It has begun...

I've never started a new thread so hopefully I did this right. The next two links are about the newly named Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) that was recently named and will start in 2009. They have a logo now, which is basically Mia. The first is the announcement and the second is the new WPS website, so all interesting to look into.


http://www.womensprosoccer.com/newsitem_ektid1118.aspx

http://www.womensprosoccer.com/

Also the following is a two part interview with Tonya Antonucci, the league commissioner. The link is to the first part of the interview and pasted is the second part.

http://www.fairgamemag.com/ind...pdate

Part Two from my interview with league commissioner Tonya Antonucci, continuing with the decision to launch in 2009 discussion …

That’s the best long-term plan. Get this right. Don’t do it fast, but get it right and be in a position where we can come off the heels of a World Cup and come off the heels of an Olympics. It’s more exposure for all the athletes and more time for planning and development and then we launch. That was the decision and I think most people are feeling pretty good about it.

We’ve heard from some people within MLS saying, “We understand what you had to do. If you recall, we had to delay our launch one year.” There are all kinds of data points that historically lean towards this decision. You know, look how much time had lapsed between the NASL collapsing and the launch of MLS.

You really do want to take the long view and make sure that again, you’re not rushing, and then you’ve got a short-term solution but it might go away again. We’re only going to get this second bite at the apple at least in this country. That’s something that the owners, the marketers, WSII, we all felt that we get a second bite at this apple. Let’s make sure that we’re not handicapping ourselves.

I assume that the league offices will be out in the Bay Area with you?

We haven’t determined the final location of the league office. Temporarily, at a minimum, we are running the offices out of the Bay Area with me here and then we’ll make a decision on that later, probably after the New Year. There are really no other front-runners at this point. The issue is that we want to manage costs and be efficient so one of the options is, in the early years if possible share our league office including physical space and some staff with one of our franchise owners to keep the costs down. We have seven markets at a minimum for 2009 so you can hypothesis where we might wind up, but really, it’s going to come down to how do we manage costs and how do we kind of buckle down through the early years. That’s going to impact the final decision.

Have you made any hires yet?

I’m in the process of starting to evaluate some candidates in the short term. I’ve identified someone who I’m working on as an administrative, project manager type person to help me stand up the office. I don’t have an announcement yet, but I will have more announcements in the near future. Some of our executive level hires will be phased in the coming months. Once we launch our league website, that will be a great platform to share with folks and also to do recruiting. We’d love to hear who’s out there that would like to be part of our management team. We’re just beginning all that process now.

I know you’ve been watching the World Cup. What have you thought about the level of play so far and how it might impact the new league?

As far as the level, there’s a couple different ways to look at this. You look at a team like North Korea and you say, “Wow!” You know, we’ve not been exposed in this country to the level of play and they’re exciting in their attacking style. Their ability to play a possession game is a very attractive style of soccer. That’s exiting. Will some of those players be in a position politically to come and play in our league? I don’t know.

Not withstanding those issues, I’ve had a great time watching some of these players that I don’t have a chance to get exposed to on a regular basis. We don’t get exposed to the attacking duo of Hanna Ljungberg and Victoria Svensson. Granted Hanna’s not 100% fit and Sweden overall was not happy with their performance in this tournament and they’ve obviously not advanced, but just to see those players and look at the potential for them to come into our league and play on a regular basis against our American athletes is pretty exciting. And also, of course, Sweden’s number 8, Schelin, the top goal soccer in the Swedish league with more goals than Marta from Brazil. She didn’t have the best World Cup, but for us to get exposure to her, it’s been really exciting. And then of course there are tons of players from Germany, Marta, and Kelly Smith from England. Of course Kelly played in the previous WUSA.

Player development continues to improve and the level of play I just think is impressive. A lot of credit to the WUSA as well as the leagues in Germany and Sweden for creating an environment of player development that has, in part, led to the competitiveness that we’re seeing.

