Why the WUSA Will Succeed© Michelle Parke
Aug 9, 2000
The WUSA: On the Road to Success
The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was formed on February 15, 2000 as a single entity women's professional outdoor soccer league. The league will begin play in April 2001 in eight cities with members of the 1999 World Cup Championship soccer team as founding members. Four components pave the road for the WUSA's success: a strong investor group, an agreement with Major League Soccer (MLS), all 20 members of the 1999 World Cup Championship team signing on, and women's soccer being a marketable product.
Over a year ago, John Hendricks, chairman and CEO of Discovery Communications, began talks about forming a women's professional soccer league. In less than three months, he pooled together $40 million dollars for the first year of this new league. Insiders speculate this investment is more like $65 million. Eight individuals from the world's top media companies each invested $5 million. In the first year, this will allow for approximately $800,000 in salaries for the eight teams with the average salary at $40,000. In addition to Hendricks, the investors include: Amos B. Hostetter, Jr., founder and former chairman and CEO of Continental Cablevision; Brian L. Roberts and Amy Banse of Comcast Corporation; James C. Kennedy and James O. Robbins of Cox Enterprises; and Joseph J. Collins and Fred M. Dressler of Time Warner Cable. These heavy-hitter investors were able to negotiate a four-year, $12 million television deal with Turner Sports to broadcast 88 WUSA games over the four years on Turner Network Television and CNN/Sports Illustrated. With the investors in place and the money to start up the league, the investors say the sponsors will come to them because of who is involved and the appeal of women's soccer.
The second factor which will allow for the WUSA's success is the agreement between the MLS and the WUSA. Initially, the WUSA and the MLS were trying to work together but Hendricks' group did not like the motives behind the MLS involvement. As a result, MLS planned to submit its own bid for a women's soccer league. Now with the strength of the investment group and the television deal, the WUSA made it difficult for the MLS to compete on its own. The two organizations met and agreed to work together. They agreed to cooperate on marketing and promotions, scheduling and stadium development and MLS agreed not to submit its bid for a women's league. The WUSA agreed to provide substantial commercial coverage for MLS games during WUSA games. The WUSA benefited because it had the cities in place but no stadia and it will benefit from the MLS experience. The MLS will benefit because its attendance numbers have dropped and the television exposure will help its fledging numbers.
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