World Cup Success Could Lead to Positive Future
Now that the Women’s World Cup has been a rousing success financially and artistically, the questions begin:
What does it all mean? Will women’s soccer prosper, both here and abroad? Is a professional league on the U.S. horizon?
Nobody is sure, but riding the euphoria of the last three weeks, everyone is hopeful.
“In some small way, we have all been a part of history,” says Marla Messing, president of the organizing committee and the guiding force behind the most successful women’s sports event ever. “This tournament has demonstrated how our sport is growing all over the world.
“It’s been like a cultural shift and the way the tournament caught fire, we’ve tipped into something. We think this will be a seminal moment, that people will look back in 20 years and say, ‘That event is responsible for the development of women’s sports.”’
The development of women’s soccer is the more pertinent topic right now. Another showcase is coming up--the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Australia also is bidding for the 2003 Women’s World Cup and has no competition right now.
“It will be a difficult act to follow the great tournament the U.S. has been able to stage,” said Basic Scarsella, chairman of Soccer Australia. “It will come following the 2000 Olympic Games and that will give us some interest.”
TV ratings for U.S. team games have surpassed those for the Stanley Cup, and a sellout crowd of 90,000 for yesterday’s championship match between the hosts and China helped push the average attendance to more than 38,500 for 17 tournament dates.
With a much smaller population, Australia might expect to average 15,000 fans at each game, although Scarsella noted that his nation may have deeper soccer roots than the United States.
“What the organizing committee in the United States has been able to do is market to a different audience,” Scarsella said. “They’ve tapped a market that’s never been tapped before, and great credit should go to the organizers for being able to do that.”
But it must continue doing that, leading the way, if the legacy of WWC ’99 is to be a lasting one.
“American companies are doing a great job of promoting the athletes,” Messing said. “The media has provided an avenue to the public and to make them accessible to the public.
“Ultimately, though, it is their talent that is the deciding factor.”
That talent, at least in this country, needs a steady place to exhibit itself. The national team almost certainly will stage a tour of exhibition games against other countries later this year. When the Olympic squad is chosen, it, too, will be on display in numerous exhibitions and tournaments.
But, after the 2000 Olympics, a U.S. league of some sort becomes a necessity.
“The next step is to have a league of our own,” Brandi Chastain said. “We really don’t have a place to stay sharp. Without a place for our young players to play, it will be hard for us to be as successful.”
Indeed, with the way women’s soccer abroad is improving, the Americans’ spot among the elite no longer is so secure. Although college programs are strong, those players--especially ones who are not quite at the national team level--must have a place to hone their skills.
U.S. Soccer already has begun studying a plan for a women’s league. Just as with the startup of Major League Soccer, which didn’t occur until two years after the 1994 men’s World Cup was held here, the establishment of a women’s league won’t be rushed.
“It’s a necessity for us to stay successful,” says Lauren Gregg, the longtime U.S. assistant coach and a former head coach at North Carolina and Virginia. “What we classified as professional and nonprofessional and successful and unsuccessful may be different than the traditional professional league. For us, a professional league needs to be something that pays our players a salary to train the way they need to train, and develops our players.
“We could pay our best players to play and train year-round and take the onus off U.S. Soccer, which has made a huge investment in this team. That’s why we’re successful, but they’re not in the long-term position to pay our players. At the same time, if we don’t have a league, our schedule is so demanding they have to pay them, because the players are basically full-time.”
There isn’t a lot of money in women’s soccer, either. The U.S. players will make a bonus of around $12,500 each for the World Cup. While Chastain, Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, Julie Foudy and a few other veterans will do just fine with endorsements and personal appearances after the tournament, some of the others aren’t likely to prosper.
“Right now, our younger players have to choose, ‘Do I go into another career, or do I starve and stay in soccer forever?”’ Gregg said.
Another option is to play in the few women’s pro leagues that exist, in countries such as Brazil and Germany, or are developing, particularly in Europe.
“It’s pretty uncertain,” Foudy said. “There’s a lot of questions. We know we’ll get back together for some games, go to residency [camp], then have some games before the Olympics. And then . . . then what?”
