Who can count the number of articles that have been written about the big black cloud that is looming over the
Women’s Professional Soccer league in the United States?
With the
Chicago Red Stars failing to secure reserve funding in order to participate in the 2011 season, sportswriters are pointing fingers and predicting future doom for the remaining clubs.
Initially, this article was going to have a similar bend. However, what good would that do? At this point, there needs to be some creative conversation on the matter because women’s sports, whether soccer, basketball, lacrosse and softball, would benefit from it.
For the longest time, I have had several, highly engaging conversations with people who could care less about women’s soccer, but (fortunately) enough about me to lend me their opinions. The conversation always begins with the following question: Why do you think people do not watch women’s soccer?
It was a question that I again posed a few weeks ago to many of my counterparts inside and outside of the global soccer community. Their responses have been compiled into our….
TOP 10 Reasons People Don’t Watch the WPS (In no particular order)
1. Lack of media coverage
2. Not aware of women’s soccer
3. Pace of game is too slow
4. Less women’s matches on television
5. Not heavily promoted until international competitions
6. Huge disparity in the abilities of the players
7. No commercials showcasing women’s technical abilities
8. Women’s soccer is still considered a recreational sport
9. Women do not promote themselves or their games
10. Most of WPS coverage is negative.
Over the next few entries, I am going to tackle each of these challenges with the help of some “experts.” At this point, it’s not enough to talk about the problem. Let’s see if we can provide the remaining clubs with some creative solutions for their upcoming season.
