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Women's Professional Soccer

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Not to be confused withProfessionalism in women's association football.

Women's Professional Soccer (WPS)
Founded2009
Folded2012
CountryUnited States
ConfederationCONCACAF(North America)
Number of teams7 (2009–2010)
6 (2011)
Level on pyramid1
Last championsWestern New York Flash
TV partnersComcast SportsNet
Fox Soccer Channel
Fox Sports en Español
Local coverage
WebsiteWomensProSoccer.com

Women's Professional Soccer(WPS) was the top-level professionalwomen's soccerleague in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 season, with continued plans for future expansion. The WPS was the highest level in theUnited States soccer pyramidfor the women's game.

On January 30, 2012, the league announced suspension of the 2012 season, citing several internal organization struggles as the primary cause. Some of these issues included an ongoing legal battle withmagicJackownerDan Borislowand the lack of resources invested into the league. On May 18, 2012, WPS announced the league folded and would not return in 2013. After the WPS folded, theNational Women's Soccer Leagueformed in 2013 and took WPS's place as the top professional women's soccer league in the United States.[1]

History

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Planning

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After the folding ofWomen's United Soccer Association,which played its third and final full season in 2003, WUSA Reorganization Committee was formed in September of that year. The committee led to the founding in November 2004 of the non-profit organization, Women's Soccer Initiative, Inc. (WSII), whose stated goal was "promoting and supporting all aspects of women's soccer in the United States", including the founding of a new professional league.[2]Attempts to relaunch WUSA in full fell through in 2004 (when the league's member teams played in two WUSA Festivals instead) and 2005.[3] In June 2006, WSII announced the relaunch of the league for the 2008 season.[4]

In December 2006, the organization announced that it reached an agreement with six owner-operators for teams based in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Washington, DC, and a then-unnamed city.[5]Later, Boston and New York/New Jersey were announced as other markets to have teams. In September 2007, the launch was pushed back from Spring of 2008 to 2009 to avoid clashing with2007 Women's World Cupand the2008 Olympic Gamesand to ensure that all of the teams were fully prepared for long-term operations.[6]

On May 27, 2008, the league announced that it would expand to Philadelphia for the 2010 season, with the franchise likely sharing facilities with MLS'sPhiladelphia Union.Despite being the eighth named team, the league still considered adding an eighth team to play in the league's inaugural season.[7]An eighth team for the inaugural season was tentatively announced as being located in San Diego,[8]and was finalized later. Still, despite the extra time given to the original five cities for preparations, the Dallas franchise did not materialize, citing stadium issues. Thus the league began with seven teams.

WPS Major Trophy Winners
Season Playoff
Champions 		Regular Season
Champions
2009 Sky Blue FC Los Angeles Sol
2010 FC Gold Pride FC Gold Pride
2011 Western New York Flash Western New York Flash

The new name of the league, Women's Professional Soccer, was announced on January 17, 2008, along with the logo, which featured the silhouette of retired playerMia Hamm.[9]

Building the league

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Player allocation

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Player allocation began on September 16, 2008, after theBeijing Olympicsin August, when WPS announced the allocation of 21 US national team players, three players to each of the seven teams that began play in the 2009 season.[10]Most players were matched with teams they had some previous connection to, such as hometown, college, WUSA, orW-Leagueaffiliation. All of the allocated Americans played in the 2009 season except forKate Markgraf,who was pregnant at the start of the season. A week later, the league held the2008 WPS International Draft,in which the seven teams selected four international players each.[11]Four of the first five selections, first pickFormiga(Bay Area),Marta(#3, Los Angeles),Daniela(#4, St. Louis), andCristiane(#5, Chicago) wereBrazilian,[12]and a total of 10 Brazilian players were selected.England'sKelly Smith(#2, Boston) andJapan'sHomare Sawa(#6, Washington), andAustralia'sSarah Walshrounded out the first round.[13]The draft order was based on a weighted ranking determined by a vote of league coaches following the U.S. women's national team allocation. A general draft was held in October, followed by a combine for college seniors and undrafted players in December, a post-combine draft in January, and local tryouts by individual teams in February.[14]

Inaugural season

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Main article:2009 Women's Professional Soccer season

Before the season began, WPS was only able to secure two sponsors, and most teams did not advertise much or get their rosters finalized until late in the preseason. During the season, though, WPS secured several more sponsors, and WPS announced the expansion to Atlanta as the ninth team for next season.

WPS's inaugural game was played to a crowd of over 14,000 fans at theHome Depot Centeras the hostsLos Angeles Solbeat theWashington Freedom2–0. The first season saw several issues occur, including an uneven schedule due to the odd number of teams (that the Sol took advantage of as they won the inaugural season), several season-ending injuries, two major trades, decisions from the WPS disciplinary committee and commissioner, and a Cinderella-run to the championship title (won bySky Blue FC). Most teams considered the first season a moderate success, despite many losing more money than planned.

