After months of silence there has been a splattering of news on the efforts to bring a professional women’s league back to North America.
Many of the Canadian women’s national team members have been without a club since WPS folded last year. The Olympics filled up 2012 with national team duties, but there is a great deal of fear about what the players will do in 2013 without as much national team action to fill their time.
Soccerwire.com reported today that it’s expected that the USSF will announce more details for a proposed league before Dec 1. Apparently the league backers remain focused on launching next spring.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]It’s expected that there will be eight clubs in the initial league, with none tipped to be in Canada. The clubs suggested are former WPS franchises Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, Western New York Flash and Sky Blue FC (N.J.). Additionally clubs in Kansas City, Portland, Seattle and Washington are expected.
CSN was told earlier this year that the 2012 W-League champion Ottawa Fury was approached by league investors, but was not interested in making the jump to a fully professional set-up at this time. The Vancouver Whitecaps have told CSN in the past that they are also not interested in moving up from the W-League and neither Toronto nor Montreal have ever given any indication that they have professional women’s aspirations.
However, there are reports surfacing today that suggest that Canadian players will play a “significant” role in the new league. No one knows what that means exactly, or where the money will come to pay for the players.
The USSF will be putting significant resources into the league, with some suggesting that they will be ensuring salaries of US women’s national team players. Without a Canadian club involved directly, one wonders whether the CSA might need to consider following the American’s lead.
CSN reached out to the CSA for comment. We will update if we hear back.