The sun was shining yesterday afternoon at Klöckner stadium as the U.S. women's national team wrapped up their final practice in preparation for this weekend's World Cup opener. However, the spirits of many players on the team were not as sunny as the weather.
On Monday the WUSA board of governor's announced it will shut down operations of the eight-team professional women's soccer league immediately, because of lack of money. The announcement left the national team players, all but one of whom play in the league, surprised and saddened.
"I was disappointed," U.S. national team forward Tiffany Milbrett said. "We've worked so hard to advance women in sports and women in society just an inch. To have all that effort be gone in an instant, it was tough."
Milbrett led the U.S. national team in scoring last World Cup. She played for the New York Power in the WUSA, where she led the team in scoring all three seasons. Despite her frustration with the decision, Milbrett hopes that the attention given to the league's collapse might help its chances to be revived in the future.
"It seems like we're getting more press now that the league has folded than we ever did when the league was in existence," Milbrett said. "Maybe this will open people's minds and give them a dose of reality. We can't do this just with players alone. We need a lot of help to sustain a lead."
Lack of corporate sponsors was cited as the major reason for the league's failure. WUSA officials said that the league needed eight sponsors to spend $2.5 million per year. Only two sponsors, Hyundai and Johnson & Johnson, were willing to spend that much.
The WUSA's owners have invested more than $100 million dollars to fund the league and some of the top players took pay cuts last season to help keep it afloat. Even after these efforts, the WUSA was about $16 million in debt.
TV ratings for the league were miniscule and average attendance slipped from over 8,000 fans per game the first season to 6,700 last year.
Although soccer is one of the most popular sports for youths to play in this country, support for a national soccer league in the United States remains scarce.
"There is definitely a gap between participation level and getting the kids out to the games," U.S. national team goalkeeper Briana Scurry said. "But, I think it's a gap than can be bridged in time.
Scurry, who played for the Atlanta Fury, led the WUSA in goals against average (0.95) last season, and won the league's Goalkeeper of the Year award. Her stop of China's third penalty kick in the championship shootout of the 1999 World Cup helped the United States win the tournament. She remains confident that in better economic times, the league will be successful.
"Every league that has ever started in this country has had difficulties in the beginning," Scurry said. "Unfortunately for us, our league started in the middle of one of the worst economic periods since the 1920s. I'm still hopeful that with more help and a better market we could be successful."
The launch of the WUSA in 1999 was powered by the success of the World Cup, held in the United States that year. A total of 56 WUSA players will be competing in this year's tournament, representing 11 of the 16 countries.
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