"For women" it was good, but to keep the interest of the soccer fan, you need to produce high level performances.
May I ask out international Lurkers who like soccer the following:
What would induce you to watch, or not watch, women's soccer?
Did the 1999 Women's Australian soccer team really have it right and know the audience better than the pundits? (Their calendar is an infamous, if modest, example of the Jan Stephenson/Anna Kournikova approach.)
Is women's soccer big in Europe? In Australia? In China? I don't imagine it is big in the Islamic world, but some African countries have World Cup teams. Norway won in 1995, as I recall. Is women's soccer big news in Norway?
I have no sense of that, though I know that there are plenty of promos in this country for Women's World Cup. (Eh, we are hosting it, so that should be no surprise.)
With the Women's World Cup going on now, that puts Women's professional Soccer at a high level in an odd situation -- and quite a few of the stars on the other countrie's teams played in our league -- but I supose that so long as the College and Cup teams exist, the game will go on. I certainly hope so.
The ladies are in good company, at the least.
The NASL (a U.S. men's soccer league) died a rather horrible death (the Chicago Sting, the Washington Diplomats, the New York Cosmos, et al) back in the lat 1970's, bringing that version of American professional soccer back down to earth. They were up against Mr October and The Steel Curtain and America's Team, not to mention Dr J! and Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg. If star power like Franz Beckenbauer, Pele, and Gerd Moeller can't keep the stands full, no-names won't either. (See golf tournaments nowadays where there is no Tiger Woods, no Sergio Garcia. TV Ratings plummet.) If ya can't fill the seats, and if ya can't get the TV revenues, it's over.
There is a bigger issue to resolve.
Soccer is a tough sell in the US, though it has certainly gotten some boosts from the US World Cup hosting ('94?) and the fact of the American men's league still surviving, as well as some US players playing and starting on good European teams. Maybe in 10 years, the US soccer league will be able to do for WUSA's successors what NBA did for the WNBA.
For the future Mia Hamm's of this country, I hope so.
But, this brings up a few points about women's professional sports.
Tennis and golf: ladies versus ladies, and some hard decisions on marketing. It works. But those are country club sports, sadly.
Swimming: ladies vs ladies, and no professional leagues.
Soccer. Great sport, good team sport. Me, I love it.
Mia Hamm grew up playing soccer, and even FOOTBALL, against boys. (Check the SI article on her age 12 time on a boys football team. They have a shot of her in pads.) She had to cut her sports teeth against the higher grade competition. Will more and better women's leagues make for better competition, or lower the bar? I have no idea, but I hope the bar will raise.
Lower the bar? Occhi, what are you talking about.
Well, have you ever seen women's World Cup Soccer? I have, and I ain't all that impressed.
I hate to say this, since I like soccer a lot, I support women's sports, (I used to announce games for my daughter's fast pitch softball team) but the entertainment value, for the soccer fan, leaves something to be desired.
1. Women don't seem to be great soccer fans, nor great fans of women's soccer. Take away the soccer moms who are there to see their kids, and who is left to watch professional soccer? Guys? Are women in Europe big soccer fans, or is that mostly a guy thing?
2. The ball handling, passing and from what I have seen in this and the last World Cup, the attack are substandard in comparison to the men. Once you've watched The World Cup, and seen The Real Deal, and you saw the Dutch in 98, or the Brazilians for the past 40 years, or even watched Juventus versus Inter Milan in a 2-2 tie, you know the difference.
I was watching Australia / China the other day. (I saw Nigeria versus someone, forget, it was late, and that was not such a hot game. Men's world cup has downers too.) The game simply was not played at a very high level, although I liked the Chinese attack on their breakaways and the effort expended was obvious for both teams. They weren't holding back at all.
"For women" it was good, but to keep the interest of the soccer fan, you need to produce high level performances.
May I ask out international Lurkers who like soccer the following:
What would induce you to watch, or not watch, women's soccer?
Did the 1999 Women's Australian soccer team really have it right and know the audience better than the pundits? (Their calendar is an infamous, if modest, example of the Jan Stephenson/Anna Kournikova approach.)
Is women's soccer big in Europe? In Australia? In China? I don't imagine it is big in the Islamic world, but some African countries have World Cup teams. Norway won in 1995, as I recall. Is women's soccer big news in Norway?
I have no sense of that, though I know that there are plenty of promos in this country for Women's World Cup. (Eh, we are hosting it, so that should be no surprise.)
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete