The Aztexan

I really enjoyed Chicago Red Stars' CEO Peter Wilt's post on Pitch Invasion the other day, Grading WPS in Year One. In it, he takes a hard look at 8 aspects of the just-finished inaugural season of Women's Professional Soccer. These include attendance, fan experience, marketing and operations, and quality of play. He also has an overall summary grade for "sustainability":

WPS will not “make it” in 2009, 2010 or 2011. “Making it” in this case is about sustainability and that merely requires keeping enough teams in existence for the League to be around for future generations. The League has not yet proven its business model operationally, but it has set a base line that allows adjustments to be made in order to work toward profitability much like MLS did in its early years.

I find this kind of analysis fascinating, because I'm interested in the business side of the American game as well as the play on the field. I was impressed by the thoroughness of Wilt (and presumably others at WPS) in analyzing their season.

Then I realized: that's the kind of stuff I want USL to pay attention to, but it doesn't seem to me like they've done nearly as well.

There are some significant differences between WPS and USL-1, to be sure. WPS is a brand-new league, with international superstars on every team, etc. But the attendance figures are similar, and from the standpoint that both leagues are laboring somewhat in the shadow of MLS (and EPL, FMF, et al.), there are surely some parallels.

Maybe the current USL-1 league and teams are all over these same issues, and I just don't know it. If nothing else, from my viewpoint as a fan, I don't feel like the marketing, the league-level branding, if you will, gets much attention at all.

All of which is simply to say, I hope that when the dust settles from the current USL/NuRock/TOA drama, somebody makes sure to address these kinds of issues at a league level.

Labels: deep thoughts, The League, USL-1, WPS