WPS Chicago Stars FC

Chicago Red Stars Plan for 2011 Capitalization

November 4, 2010 - Women's Professional Soccer (WPS)
Chicago Stars FC News Release


Dear Chicago Red Stars Fans,

We wanted to reach out to give you an update on Chicago's position in Women's Professional Soccer for 2011 and beyond, and on our efforts to seek additional investors and economic partners.

As reported by several outlets earlier this week, the Washington Freedom's and FC Gold Pride's futures for the 2011 season are in limbo, and the organizations, ownership and the league are doing everything possible to see that they return next year.

The Chicago owners continue to fund the team, but the Washington and Bay Area news has affected some of the Red Stars' planned partnerships. Thus, we continue to seek additional investors and long-term economic partners and hope to close on both current prospects and new prospects that may come to light soon.

We continue as an organization to make steady progress toward becoming part of the fabric of Chicago and achieving long-term financial sustainability. However, we have to face the significant short-term difficulties.

We are mired in a tough economy and trying to sell "women's pro sports" to a very busy customer base, while many fans simply have thinner wallets. We never thought it would be simple. All the WPS teams have lost far more money than they intended, but we continue to push on, to restructure and strive for a day when young women can dream with clarity about playing professional sports.

We have much work remaining to be ready for 2011. Our owners remain committed to putting the team on the field in 2011, but have been stretched further financially than we ever planned. Like you, we hope that all eight teams (and more!) are financially prepared to play in 2011.

Our Red Stars fans have been wonderful, and your continued support is essential. We hope you'll be even more excited next year when we pick up where we left off with a great team on the field.

Next year is an exciting and important time for women's soccer. In addition to the third WPS season, 2011 also is a World Cup year, and the international spotlight will be on many of the world-class athletes involved in WPS. Three Red Stars players are with their national teams in the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying semifinals on Friday.

We owe it to the fans, our staff and the players to make sure this league is around for years to come.

Regards,

The Chicago Red Stars

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Women's Professional Soccer Stories from November 4, 2010


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