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Women’s Professional Soccer is no stranger to hardship. The league has absorbed an assortment of blows in its short lifespan, including the contraction of two teams, meager attendance figures, a front office restructuring and the departures of Chief Operating Officer Mary Harvey and Commissioner Tonya Antonucci.

Given the ownership insecurities that currently face FC Gold Pride and the Washington Freedom, the league may need to perform up its most spectacular escape act yet.

As expected, new details have emerged in the wake of Jeff Kassouf’s Equalizer’s report late Sunday night. The report suggested that both clubs were looking to fold as early as Monday and an official announcement was forthcoming. Both clubs are still functioning but FC Gold Pride General Manager Ilissa Kessler and Washington Freedom General Manager Mark Washo have told The Equalizer that they are publicly searching for investors.

It appears that the death knell may have rung hollow. For now at least.

This summer the league mandated that teams put up the amount of money guaranteed to complete a full season in escrow to avoid another Saint Louis Athletica situation. WPS announced this in a press release dated July 26th. This presumes the new ground work had been put in place sometime after the Athletica folded on May 27th.

A team owner tells All White Kit that the initial deadline was set shortly after the conclusion of the 2010 season. It had been extended to October 31 in order to give teams more time to settle in the offseason. This also gave teams an ample amount of time to come up with the amount of cash required. The second deadline came and went, and both FC Gold Pride and the Washington Freedom were unable to foot the bill, as was reported by both The Equalizer and Fake Sigi.

No pay, no play.

In recent weeks, Freedom GM Mark Washo has indicated to both The Washington Post and Virginia Soccer News that the team was looking for new owners. Long-time owners John and Maureen Henricks had nurtured the club from the cradle and appeared to be beside it at its grave.

The possible shuttering of 2010 WPS champions FC Gold Pride was more surprising. Almost exactly one month ago today, owner Nancy NeSmith told the San Jose Mercury News that WPS was sustainable on a new business model predicated on cutbacks.

“We cut down on costs, we cut down on a lot of different things, and so everybody in the league has re-evaluated. If you start with 3,000 tickets paid each game, then you base everything from that. So the amount of money you’re spending, the amount of money you’re paying your players ,the amount of money you’re paying your coaches, and everything, is all based on that model — and that’s a much more successful model than the 6,000.”

So why the sudden about-face? Reports have suggested that the FC Gold Pride ownership group has hemorrhaged figures between $2 million and $5 million. Such losses could be enough to make any investor – regardless of how committed they once were – run for the hills.

In light of the bad news, the Board of Governors has agreed to extend the escrow deadline for all teams to November 15th. This provides FC Gold Pride and the Washington Freedom more time to scour the surroundings in search of an investor who can come galloping in on a white horse, open checkbook in hand.

Is the situation really that dire? It depends on who you ask. Some have suggested that these next two weeks will determine whether or not another WPS match is ever staged again. If those two teams go, will the rest of the league follow? A team owner avoided envisioning such a doomsday scenario but did suggest that if the league ever downsized to a certain number of teams, it would lose any chance of viability, particularly to sponsors. WPS is not there yet, however.

Others, including CEO Anne-Marie Eileeras, have ensured that WPS will forge ahead with six teams, as painful as it may be. On Monday, Eileraas told the San Jose Mercury News:

”We’d rather not lose teams but we could withstand losing a team or two and still have a 2011 season.”

Additionally, it’s important to not lose sight of the people who have been particularly affected by all of this, and that’s the players. The ACL-CIO-backed WPS Players’ Union was established on September 9th and intends to give the players more of a voice in league decisions. However, a source close to the players reveals that prior to its release, “the five Union representatives did not know about the report either.” Some players were alerted of the news by friends, fellow teammates and family members. Nine members of the two teams in question are currently in Cancun for CONCACAF Women’s World Cup qualifying.

In the interim, the search begins for new investors, particularly for the two aforementioned teams. Coaxing potential backers into investing into an enterprise that may never yield a return will undoubtedly be a tough sell. However, as WPS has made brutally honest since the league’s inception, it’s never been about the money. Players, investors, staffers, and media members can all attest to this.

The initial report has raised a considerable amount of questions about the general well-being of the league, even amongst its most ardent advocates. Perhaps having the story out in the open serves a greater purpose, however.

As messy and confusing as the aftermath may have been, Kassouf was right to publish the story, even though the proposed timing of the announcement was off. The ground began quaking ever so slightly last week, particularly around the kickoff of CONCACAF Women’s World Cup Qualifying but when one put an ear to the ground, there was nothing but silence. FC Gold Pride and the Washington Freedom were/are clearly fighting for survival and Kassouf let it be known to the world. Why not try to enlist as many helping hands to the rescue mission as possible? Making it public is key to this.

Take the Milwaukee Wave, for instance. The Wave is the longest-running pro soccer franchise in the country. The indoor soccer team hit hard times in July of 2009. The team’s primary investor in the club had bowed out and its four-team league had shut its doors. Veteran coach Keith Tozer reached out to the club’s fan base, beseeching them to help purchase 2,000 tickets to avoid oblivion. Due to the urgency of its financial situation, the team had only two weeks to raise the necessary amount of funds. The “Save the Wave” campaign was launched. The team managed to survive the scare and was acquired by the Major Indoor Soccer League later that year. One-time Chicago Red Stars co-owner Peter Wilt returned to the club he began his professional career at 22 years prior.

While WPS and MISL aren’t exactly tantamount to one another, the point here is clear. With some fan ingenuity and continued vested interest, it’s possible to save these teams from the brink. The two-week extension period afforded by the league owners could be enough. A case study exists.

Furthermore, Kassouf’s report has worked to shed light on the issue at hand. A league source confirms that “parties have appeared that would not have been otherwise interested”. Of course, an interested party is not necessarily synonymous with a brand new investor but its progress that may not have been made otherwise.

The storyline will continue to play out over the next few weeks. It’s difficult to forecast beyond then. The folding of two teams and the player dispersals that would follow would truly be headache-inducing for league organizers. The format of the College Draft may also have to be rejiggered. In the immediate future, the Expansion Draft for the Western New York team planned for Thursday has been cancelled.

A glimmer of hope exists for both FC Gold Pride and the Washington Freedom, as faint as it may be. It may take a gargantuan effort from all parties involved to keep these clubs afloat but it’s worth it. For the sake of the sport, it is inarguably worth it.

Come November 15th, the three frontrunners for the FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year could be without a team. If that’s not worth fighting for, I’m not sure what is.

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Filed Under:  

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This post is related to an ongoing story:

• WPS Progress & Setbacks

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