Now the flip side of course of that is you see a team like Argentina and you say, “Gosh, those countries and FIFA need to do more to support their teams.” They need to put more money into those national team programs. They need to put more money into the development of women’s football. Even Brazil, which is a super talented team, how many games did they get before this World Cup to get ready? Not enough. There needs to be more onus on the federations and more involvement with FIFA to get those federations to stand up. Having said that, we’re still seeing a lot of wonderful, athletic ability, soccer ability and talent on so many of these teams.

That’s exciting to me and from a perspective of can we bring these players here? Yes, we think we can have competitive offers. We think that we can get creative with these athletes. We know a bit about the various ways they are compensated in their countries when they’re playing women’s football either professional or semi-professionally that may be a little different than how we would normally compensate players here in the United States. We’ve rolled up our sleeves, we continue to look at it and we think we’re going to have competitive salaries not only for domestic players but also for the international players. We’re excited to start those conversations and bringing those personalities into discussions. Our goal as a league is to have the best women’s soccer league in the world. We want the best players here, the best American players and the best foreign players playing on American soil.

How close are you guys to naming this league?

We’re getting pretty close actually. We’ve been in the process of doing research for several weeks and that research involves talking to fans through surveys. Fans have been looking at logos. They’ve been looking at potential names. We’ve been testing hardcore soccer fans and we’ve also been testing general sports fans. We’ve been testing with some members of the sponsorship community and of course our owners. We feel like we’ve touched a number of the key constituents. We can’t get everybody, but we’re in the process of the research. We’re learning some interesting things. We’re looking at the data and we hope that we can unveil a really cool logo. We’re researching the names too. WUSA is part of research. There are a lot of really strong positives and good will that still exist with that brand with respect to the product on the field and the quality of athletes, the quality of the soccer players and the experience for fans. That’s being tested as well as some other potential new names.

It’s exciting for us. This is a good example of now that we’re substantially funded; we can actually start to do the business of the sports league. This is one of the first things that we’ll be able unveil for our fans.

It will be interesting to see who will come from England or France for example, they are touting a lot of european players as potential ones.

There's a rumour that Rachel Unitt may be going.

There's a rumour that a team in USA wants shlj as coach

Sorry - not a rumour - just wishful thinking here

(Only j/k mate - although I think you'd probably do ok anyway )

Yey!!

Can't wait for this league to get started, do you think players such as Marta would go?

I am going to support NJ, due to the fact it the only place in America I have been to.

I should do the same as who and would end up supporting loads of team.
I think I will support players I know and their teams.

The whole reason I am choosing now, is so I don't know which players will play for them so I can say I have supported from the start

I might have to re-think if Prinz wants to ruin my party

Yeah, I posted something about this back in early December. Glad to see they finally got a name for the league. And it's getting down to the final stages before it launches.

Oh man, we are already rivals before the league even starts.

Hey Smurfy - I hope it's not this new set-up that has prompted you to get rid of your Arsenal avatar?

LOL, no, it will be back. The Homer red card is temporary. I was even thinking about photoshopping Keane's face onto the person next to Homer, but haven't had the time to do so. Big Jono played a prank on me with the Arsenal avatar. hahaha.

Well - we all know and love Jono

justme, of all places Jersey, seriously? You probably chose a good team. They will probably relegate the USWNT by the region they are from again so if you like HAO (Heather O'Reily), Carli Llyod, and Christie Rampone that's good because they're all from Jersey. Plus their W-League team, that will probably feed into the pro team, I believe is very good.

The WPS seems like they are definitely interested in foreign talent because they seriously want to make it the best women's league in the world. At the same time they have a very strict budget which they seem very serious about following. The USWNT has a player pool of around 50 women, plus the W-League, and upcomming college talent-so they have plenty of talent to start with.

So the reality is they want foreign talent, but they will not pay excessive sums for it. If they get foreign talent early on I think it will be because those players like the competition element of the league, which should be very high. Most of the big time European players that played in WUSA enjoyed the competition of the league and have spread their impressions down to some of the younger players of their NATS and leagues, so I think they may get some of the younger players that want to improve. I don't think they'll get many of the legends, so no Prinz, Lljungberg, Svensson, etc. Pre WWC I would have completely ruled out K. Smith because of her age and coaching position with Arsenal, but her post-WWC interview made her sound unsatisfied and she left the door open a crack, plus I think she knows most American women soccer fans love her, so if one of the clubs said the right things to her I think she could be convinced, and I do think most of the clubs will at least talk to her. I wouldn't bet on her going, I just think it's possible. I assume Marta and several other Brazilians will go to WPS in a couple of years, because they will be closer to home and more culturally comfortable than they are in Sweden and Germany.

