The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the United States. The league suspended operations on September 15, 2003, shortly after the end of its third season, after making cumulative losses of around US$100 million.

History

Establishment

As a result of the US women's national team's (USWNT) first-place showing in the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, a seemingly viable market for the sport germinated. Feeding on the momentum of their victory, the twenty USWNT players, in partnership with John Hendricks of the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

, sought out the investors, markets, and players necessary to form an eight-team league. The twenty founding players were Michelle Akers, Brandi Chastain, Tracy Ducar, Lorrie Fair, Joy Fawcett, Danielle Fotopoulos, Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Shannon MacMillan, Tiffeny Milbrett, Carla Overbeck, Cindy Parlow, Christie Pearce, Tiffany Roberts, Briana Scurry, Kate (Markgraf) Sobrero, Tisha Venturini, Saskia Webber, and Sara Whalen. Initial investment in the league was provided by the following: * Time Warner Cable, $5 million * Cox Enterprises, $5 million * Cox Communications, $5 million * Amos Hostetter Jr., $5 million * Comcast Corporation, $5 million * John Hendricks and Comcast Corporation, $2.5 million each * Amos Hostetter Jr. and John Hendricks, $2.5 million each The U.S. Soccer Federation approved membership of the league as a sanctioned Division 1 women's professional soccer league on August 18, 2000. Tony DiCicco was made commissioner.

Media coverage

At various times, games were televised on TNT, CNNSI, ESPN2, PAX TV, and various local and regional sports channels via Comcast, Cox, Fox,

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

, and MSG.

TNT and CNN/SI (2001)

TNT broadcast the first WUSA game on April 21, 2001, which was contest between the Atlanta Beat and New York Power at Bobby Dodd Stadium in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. Former U.S. national team member Wendy Gebauer Palladino helped called the game alongside broadcaster JP Dellacamera and American soccer great Michelle Akers. About 22 games were scheduled to be broadcast nationally on TNT or CNN/SI in 2001. 15 games were initially expected to be shown on TNT and seven games on CNN/SI over the course of June to August. The deal included broadcast of playoffs and the championship game, the Founders Cup. During a four-year span, TNT and CNN/SI were due to televise at least 88 games, under a $3 million TV contract. Ratings were not available for CNN/SI for the 2001 season as the cable TV provider did not reach enough households to be a statistical factor.

Pax (2002–2003)

After the 2001 season, the WUSA opted out of its four-year agreement to go with a two-year pact with the Pax network. The WUSA's reasoning that Pax's offer for a 4 p.m. Saturday timeslot was more desirable than the noon timeslot that TNT offered. The change from TNT and CNN/SI to Pax however, may have immediately depressed ratings by confusing fans. To be more specific, the WUSA's ratings plunged from the 0.4 to 0.2 average it got on TNT to a 0.1 average on Pax. In other words, where as an average of 425,000 households tuned in to watch the games on TNT, fewer than 100,000 watched them on Pax. Keep in mind that Pax was a station available in 90 million, 5 million more than TNT. The move to Pax also came as AOL Time Warner considered morphing CNN/SI into a basketball channel that would be co-owned with the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. Pax's coverage in itself, concerned the broadcast of the ''WUSA Game of the Week'', on 19 consecutive Saturdays beginning in April at 4:00 p.m. ( ET). In 2003, the league wouldn't decide on the opponents for the final Pax ''Game of the Week'' on August 9 in order to provide soccer fans with the best possible matchup with playoff implications. The decision on the two opponents for the August 9 game would be made in early August. In total, Pax was scheduled to televise 18 regular season games and one WUSA Playoff Semifinal in the second week of August. Pax would receive certain cross-promotional opportunities with the league, including signs at each team venue, although the WUSA would handle ad sales for the games. The agreement carried a reported value of $2 million.

ESPN2 (2003)

For the WUSA's third and final season, they announced that ESPN2 would join Pax in broadcasting 23 league games in 2003. This would begin with a rematch of Founders Cup II with the Washington Freedom visit the Carolina Courage on April 5. ESPN2 was scheduled to broadcast only four of the 23 nationally televised games. This included the All-Star Game on June 19 and the Founders Cup on August 24. Beth Mowins and

Anson Dorrance Albert Anson Dorrance IV (born April 9, 1951) is a retired American soccer coach (sport), coach. He was the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels women's soccer, women's soccer program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Uni ...

handled WUSA games on not just Pax but ESPN2 also. The WUSA ultimately scored a 0.1 percent rating on Pax and 0.2 percent on ESPN2.

Teams

The WUSA franchises were located in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

;

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

;

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

; Washington, D.C.; Cary, N.C.;

; San Jose, Ca.; and

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

: For the inaugural season, each roster primarily consisted of players from the United States, although up to four international players were allowed on each team's roster. Among the international players were

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

's Sun Wen, Pu Wei, Fan Yunjie, Zhang Ouying, Gao Hong, Zhao Lihong, and Bai Jie; Germany's Birgit Prinz, Conny Pohlers, Steffi Jones and Maren Meinert;

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

's Hege Riise, Unni Lehn, and Dagny Mellgren;

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

's Sissi, Kátia and Pretinha; and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

's Charmaine Hooper, Sharolta Nonen, and Christine Latham. The league also hosted singular talents from nations which were not then at the forefront of women's soccer, such as Maribel Dominguez of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, Homare Sawa of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, Julie Fleeting of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, Cheryl Salisbury of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, Marinette Pichon of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and Kelly Smith of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

WUSA Awards

Founders Cup champions

The Founders Cup (named in honor of the 20 founding players) was awarded to the winner of a four-team, single-elimination postseason playoff. "asdet" stands for "after sudden death extra time". WUSA's sudden death overtime was 15 minutes long (two 7½-minute periods) and used only in the playoffs.

League suspension

The WUSA played for three full seasons, suspending operations on September 15, 2003, shortly after the conclusion of the third season. Neither television ratings nor attendance met forecasts, while the league spent its initial $40million budget, planned to last five years, by the end of the first season. Even though the players took salary cuts of up to 30% for the final season, with the founding players (who also held an equity stake in the league) taking the largest cuts, that was not enough to bring expenses under control. In the hopes of an eventual relaunch of the league, all rights to team names, logos, and similar properties were preserved. Efforts to line up new sources of capital and operating funds continued. In June

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, the WUSA held two "WUSA Festivals" in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and Blaine, Minnesota, featuring matches between reconstituted WUSA teams (often with marquee players borrowed from other teams), in order to maintain the league in the public eye and sustain interest in women's professional soccer. With the WUSA on hiatus, the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) and the W-League regained their status as the premier women's soccer leagues in the United States, and many former WUSA players joined those teams. A new women's professional soccer league in the United States called Women's Professional Soccer started in 2009. However, that league suspended operations in January 2012. It was succeeded by the National Women's Soccer League which continues to this day.

References

{{Authority control Sports leagues established in 2000 Sports leagues disestablished in 2003 Defunct women's soccer leagues in the United States Defunct professional sports leagues in the United States 2000 establishments in the United States 2003 disestablishments in the United States