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Being a fan of women’s soccer is a bit like being a fan of quality television like Community or quality music like Metric. You see how smart people react when they’re exposed to it, and you don’t understand why billionaires aren’t lining up to back it while fans clamor for more.The television industry has actually done better than most at continuing to produce niche content. Take the 20th through 40th shows in the weekly Nielsen ratings and move them back to 1982, and most of them would be summarily canceled. A “hit” on cable draws perhaps a couple million people. By most demographic trends, local TV news should be dead, and yet it’s expanding so that workaholics who rise at 4:30 a.m. can get a quick roundup of whatever happened since they went to sleep.The sports industry is a little more erratic. The USA has two full-time soccer channels in addition to regular offerings on various other networks in a couple of different languages. And yet we aren’t able to maintain the diversity of sports that Europe sees — handball leagues, volleyball leagues, water polo leagues, the bulk of winter sports seasons, the bulk of other Olympic sports seasons, and women’s sports. The USA has the top women’s soccer league in the world, but for how much longer?Simply saying “There’s no market for it” is a rather tired argument. It’s really a matter of striking a balance and finding the right business model. Men’s soccer finally found it, even though it took several years of staggering losses. No one could’ve blamed MLS for shutting down in 2002. What’s the right way forward for women’s soccer?Here’s some of the debate over the past 24 hours:SANCTIONING WITH FIVE TEAMSI hadn’t thought about this until I saw it at BigSoccer, but the old NASL once had five teams, several years before the boom. I’m checking with historian Roger Allaway to make sure, but it seems that league was indeed sanctioned. It was the product of a 1968 merger between the sanctioned USA and unsanctioned NPSL.The NASL went on to become something big before collapsing under its own weight. So why shouldn’t U.S. Soccer give WPS the same opportunity?NATIONAL TEAM PLAYERS SPEAK OUTSeveral players from the 2011 U.S. team had taken to Twitter to express support for the league, and Becky Sauerbrunn was among the first to sign a petition organized by Western New York president/player Alex Sahlen. Some fans had wondered when Abby Wambach would speak, and they got their answer last night:
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“I want all women and men out there to have a choice to do what they love!! I hope the wps can survive for all the girls who dream of it!!
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Yael Averbuch, who was a late cut from the World Cup roster and could still have a shot at the Olympics, offered up an eloquent essay on the important of her league in her semi-regular New York Times blogging slot:
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Trying to Save W.P.S.: A Player’s ViewMONTCLAIR, N.J. – “When W.U.S.A. folded, one of the worst things I continued to hear was that it was too bad they [the general public] di…
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KATE MARKGRAF THROWS DOWN THE GAUNTLETIs it possible to have an epic rant on Twitter? Longtime U.S. defender Kate Markgraf, who played in both the WUSA and WPS, hinted at a few issues Sunday evening:
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“If there was no WUSA- there might hv been no Boxx n Wambach-2 of the best. #ussoccer who might u (cont) tl.gd/edp3dl
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The rest of that Tweet from “TwitLonger”: “miss out on if no #wps? #if u can’t do it better support and improve what u got.”Then on Monday night, she let fly:
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“Short term thinking seems 2 b driving the ship. after olympics, pia wants to go to sweden, @ussoccer pays salary USWNT through yr. my fear
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“is what happened in ’05 after we won, NOTHING was even thought or scheduled for the USWNT. isn’t that cheaper than dealing w/a league
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“i made a great living because of @ussoccer. i was paid very well by them so no complaints there. but there are 2 years after olympics
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“that residency with 40 players, or camps just can’t cut it anymore. technically, tactically, etc. against teams playing year round
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“start-ups take time to grow, have obstacles to overcome, and then if you hold on tight enough, become something sustainable. if #mls was
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“worth it-which is absolutely is!- then i hv to believe #wps is, too.
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Markgraf cut to the heart of the matter: Some people in U.S. Soccer may think a residency camp, free from the potential injuries and overwork of a league, is the way to go in the Olympic year of 2012. But in the long term, a league is best for the talent pool. Without the WUSA, the U.S. national team wouldn’t have had Shannon Boxx or maybe even Abby Wambach. WPS drastically shaped the player pool for 2011, with Megan Rapinoe, Amy LePeilbet, Lori Lindsey and a couple more players getting significant boosts from their pro experience.The questions facing U.S. Soccer right now are difficult. But without a league going forward, the questions in 2015 and 2016 might be a little more difficult.
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Duresport.com 
Has Boston gotten the new investors they said they needed to be in for 2012?
If not, WPS has 4 teams for 2012 today. Is that really enough for US Soccer to sign off on and have a season?
The only thing that I really want to call US Soccer out on right now is the whole short timeframe thing.
What does it cost US Soccer to give them more time to get at least 6 solid teams for 2012?
If Women’s Soccer wants to save itself, then Chastain, Foudy and Hamm need to show up at MLS HQ unannounced, ask for a meeting with Don and Mark, apologize for shitting on the Men’s game 12 years ago, and offer their collective PR services for $1 + expenses for 18 months to get WMLS off the ground.
Show me one shred of evidence that any of the people you mention (particularly Hamm, who steers clear of controversy like I steer clear of health food) really dragged down the men’s game, and maybe you’ll have a point. Or maybe not.
Your point about the United States not being “able to maintain the diversity of sports that Europe sees — handball leagues, volleyball leagues, water polo leagues, the bulk of winter sports seasons, the bulk of other Olympic sports seasons, and women’s sports.” could be disputed. But this is something that should be the topic of a major article in Sports illustrated or the Atlantic Magazine, not a comments board.
However, It is difficult to believe that something like a professional indoor team volleyball league, men’s or women’s, doesn’t exist in this country. After all, volleyball is a popular sport in this country and the United States is geographically and demographically the third largest country in the world as well as easily the richest. But I guess in professional sports, like so many other economic spheres and so many industries in this great country of ours, it’s either dominate or die. Maybe the only reason we have even the NBA, MLB, or NHL is because NFL football isn’t play year round and has only 32 franchises.
Professional sports in this country is run by businessmen, not government bureaucrats like in the old USSR or education bureaucrats like in the NCAA schools. The priority of businessmen is profit and increasing the value of the owned property, not a support structure for a national team or publicity and recognition for a university.
Regarding the MLS, it wouldn’t be here today without the charitable support of Philip Anschutz, Lamar Hunt, and the Kraft brothers back in the day. Yes, they were in it to make money. An article in the Los Angeles Times a week or two ago, just before the latest MLS Cup, pointed out that MLS has YET to make any money. That’s 16 years of operating in the red and counting.
Volleyball is a good question. For a while, the USA was at least the epicenter of beach volleyball, but that doesn’t seem to be true anymore.
MLS may not have turned a profit, technically, but people are making money on it. Anschutz has sold most of his teams, some for big money, and he has stadiums. The value of most teams has soared. Some teams have made money on their own. And SUM provides a revenue stream.
Besides — plenty of sports operations technically operate at a loss. In the case of Barcelona or Manchester City, a huge loss.