Deserving Better

22 September 2003


Women's Soccer League Folds

Businesses go bust all the time; it's the corrective measure in capitalism. Usually its because the product was weak, or the public felt the price was too high, or the profit margins were better somewhere else. Rarely though has a strong product been as spectacularly under-marketed as the WUSA, the now defunct women's professional soccer league in the US. For the want of a few million dollars, a viable sports franchise is dead.

First the facts about the league's financial problems. John Hendricks, the chairman of the league's board of governors, said that the league needed 8 sponsors to spend $2.5 million each to keep the league going another year. That's $20 million. Hyundai and Johnson & Johnson were prepared to do their part. No one else was. The short fall was $15 million. Basketball phenom LeBron James, earlier this year, got $90 million from Nike, $6 million for Upper Deck Trading Cards, and $100 million for six years from Coke. The money is there.

So, perhaps the problem was the product. But anyone who has seen the WUSA play can attest that the quality of soccer played was, if not as good as the men in the MLS, it was at least as entertaining. But attendance was down around 15-20%, and there were no juicy cable TV deals. Part of developing a following is show casing the games.

One of the complaints about the fan-base was its overwhelming youthful femaleness. Apparently, soccer moms can elect a president, but can't generate $15 million in corporate spending. And these young fans will age, and raise kids, and guess what sport they will play? It's called building a customer base.

The Women's World Cup opens in the US, just 5 days after the WUSA was put to sleep. The American women are odds-on favorites. Mia, Brandi, and the rest of the ladies (they are too well respected here to be referred to merely as "women") deserve a place to play after this. For the price of a single basketball players' shoe deal, an entire entertainment empire can be purchased. Never let anyone get away with saying business leaders are smart.

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