WUSA Big Hit With Kids
Young girls, decked out in soccer jerseys, their faces painted, scream for autographs before and after games. They yell even louder in support of their teams during the action.
Chants of “MIA, MIA,” and “BRAN-DI, BRAN-DI” filling the air. Souvenir stands doing brisk business.
The 1999 Women’s World Cup? Of course.
And, two years later, the first season of the WUSA, as well.
While the Women’s United Soccer Association isn’t anywhere near attracting sellout crowds every week or setting ratings records on television, it already has found its niche. Playing in smaller venues than the men in Major League Soccer, the women are reaching out to the same folks who helped make the World Cup such a rousing success.
They’re connecting with the kids--mainly girls, but quite a number of boys, too. Just as significantly, they are connecting with the parents.
“We have had some remarkable success, and there are other places where we wish it was better,” WUSA president Barbara Allen says. “You wouldn’t expect anything else out of a startup.
“Our fans are exactly who we projected, it really is families. They are attracted by the quality of play, the fact there is high entertainment. And it is not that everyone is focused just on the game, but they enjoy the day and the fan zone entertainment we set up, with a variety of activities for all members of the family. It is an outing.”
An outing that usually concludes with the fan-friendly players sticking around to sign and chat and be ... well, fan friendly.
“I think our players have the potential to be heroines,” Allen says. “They actually appreciate the fans; in a lot of places, the fans are simply tolerated.”
In that manner, the WUSA held a huge advantage over the MLS when it started six years ago. Women like Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy already were big stars before the league was organized. Their credentials as world champions and Olympic gold medalists were established. So were their credentials as pioneers for their sport.
MLS had almost none of that in 1996, with no American men who rivaled the popularity Hamm and company carried into the WUSA’s debut. All 20 players on the ’99 Women’s World Cup team became founding members of the WUSA, and their presence not only attracted substantial sponsors -- particularly media conglomerates such as Discovery Communications, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications--but convinced the best foreigners to sign on.
While MLS, which is clearly inferior to top European leagues, might be decades away from any sort of prominence in international soccer, WUSA clearly is the world’s top women’s league.
“Certainly the ability to attract the players we have in this league and to live up to the claims it would be the best women’s league in the world is very satisfying,” says Tony DiCicco, who coached the U.S. women in 1999 and now is WUSA’s chief operations officer. “We have the Mia Hamm of China, the Tiffeny Milbrett of Germany and so forth down the line.
“The international players, I must admit we always knew were exceptional players, which is why we invited them to the league. But many of the others we are recognizing how good they are. Everybody knew about Sissi of Brazil and Sun Wen of China, but to see how good the women’s game is internationally is exciting.”
The WUSA also provides an excellent conduit to the U.S. national team for players who previously might have been overlooked or beaten out. Goalkeepers LaKeysia Beene of the Bay Area CyberRays and Jamie Pagliarulo of the San Diego Spirits have outplayed U.S. team keepers Siri Mullinix and Briana Scurry. San Diego midfielder Shannon Boxx and Atlanta defender Kylie Bivens have been among the surprise standouts.
“I think you’re going to see a lot of young players emerge,” says U.S. team captain Julie Foudy, who plays for San Diego. “Now they’ll develop there and we don’t have to break them in through the national program.”
While the atmosphere at games has been festive and the developments of players has been quick, the WUSA isn’t ready to rival the NFL--or even the WNBA--quite yet.
Attendance numbers generally have been encouraging, with a leaguewide average of 8,731 for the first 51 games. That is 72.4 percent of capacity; remember, other than in Washington, the league is not playing in huge stadiums. Even Carolina, which has the lowest average attendance at 5,461, is drawing relatively well considering the Courage play in a 6,536-seat college soccer stadium.
TV ratings are miniscule. TNT averaged a .4, which translates to just over 300,000 homes, for its Saturday afternoon telecasts in April and May. CNNSI is not subject to ratings for the June-July telecasts. The league switches back to TNT for August, leading up to the Aug. 25 title game in Boston.
“Overall, while ratings are a tough game to play, we’re not getting any complaints or comments back from sponsors or from Turner, which understands it is too early to tell how we will rate overall,” says Kerry Tatlock, the league’s VP for television and new media. “We are a developing league.”
