National Women’s Soccer League Takes Off

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239669hp2 The National Women’s Soccer League’s launching this year, and from preliminary appearances, it has the makings of a successful sports organization, and mostly for one reason: it has the financial backing and moral support of U.S. Soccer.

U.S. Soccer is subsidizing the salaries of of up to 24 U.S. Women’s National Team players like Hope Solo of The Seattle Reign FC or Alex Morgan of the Portland Thorns FC. Meanwhile the Canadian Soccer Association will back the salaries of up to 16 Canadian stars.

It’s Executive Director (a title that I hate, and think it should be “commissioner”) is Cheryl Bailey, who was the U.S. Women’s National Team General Manager.

As for the eight teams, they are in Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, Western New York, New Jersey, Portland, Seattle and Washington, D.C., to start. But what you really want to know is who’s on what team, right?

Here’s the list of player allocations:

Boston Breakers
Sydney Leroux (USA)
Heather Mitts (USA)
Heather O’Reilly (USA)
Adriana Leon (CAN)
Rhian Wilkinson (CAN)
Anisa Guajardo (MEX)
Cecilia Santiago (MEX)

Chicago Red Stars
Shannon Boxx (USA)
Amy LePeilbet (USA)
Keelin Winters (USA)
Erin McLeod (CAN)
Carmelina Moscato (CAN)
Maribel Dominguez (MEX)
Dinora Garza (MEX)

FC Kansas City
Nicole Barnhart (USA)
Lauren Cheney (USA)
Becky Sauerbrunn (USA)
Desiree Scott (CAN)
Lauren Sesselmann (CAN)
Renae Cuellar (MEX)
Marylin Diaz (MEX)

Portland Thorns FC
Rachel Buehler (USA)
Tobin Heath (USA)
Alex Morgan (USA)
Luz Saucedo (MEX)
Marlene Sandoval (MEX)
Karina LeBlanc (CAN)
Christine Sinclair (CAN)

Seattle Reign FC
Megan Rapinoe (USA)
Amy Rodriguez (USA)
Hope Solo (USA)
Kaylyn Kyle (CAN)
Emily Zurrer (CAN)
Jenny Ruiz (MEX)
Teresa Noyola (MEX)

Sky Blue FC
Jill Loyden (USA)
Kelley O’Hara (USA)
Christie Rampone (USA)
Sophie Schmidt (CAN)
Melanie Booth (CAN)
Monica Ocampo (MEX)
Lydia Rangel (MEX)

Washington Spirit
Ashlyn Harris (USA)
Ali Krieger (USA)
Lori Lindsey (USA)
Robin Gayle (CAN)
Diana Matheson (CAN)
Alina Garciamendez (MEX)
Teresa Worbis (MEX)

Western New York Flash
Carli Lloyd (USA)
Abby Wambach (USA)
Bryanna McCarthy (CAN)
Jodi-Ann Robinson (CAN)
Veronica Perez (MEX)
Pamela Tajonar (MEX)

Overall, the NWSL’s business model looks alot like that of the WNBA, where the NBA’s footing much of the bill for that league. That’s a good idea to do, but the feeling here is the marketing has to be more aggressive and sex-appeal-related if the NWSL’s going to really take off. The only way a league goes from surviving to thriving is by drawing the casual fan.

Stay tuned.

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