Megan Rapinoe #2 pick in WPS draft Sari Selected 66th

I think they have to keep tickets low to have any hope of drawing fans at a time like this, and its pretty much a guarantee they will take a loss... But I suppose it's more of an investment for the future, hopefully they can make some sort of foothold this year, and capitalize on it in the forms of higher ticket costs, more lucrative sponsorships and established fan bases once we get out of this little recession, we're all stuck in.

When Microsoft announces job losses I think we are in a worse economy than what could have been projected when the business model was created for the WPS. Say there are 20 players per market, at with an average salary of $50,000. I say average because some will get much more ala Marta.
One of the star players from the US is getting $60,000 from an unoffical source. So forget about coaches salaries, trainers, traveling, front office costs and unitemized costs and just from the player salary standpoint the payroll might be something like one million per year. According to press reports from a town hall meeting Marta has just left a three year 1.5 million dollar deal from Umea IK in Sweden.

Season tickets for the Sol are being advertised as from as low as 250 for endline seats to 750 for field level midfield if you sold 10,000 seats for say 500 you are getting a season gate of about 5 million. It looks like at least 500 thousand of that will be going to Marta which leaves 4.5 million to be dividied up by the rest of the franchise. The Galaxy averaged about 16,000 per game in 2008. What will the attendance for women be? Half? I would expect the actual average gate to be between 5,000 and 10,000. If they can't meet that level I would say the whole franchise might not be a money maker if you look only to the gate.

The LA based Sol will have to answer the question of Marta's salary. The Anshuz Entertainment Group (AEG), which also owns the Galaxy, certainly has some high dollar fire power as they brought David Becham for an estimated 250 million dollar deal. So what is a million or two for Marta FIFA women's best player for the last three years?

The organizers of the league say the WPS will be different from the WUSA inasmuch as it will not rely as much on sponsors and will be more franchise oriented rather than centrally as the WUSA was.

What this means to me that projected ticket sales have been taken into account. Making each franchise sustainable on its own rather than the traveling circus-de-solil that personified the WUSA. Also an issue is competition in the youth ranks between US Soccer national teams and the WPS. The WPS has said they intend to coexist and not compete with US Soccer teams. We saw this kind of coexistance between College teams and the U-20 team last year. FIFA will not consider the new leagues schedule as they exist as a body answerable to no one.

But on the brighter side our current crop of players and in at least the near future have a place to play and pay the bills after college.

Yeah, as much as I love Marta, her salary is really irresponsible if it's anything like what this blog says:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=923572

Better her than A-Rod, I guess. IMO it would be better to keep the salaries low and try to find ways to promote more outside endorsement money for the players. That would give the league some much needed media exposure.

I'm a little bit ignorant about this, so, maybe someone can answer this question: is there any financial connection between the MLS and the WPS at all? I'm just assuming there's not.

I think it would be a cool idea to have shared leases and double headers. The soccer community is pretty tight-knit. Probably a pipe dream, but, that's what blog sites are for I guess.

athleticjames wrote:Yeah, as much as I love Marta, her salary is really irresponsible if it's anything like what this blog says:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=923572

I'm a little bit ignorant about this, so, maybe someone can answer this question: is there any financial connection between the MLS and the WPS at all? I'm just assuming there is not:

There are some, how do you say commalnalies with MLS and WPS. The one I know about is Phillip Anshulz, prinicipal of AEG (Ansultz Entertainment Group), which owns both the Galaxy and the new LA SOL. It would take a little research but I would not be surprised if more of such commonalities of ownership existed in other cities.

More on the salary issue. It seems from the big soccer source that all USWNT players under contract get the same amount ($60,000). So if you are getting paid by the USWNT along with the WPS salaries you would have many players earning double salaries. For instance compare a USWNT member who signs on the WPS for say $40,000, you have a player making $100,000 per year. Then take a "role player" who is not under contract by the National Team and is making as little as $12.500 with the WPS. Such inequities exist in all sports I guess but you can at least make a decent living on the minimums paid by NFL, NBA MLB etc.

Which brings me to another question. Do we dare associate or compare the WPS to any of the aforementioned bodies? Should the only comparison be to the WNBA? What other women's professional leagues are out there?

"Which brings me to another question. Do we dare associate or compare the WPS to any of the aforementioned bodies? Should the only comparison be to the WNBA? What other women's professional leagues are out there?"--Autopilot.

Good point. Let me just put it this way: I hope that women athletes get what they deserve within a sustainable business model so that the league succeeds, and the athletes can thrive on doing what they love.

athleticjames wrote:"Which brings me to another question. Do we dare associate or compare the WPS to any of the aforementioned bodies? Should the only comparison be to the WNBA? What other women's professional leagues are out there?"--Autopilot.

Good point. Let me just put it this way: I hope that women athletes get what they deserve within a sustainable business model so that the league succeeds, and the athletes can thrive on doing what they love.

Agreed, and not to sound completely sexist, but soccer is definitely one of the sports where the women's game is equally exciting/entertaining as the men's game. Unlike basketball, where the high flying aspect of the game doesn't translate to the female equivalent as readily (with the exception of a select few like Candace Parker), the exciting aspects of passing, dribbling and goalscoring translate for either gender to the fan. I think in this regard the WPS definitely has a better shot of being independently successful (remember the WNBA pretty much leaches off the NBA financially), and I hope the "start small grassroots" business model translates into success in the future, because it will definitely be fun to watch.