Growing pains

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This success/optimism did not extend to the Sol, though, as after AEG failed to sell the team it was announced that the Sol would be disbanding.[15]As AEG had given the Sol back to the league, adispersal draftwas held to distribute the players to the remaining eight teams. This was not the case when the Saint Louis Athletica suddenly and unexpectedly ran into financial problems and folded[16]mid-May. The league schedule had to be re-done, and all of Athletica's players became free agents. Most were signed by theAtlanta Beat,who had only earned one point until then and ultimately finished the season at the bottom of the table.

The other expansion franchise, thePhiladelphia Independencefared much better, finishing third on the season and ultimately losing theWPS Finalto the incredibly dominantFC Gold Pride.Around the same time, WPS announced the addition of a western New York franchise for the 2011 season, spawning from the existingBuffalo Flashorganization.[17]Despite these strong showings, overall attendance for 2010 was noticeably down from 2009, and one team (theWashington Freedom) made public mid-season that it was looking for new investors. Also, at the championship game, commissionerTonya Antonucciannounced she would step down, withAnne-Marie Eileraastaking leadership as the new WPS CEO.

More problems came to light early in the offseason. Four teams –FC Gold Pride,theChicago Red Stars,theBoston Breakers,and Washington – all missed the payment deadline for a large up-front escrow meant to prevent what happened to St. Louis from happening again. Ultimately, the Gold Pride could not find the necessary money and folded. Chicago was given a 30-day extension but announced in December that they would not play in WPS in 2011, opting to regroup in the second-tierWomen's Premier Soccer League.Washington and Boston ultimately were able to make their payments,[18]leaving six teams for the 2011 season.

National exposure

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The beginning of the league's third season was marked by three overshadowing challenges: low attendance, problems with (ex-Freedom)magicJackownerDan Borislow,[19]and anFC Gold Pride-like dominance by theWestern New York Flash.While national team players were away at the2011 FIFA Women's World Cup,though, theIndependencestarted an incredible streak that saw them temporarily overtake the Flash at the top of the table.

The success of theUnited States women's national soccer teamat the2011 FIFA Women's World Cupresulted in an upsurge in attendance league-wide and helped set a new all-time league attendance record for a single game at 15,504 during a match between theWestern New York FlashandmagicJackinAbby Wambach'shometown ofRochester, New Yorkon July 20, 2011.[20]A new attendance record for aWPS finalwas also set just a few weeks later atSahlen's Stadiumagain in Rochester when 10,461 fans filled the stadium on August 27, 2011, for the championship game between the Flash and thePhiladelphia Independence.[21][22]The final was also the closest-contested in the league's short history, with both teams scoring and ultimately going into penalty kicks, where the Flash bested the Independence 5–4 with a last-round save made byAshlyn Harris.

The national exposure to women's soccer, and the upswing in attendance, sparked other groups interested in bringing teams to the WPS. The league had hoped to have ten teams for the 2012 season,[23]with most of the new groups potentially coming from the western half of the country, but ultimately no ownership groups were ready to join in time and instead aimed for the 2013 season. On November 20, 2011, theUnited States Soccer Federationgave WPS 15 days to field a sixth team, in order for the league to maintain its Division 1 status, after magicJack was terminated by the league.[24]magicJack would later be reinstated as an exhibition team, slated to play seven games each for the next two seasons against WPS teams.[25]

The league had sought[26]an extension of the league size waiver through the 2012 season, which would include the2012 Summer Olympics,in hope of attracting more sponsors for the 2013 season. USSF granted sanctioning, with conditions requiring expansion, through 2014.[27]At the time, WPS was interested in expanding beyond the East Coast and several MLS teams had expressed interest in cooperating with expansion teams, among themSeattle Sounders FCandVancouver Whitecaps FC.[28]

Folding

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On January 30, 2012, the league announced suspension of the 2012 season, citing several internal organization struggles as the primary cause. Some of these included an ongoing legal battle with ex-franchise ownerDan Borislow,and the lack of resources invested into the league.[29]

Prior to the formal announcement, the USSF showed reservation about renewing sanctioning for WPS, citing the sparsity and geographic concentration of WPS team as the main problem. (USSF requires professional, top-division leagues to have at least eight teams over at least three time zones.)[30]Ultimately, USSF granted WPS a waiver on this issue for the third time in WPS's history, on the conditions that WPS expands to six teams by 2013 and eight by 2014.[27]

On May 18, 2012, the WPS announced that the league had officially ceased operations.[31]TheBoston BreakersandWestern New York Flashwere later assimilated into theWPSL Elite League.[32]

Organization

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Business model

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WPS commissionerTonya Antonuccisaid that unlike WUSA, which had higher expectations and employed a top-down model, WPS would take "a local, grass roots approach", and "a slow and steady growth type of approach", citing WUSA's losses of close to $100 million.[3]She said the new league would have a closer relationship withMajor League Soccer,the top men's professional league in the United States, to cut costs on staff and facilities, and for marketing.

