Chet Posted September 18, 2003 Share Posted September 18, 2003 Nordby1 on the BigSoccer boards posted the following. Looks like the feeding frenzy for displaced WUSA players has begun. It will be interesting to see which women's league emerges as the best once things settle down. I hope the W-League and its teams aren't sleeping. The demise of WUSA presents a great opportunity for the W-League to improve its profile and its quality of play. How exciting would it be to see Hooper, Nonen, Latham et al playing in Edmonton next year! Imagine the publicity the team would get from signing one of those players. But I'm thinking the league will have to act fast or all the Canadian and US National team players will end up playing in Europe. Does the W-League have the resources to compete with the Norwegian Toppserien for the top international players? They would have to expand their season, I think, to attract many of the better players. But surely the audience for women's soccer is at least as large in North America as it is in Europe. quote:I just saw an article posted at the Norwegian website "toppserien.com" that is reporting that the club Kolbotn, last year's league champions, wants to sign Dagny Mellgren, the all-time leading scorer in WUSA history. The article also mentions that one of Kolbotn's best players, Solveig Gulbrandsen, would have probably left Norway to play in the WUSA if the league had not collapsed. I thought it was also interested that in this article Ragnhild Gulbrandsen, Dagny's former Norwegian teammate on the Boston Breakers, mentioned the possibility of USWNT players Kate Sobrero and Kristine Lilly coming over to play for Ragnhild's club Trondheims-Ørn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted September 18, 2003 Share Posted September 18, 2003 The W-league is amateur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leekoo Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 W-League could create a pro league giving us W-league 1 (the new) and W-league 2 (the old)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarnCherry Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 quote:Originally posted by leekoo W-League could create a pro league giving us W-league 1 (the new) and W-league 2 (the old)... So then why bother? Present teams in the W-League are there because it's cheaper than being in a professional league. So they'd remain in the amateur one (the old) and the new teams from the WUSA will be in the new league, so in essence you still have two seperate leagues! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew W Posted September 19, 2003 Share Posted September 19, 2003 Exactly, let WUSA die the death it deserves and keep the W-League amateur. Women's soccer will need a low-cost setup to survive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy_Yank Posted September 26, 2003 Share Posted September 26, 2003 I don't think there is a market for professional women's soccer. I think a semi-pro league could work. Maybe your top 5 or 6 players are paid enough to make a living, but everyone else has a job during the off season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted September 27, 2003 Author Share Posted September 27, 2003 The pay doesn't have to be high, it just has to be competitive with other leagues. With WUSA out of the picture, all the players will have to settle for far less money than they might have expected otherwise. If a living legend like Hooper can draw 300 more fans per game plus one or two additional sponsors, then her contract pays for itself. It may not matter. Looking more and more like the WUSA is going to survive a bit longer. If only they would ditch the import restriction so more Canadians would have a shot at playing professionally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted September 27, 2003 Author Share Posted September 27, 2003 The pay doesn't have to be high, it just has to be competitive with other leagues. With WUSA out of the picture, all the players will have to settle for far less money than they might have expected otherwise. If a living legend like Hooper can draw 300 more fans per game plus one or two additional sponsors, then her contract pays for itself. It may not matter. Looking more and more like the WUSA is going to survive a bit longer. If only they would ditch the import restriction so more Canadians would have a shot at playing professionally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamiltonfan Posted September 28, 2003 Share Posted September 28, 2003 it would be great having the team canada stars playing in the w-league in canada. vancouver has a lot dont they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.