It remains unclear at this point exactly what lesson to take from the announcement that St. Louis Athletica will cease operations this week, other than that WPS is working on such a razor's edge of a budget that it could only afford to take over team payroll for two weeks and not until the end of the season. Many fans and observers believe that the situation is a prime example of the pitfalls of placing a women's team under the control of an ownership group with a men's team, a model that the WNBA is moving away from. When the financial house of cards tumbled, all its ameliorating efforts were centered on AC St. Louis, the D-2 men's team. However, some also argue that AC St. Louis may not survive for long either, and reports about who drew better are conflicting (although it does seem clear that AC has a higher operating budget). For those who keep smarming on about how this is a pure 'business decision' that has nothing to do with gender, how does it happen that smart business decisions are always going to favor men's teams? The concept of institutional sexism, which is built into the system and doesn't need individual ill-will to operate, continues to elude some people.

Some fans also seem to be turning a bewildering amount of ire on foreign-born players, arguing that WPS should primarily be an employer for American soccer. Aside from the strangely nativist rhetoric, this logic isn't compelling to me. The goal is to gain a fan base by having the best women's soccer anywhere, and part of the way to do that is to draw exceptional players from overseas. That will necessitate paying them higher salaries than American bench players. While some of them could probably afford to negotiate down for the sake of the league's survival, it's equally important to continue the quality of play, plus of course there are some internationals who are *not* making exorbitant (by women's soccer standards) salaries and many Americans who are. Incidentally, Bill Archer on Big Soccer argues that the league has seriously erred by making the Athletica players available as free agents and should instead institute a dispersal draft as happened with the Sol. There's a top scorer, a top goalie, and a top mid on the market at the same time and this is not an equitable way to distribute them.

The most worrying discussion, however, is what this means for the league as a whole. Is this the beginning of the end, or simply necessary restructuring? Despite the welcome announcement from the Independence that they are not in debt, we haven't seen concomitant statements from any other team or the WPS leadership. The PR machine needs to get on this fast in order to shore up confidence. More fans need to do their part as investors by purchasing more tickets if they aren't already season ticket holders, and encouraging friends and family to attend games. Nevertheless, those of us who were around in 2003 already came into this venture with a sense of fatalism: we'd do the best we can, but there was no guarantee. Let's enjoy the top level soccer while we have it and hope for the best.

View Original Post at ftlouie.typepad.com/womensports

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This post is related to the following ongoing stories:

• Athletica Shuts Down