The team budgets for the inaugural season was $2.5 million.[33]

WPS Players Union

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WPS players were represented by the Women's Professional Soccer Players Union (WPSPU), an independent, democratic labor organization run by and for the players. The WPSPU was certified and recognized by the league on September 8, 2010, in Washington, DC. Jennifer Hitchon served as Executive Director and Robert H. Stropp of Mooney, Green, Baker & Saindon, PC, was General Counsel.[34]The players who made up the 2011–2012 WPSPU Executive Committee were:Eniola Aluko,Rachel Buehler,Allison Falk,Leslie Osborne,Christie Rampone,Becky Sauerbrunn,Cat Whitehill,andKristine Lilly(member emeritus). These players were responsible for advising the Executive Director, setting union priorities, approving union bargaining positions and proposals, and responding to WPS counter-proposals, among other activities.[35]

Media coverage

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Main article:Women's Professional Soccer on television

Fox Soccer ChannelandFox Sports en Españolwith Samuel Jacobo and Jorge Caamaño aired weekly Sunday night matches and the WPS All-Star Game.Fox Sports Netaired the semifinal and league championship contests. The national television contract was in effect through the 2011 season with an option for 2012.[36]Some local networks aired games.

Teams

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Team Stadium City Founded Joined WPS Left Fate
Atlanta Beat KSU Soccer Stadium Kennesaw, Georgia 2009 2010 2012 Dissolved
Boston Breakers Harvard Stadium Boston, Massachusetts 2008 2009 2012 JoinedWPSLEin 2012
Chicago Red Stars Toyota Park Bridgeview, Illinois 2007 2009 2011 JoinedWPSLin 2011
FC Gold Pride Pioneer Stadium Hayward, California 2008 2009 2011 Dissolved
Los Angeles Sol Home Depot Center Carson, California 2007 2009 2010 Dissolved
magicJack^ FAU Soccer Field Boca Raton, Florida 2001 2009 2012 Dissolved
Philadelphia Independence Leslie Quick Stadium Chester, Pennsylvania 2009 2010 2012 Dissolved
Sky Blue FC Yurcak Field Piscataway Township, New Jersey 2008 2009 2012 JoinedNWSLin 2013
Saint Louis Athletica Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park Fenton, Missouri 2008 2009 2010 Dissolved
Western New York Flash Sahlen's Stadium Rochester, New York 2008 2011 2012 JoinedWPSLEin 2012

^- Team was originally named theWashington Freedom

class=notpageimage|
Locations of the teams

Attendance

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Year Season Playoffs
Games Total Average Games Total Average
2009 70 327,878 4,684 3 16,499 5,500
2010 87 313,272 3,601 3 10,282 3,427
2011 54 190,884 3,535 3 17,946 5,982

Commissioners and CEOs

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Name Years
Tonya Antonucci(com.) 2007–2010
Anne-Marie Eileraas(CEO) 2010–2011
Jennifer O'Sullivan(CEO) 2011–2012

Awards

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WPS handed out seven end-of-year awards. Six of them dated to the league's formation, while the Rookie of the Year award was added in 2010.

Main article:Annual Women's Professional Soccer awards
  • Michelle Akers Player of the Year Award
  • WPS Coach of the Year Award
  • WPS Defender of the Year Award
  • WPS Goalkeeper of the Year Award
  • WPS Rookie of the Year Award
  • WPS Golden Boot
  • WPS Sportswoman of the Year