It will be interesting to see.

Smurfy - Can't wait for the bickering to begin

Wei - It had somewhere that it was NY/NJ and so I stayed in NY for a while and loved it and did drive into NJ for about 2 hours Anyway, I will stick by my decision and if we do get the players you mentioned it will be a very good start I'll have to check out the W-League team and get used to some names

I personally, can't see Kelly going to the States but something hopes she proves me wrong because she deserves to have that chance again without all the injury worries and to live that dream, although she might not be able to cope with the level for a long time I believe it would be good. If an offer was made, I kind of hope she takes it On the other hand, I don't know what Hope Powell would think...

New Jersey/New York is pretty much a New York team. The name will probably eventually change/evolve to just being New York. The main reason New Jersey is in the name is due to the fact that the team will play in New Jersey.

It's the same as the MLS team. When they were founded it was called New York/New Jersey Metrostars. But they play in New Jersey. Their new stadium has also been built in New Jersey (and from a previous statement, the women will probably play in that same stadium). The New York/New Jersey Metrostars name changed to New York Metrostars a couple years after their founding, and then finally to what it is now; Red Bull New York.

Who will you be following/rooting for smithy? *cough* Washington Freedom *cough*.

Got something stuck in your throat there Smurfy

Don't know who I'm gonna support yet. May support a team in California or New York area. I'll probably wait and see where Solo goes first. I'm hoping that the San Diego Spirit comes back but haven't heard anything on them yet.

Go oooon Smithy

Why no love for the Midwest? You guys have allowed yourself to be mislead by the media, it's a shame really, because the Midwest is where it's at. Chicago has awesome architecture, art, comedy, food, museums and people who are actually capable of being friendly (when they're not in a car). And that freezing wind you're feeling, builds character.

Plus they have a pretty good shot of putting together a solid organization. The guy who's in charge of the new women's team basically built Chicago's MLS team, The Fire, from the ground up, and he apparently did a very good job. They will also get to play at Toyota Park, which was built for The Fire, so they are getting some descent support from the men's organizations in the city. They also have a strong connection to the very good W-league FC Indiana which has a strong connection to the Swedish league, particularly G/K, which Lotta Schelin, who has said she wants to play in the states, plays for... all I'm saying is it's possible and it'd be awesome.

The USWNT members that are from the area are Tarpley (Mich), Osborne (Wis), Markgraf (Wis), and a few of the newbies. So much like the NY/NJ team they would have a very good base to build around.

The California team will be L.A. They'll probably get Boxx, Cox, and a few of the newbies and people who haven't quite made the cut in years past. A-Rod is from California, but still in college. Wambach is actually from New York state, but I think if she was given a choice she would play for L.A. because that is her preferred place of residence. They may put her on the NY/NJ team, but it's already a crowded field so they may give her a bit more of a choice in the matter. Possiblyeven back to D.C. where she used to play. Solo's from Washington state, so she may go to L.A. I don't know how they are going to deal with people like her that aren't obvious where to stick. Also L.A. is also considered the most likely place Marta would go, if she decided to play in the league. They've apparently already been talking to her. If they end up with Marta, Solo, and Wambach, or two of the three, the'll be awesome. If they just get Boxx and Cox, they'll just be solidly mediocre.

GO CHICAGO!!!

Well the Washington Freedom already have an established team. They were actually the champions last year with a record of 13-1-1 in the W-League. Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach previously played for the Freedom before the original professional league folded.






Here's some extra news

Well I'm gonna read up on the teams and me decision nearer the time , but like said I'll probably go for Solo's team.

There's a rumor that the League officials are in search/looking to add an eighth team before the launch in the spring of 2009.

Is there any word on them bringing back San Diego Spirit ?

No word on who it'll be. Sa