WPS in Trouble

I hope I'm wrong, but I can't help but to think the disbanding of the Los Angeles Sol is an ominous development for the young Women's Professional Soccer leage (WPS). Why?

1. LA Sol was the flagship team with the marquee player (Marta). This club gave the young league what it needed most, which were cachet, good buzz, and good crowds at most venues.

2. It has been stated in soccer-learned cicles that the WPS league's finances are more compartmentalized, which in theory makes it less likely that the demise of one franchise would drag the others down.  This is, of course, true, but one can't help but to think, at least for reasions stated in #1 above, the unspoken assumption behind this is "as long as the failing club is not the Sol".

3. Now there is going to be a dispersal draft.  This means that players currently under contract to the Sol will be dispersed to the remaining teams.  This is NOT good news for the new WPS college draftees, who will see their opportunities for playing time significantly diminish as they try to compete with the displaced experienced pros.  That is too bad, becuase the main buzz and cachet the league has right now is by far the best draft class in eons.

4. If Marta leaves the league to play overseas, and she probably will, that translates directly into a reduction in media exposure (Sportcenter, etc.), which the league desperately needs to continue to attract the interest of new fans.

5. This HAS to be a major chill for prospective corporate league sponsors, which the league desperately needs more of. If I were a potential investor, I'd cast a pretty jaundiced eye at a WPS sposorship proposal with the knoweledge that the leagues flagship club has folded. Sam deal with club sponsors. This. is. bad. Remember also that the league is already dealing with the headwinds of, shall we say, a slightly suboptimal economic mileu.

I hope I'm wrong, but right now it ain't lookin' good.

Getting it Right

The Missouri Athletic Club got it right with its choice of Kelley O'Hara as recipient of the MAC Hermann trophy, college soccer's version of the Heisman trophy awarded in gridiron football.

A while ago I wrote on this blog:

"Kelley O'Hara has shown herself to be the best soccer player in the country. Through 26 matches, 25 of them consecutive victories, this player has proven beyond doubt that she was the best player (over the whole course of the season) in the country. She led her team and entire the nation in scoring. She made everybody on her team a better player. I have no idea what else she could possibly have done to prove herself. Don't take my word for it, though. I am just an opinionated soccer fan. Ask someone who actually knows something about soccer, starting with every one of the coaches Stanford played against this year, including Anson Dorrance. Actually you don't need to even ask them. Just use that newfangled internet-thingie and look up their post-game quotes."

Well, the quotes apparently got around among the coach voters, who did the right thing, and gave the crystal futbol to the best player in the country.