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Women's pro soccer league to debut in U.S. next year".usatoday.com.RetrievedMarch 30,2018.
  2. ^"An Introduction to Women's Soccer Initiative, Inc".Women's Soccer Initiative, Inc. Archived fromthe originalon February 1, 2008.RetrievedJanuary 20,2008.
  3. ^abZiegler, Mark (January 10, 2007)."Will WUSA live again?".San Diego Union-Tribune.
  4. ^Porteus, Liza (June 28, 2006)."U.S. Women's Pro League Prepares to Blast Back Onto Soccer Scene".Fox News.
  5. ^Carlisle, Jeff (June 28, 2006)."Relaunch of WUSA set for spring 2008".Soccernet.Archived fromthe originalon July 14, 2012.
  6. ^"Women's pro soccer team put on hold".St. Louis Business Journal.September 23, 2007.
  7. ^"Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) plans to expand to Philadelphia in 2010, bringing league to eight teams".Women's Professional Soccer. May 28, 2008. Archived fromthe originalon June 1, 2008.
  8. ^"San Diego Finalizing WPS Ownership Group".Women's Professional Soccer. August 9, 2008. Archived fromthe originalon July 31, 2008.
  9. ^"Hamm's imprint made on new women's soccer league".USA Today.January 18, 2008.
  10. ^Dure, Beau (September 16, 2008)."Wambach goes full circle as women's league stocks rosters".USA Today.
  11. ^"Coach DiCicco Targets Attacking Flair in WPS International Draft"(Press release). Boston Breakers. September 25, 2008.
  12. ^"Brazilians dominate women's international draft".Soccer America.September 25, 2008. Archived fromthe originalon February 2, 2013.
  13. ^"Brazilian stars selected in women's draft".Associated Press. September 24, 2008.
  14. ^"Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) Announces Post-Olympics Timeline for National Player Allocation, Team Tryouts"(Press release). Women's Professional Soccer. July 8, 2008. Archived fromthe originalon January 12, 2009.
  15. ^"Los Angeles Sol of Women's Professional Soccer to cease operations".LA Times.January 28, 2010.
  16. ^"Athletica announces shock shutdown mid-season".Potomac Soccer Wire.RetrievedMay 27,2010.
  17. ^"Western New York Franchise Set to Join WPS as Eighth Team"(Press release). Women's Professional Soccer. September 24, 2010. Archived fromthe originalon September 27, 2010.RetrievedSeptember 24,2010.
  18. ^"WPS lives on, looks toward future".The Marietta Daily Journal. November 16, 2010. Archived fromthe originalon July 14, 2011.RetrievedNovember 16,2010.
  19. ^"WPS Imposes Punishment on magicJack with Point Deduction, Loss of Draft Picks".allwhitekit.com. May 12, 2011.
  20. ^"'Abby Wambach Day' in Rochester, N.Y. "ESPN.RetrievedFebruary 26,2013.
  21. ^"WNY Flash Wins WPS Championship Title".WKBW-DT/TV. Archived fromthe originalon September 8, 2014.RetrievedFebruary 26,2013.
  22. ^"WPS eyes making major changes".The Democrat and Chronicle. August 29, 2011.RetrievedAugust 30,2011.
  23. ^"More on the Independence playing at PPL Park".philly.com Sports. July 31, 2011.RetrievedAugust 30,2011.
  24. ^Gerstner, Joanne C. (November 30, 2011)."ABby Wambach wants WPS to survive".espnW.Archived fromthe originalon December 4, 2011.RetrievedDecember 1,2011.
  25. ^Dure, Beau (January 18, 2012)."WPS, Dan Borislow to work together again".espnW.Archived fromthe originalon January 19, 2012.RetrievedJanuary 19,2012.
  26. ^Bell, Jack (November 24, 2011)."Top Women's League in Danger of Losing D1 Sanctioning".The New York Times.RetrievedDecember 1,2011.
  27. ^abDure, Beau (December 12, 2011)."U.S. Soccer renews WPS' top tier status".ESPNW.Archived fromthe originalon January 10, 2012.RetrievedDecember 12,2011.
  28. ^Bell, Jack (December 15, 2011)."Did W.P.S. Pin Federation in a Corner?".The New York Times.RetrievedDecember 24,2023.
  29. ^"WPS Suspends Play for 2012 Season".WPS – Communications.WomensProSoccer.com. January 30, 2012. Archived fromthe originalon February 18, 2012.RetrievedJanuary 30,2012.
  30. ^Bell, Jack (November 24, 2011)."Women's Professional Soccer Fights to Keep Its Top Status".The New York Times.RetrievedDecember 1,2011.
  31. ^"WPS finally folds".SoccerAmerica.espnW.May 18, 2012.RetrievedJune 10,2023.
  32. ^Howell, John (May 12, 2012)."WNY Flash Dominate in WPSL Elite Debut, but Is This Major League?".Bleacher Report.RetrievedJune 10,2023.
  33. ^Zeigler, Mark (June 18, 2008)."www.signonsandiego.com/sports/soccer/20080618-9999-1s18soccer.html".San Diego Uninon-Tribune.
  34. ^"WPS Players Union Recognized".Women's Professional Soccer.September 8, 2010.[permanent dead link]
  35. ^"An Interview with Women's Professional Soccer Players Union Executive Director Jennifer Hitchon, Pt. I".All White Kit.RetrievedFebruary 26,2013.
  36. ^"Fox Soccer Channel Nets WPS Pact: Multiyear Partnership Provides For Live Women's Game Of Week; Comcast Could Provide Regional Carriage".Multichannel News. August 6, 2008.
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Preceded by Division 1 soccer league in the United States
2007–2012 		Succeeded by
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