Women's
soccer league fails with few sponsors
ATLANTA
(AP) -- The WUSA shut down operations five
days before the Women's World Cup, saying
it didn't have enough money to stay in business
for a fourth season.
The
decision, made by the league's board of
governors Monday at a meeting in New York,
brings to an abrupt end the league that
built on the success of the 1999 Women's
World Cup.
The
eight-team WUSA was filled with the world's
best female soccer players, including U.S.
stars Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain and Julie
Foudy
But
the attention the Women's World Cup received
faded over the years, leaving the WUSA foundering.
TV ratings were almost nonexistent and the
league had trouble finding fans who weren't
under 18 and play on a soccer team.
The
WUSA hoped another World Cup this fall would
bring last-minute corporate sponsorships
to save the league, but that hasn't happened,
said John Hendricks, chairman of the WUSA
board of governors.
Hendricks
blamed weak corporate support for the league's
failure.
''I
was intoxicated by what I witnessed in 1999,
and I mistakenly believed that level of
support would flow over into the league,''
Hendricks said.
The
WUSA's owners have invested more than $100
million to fund the league, and some of
the top players took pay cuts this season
to help keep it afloat. Even after cutting
costs, the league was about $16 million
in the red.
Hendricks
said the league needed eight sponsors to
spend $2.5 million each per year. ''If we
only had six or seven CEOs in America that
had stepped forward in the past year,''
Hendricks said. ''An independent women's
professional league can survive -- if it
has corporate support.''
The
league conceded the timing of the announcement
was awkward but said the WUSA had to consider
all its employees and players who aren't
in the World Cup.
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