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.[1] Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the United States.[2] 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.[3][4]
The U.S. Soccer Federation approved membership of the league as a sanctioned Division 1 women's professional soccer league on August 18, 2000.[10]Tony DiCicco was made commissioner.[11]
TNT[18] broadcast the first[19] WUSA game on April 21, 2001, which was contest between the Atlanta Beat and New York Power[20] at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta.[21] Former U.S. national team member Wendy Gebauer Palladino helped called the game alongside broadcaster JP Dellacamera[22] and American soccer great Michelle Akers. About 22 games[23][24] were scheduled to be broadcast nationally on TNT or CNN/SI[25] in 2001. 15 games were initially expected to be shown on TNT[26] and seven games[27] on CNN/SI over the course of June to August.[28] The deal included broadcast of playoffs and the championship game,[29][30] the Founders Cup.[31] During a four-year span, TNT and CNN/SI were due to televise at least 88 games,[32] under a $3 million TV contract.[33]
Ratings were not available for CNN/SI[34] 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[35] of its four-year[36] agreement to go with a two-year pact[37] with the Pax network.[38][39][40][41] The WUSA's reasoning that Pax's offer for a 4 p.m. Saturday timeslot was more desirable[42] than the noon[43] timeslot that TNT offered.
The change[44] from TNT and CNN/SI to Pax however, may have immediately depressed ratings by confusing fans.[45] To be more specific, the WUSA's ratings plunged from the 0.4[46] to 0.2[47] 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,[48] 5 million more than TNT.[49] The move to Pax also came as AOL Time Warner[50] considered morphing CNN/SI into a basketball channel that would be co-owned with the National Basketball Association.
Pax's coverage in itself, concerned the broadcast of the WUSA Game of the Week, on 19 consecutive Saturdays[51] beginning in April at 4:00 p.m.[52] (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,[53] Pax was scheduled to televise 18[54] 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.[55][56]
For the WUSA's third and final season,[57][58] they announced that ESPN2[59] would join Pax in broadcasting 23 league games in 2003. This would begin with a rematch of Founders Cup II[60] 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[61] on June 19 and the Founders Cup[62] on August 24. Beth Mowins[63] and Anson Dorrance handled WUSA games on not just Pax[64][65] but ESPN2 also.
The WUSA ultimately scored a 0.1 percent rating on Pax and 0.2 percent on ESPN2.[66]
"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.[69] 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.[70] 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, the WUSA held two "WUSA Festivals" in 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.[71]
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.[72]
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.[73] It was succeeded by the National Women's Soccer League which continues to this day.
