Women's football teams finding buyers
Published on October 27, 2004 under National Women's Football Association (NWFA) News Release
The National Women's Football Association which is the largest pro football league in the world for women, is acting like the big boys. Teams are being sold around the league to new owners and the league is finding that the sales prices are getting higher and higher.
"We have recently had several teams come up for sale by the original owners and the sales prices are starting to reflect the overall success of the league," states league CEO Catherine Masters. While Masters would not divulge the new sales prices of the teams, she says they are substantial and go a long way to show the progress and profits of this new sport.
Two of the teams that have recently been sold are the D.C. Divas and the Pittsburgh Passion. The Divas were one of the first ten teams in the league and the Passion joined the league in 2002. The Passion has led the league in the number of fans for the past two seasons. Paul Hamlin has purchased the Divas and Theresa Conn is the new owner of the Passion.
"We are going to miss the original owners of these teams but feel that the new owners will use the foundations that have been built and continue to take these teams to another higher level," states league VP, Debby Lening.
NWFA Player appears on Reality Series!!
Linda Caruso, a player on the Mass Mutiny made it through the fifth episode on the new ABC reality show the Benefactor. The Benefactor is about Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, who is giving one person ONE MILLION dollars to compete for his friendship on the show. The contestants had to do different athletic challenges along with some mind games that were played on them. Mark picked Linda because he thought she'd make a great contestant. The series started with 16 contestants. On the last episode, Mark meets with the players at their homes. He travels to Boston to spend time at Linda's home. Mark is surprised when they pull up to a beautiful home in a very nice part of town. Mark was caught off-guard, because Linda had made it seem like she had come from a very poor background. Linda gets cut. Congratulations on making it to the final rounds! To find out who won, visit abc.go.com/primetime/benefactor/index.html
Emerald Coast Sharks Announce Head Coach/Tryouts! (Panama City, FL)
Emerald Coast Sharks owner Charles E. Rowan, Jr., announced the new head coach of the team today, David L. Freeland. Freeland was the head coach of the former NWFA Franchise team, the Panama City Rumble.
Freeland has been keeping in touch with the former Rumble players and they are eager to get back to playing ball. Freeland was head coach of the Rumble for the 2003 season. Freeland has been brought aboard the Sharks to help bring women's football back to Panama City and the Emerald Coast of Florida.
Tryouts will be held on Saturday, November 6, 2004 at 9am and on Saturday, November 13, 2004, at 9am. Both tryouts will be held at the Frank Brown Park, 16200 Panama City Beach Parkway, Panama City Beach, FL.
Rowan, along with Sam Terry, VP Operations/Marketing, and David Freeland, Head Coach, will be present for the tryouts. The team is looking for as many women to come out and show that men aren ¬â¢t the only ones that can play full contact football.
For additional information on the Emerald Coast Sharks, please visit www.emeraldcoastsharks.com , or you may call Sam Terry, VP Operations/Marketing (334) 657-5161.
Passion Tryouts (Pittsburgh, PA)
Tryouts for the Pittsburgh Passion will be held Saturday Nov. 6th at 10am. Anyone interested in playing tackle football should attend. The tryouts will be held at Marshall Middle School. For more information, please email tconn@velocity.net or visit pittsburghpassion.com
FREEZE TRYOUTS! (Portland, ME)
Tryouts for the Maine Freeze will be held on Sunday Nov 7th 2004 starting at 11am. It will be held in Fitzpatrick Stadium Portland, Maine. "Fitzy will be a wonderful place for the 2005 tryout", says Head Coach Steve Feder, "It will give the recruits a real sense of what it is like to be on our Game Day field." Fitzpatrick Stadium is located on Deering Ave, next to Hadlock Field where the Portland Seadogs play baseball.
For more information on the Maine Freeze, please email owner@mainefreeze.com or visit their website at mainefreeze.com
Gulf Coast Herricanes Announce Tryouts (Biloxi, MS)
Tryouts for the Herricanes will be: NOV 6 @ BILOXI at Lee Field, NOV 13 @ MOBILE at Medal of Honor Park and NOV 20 @ BILOXI at Lee Field. All times: 10:00 a.m. For directions please visit gcherricanes.com, call Tammy Long at 850-944-4472 or email gcherricanes@aol.com
Pensacola Power Hosting Tryouts! (Pensacola, FL)
Tryouts for the Pensacola Power will be held November 7, 14 and 21 at 1:30 pm at Bellview Park off Longleaf Dr. by Pine Forest High. For more information please check pensacolapower.org for more info.
Southwest Michigan Jaguars (Grand Rapids)
The SW Mich. Jags are hosting tryouts for the 2005 season. Tryouts dates and locations are: Oct. 30th Lansing 1-3:00 PM Marshall Park Saginaw &Marshall St.
For more information about the SW Mich. Jags, please email sfloyd@ojshoemaker.com or visit the Jaguars website at swmichjaguars.com
YOUNG GIRLS GEARING UP FOR NEW SPRING FOOTBALL LEAGUE
The National Women's Football Association, the largest pro football league in the world for women has announced the formation of the National Girls Football Association.
The NGFA will provide an opportunity for girls in grades 8-12 to play full contact football in a nationally organized league. Similar to the very popular Pop Warner teams, the NGFA will have as many teams as each city needs. "Ever since we started the adult women's league, we have had numerous emails and requests from young women wanting to play football. There are a lot of young girls who don't want to play softball or soccer and this will give them a chance to start on their dreams of playing full contact football. Our league is now going into its fifth year and we feel we have the plan in place to make this happen," states league VP Debby Lening.
The new NGFA teams will start playing in the spring of 2005 but organizers are now seeking interested parents, players and coaches to help run teams in their cities. Anyone interested should contact the NWFA offices at 615-860-4084 or email footballoffice@cs.com. "We are hoping to get our first teams started in cities where we have existing adult teams so that the younger girls will be able to feed into our league," states league CEO, Catherine Masters.
The NWFA has been featured in more than 250 major publications and TV networks including the CBS Evening News, The NBC Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The NBC Today Show, CNBC, MSNBC, CNN, Inside Edition, SPIKE TV, BET's MAAD Sports, The New York Times, The LA Times, Nickelodeon, the Boston Globe, The Washington Post and many, many local and regional networks and publications.
For additional information on the National Women's Football Association, please visit womensfootballassociation.com. This website receives between 1 and 3 million hits per month. Or call the league office at (615) 860-4084.
National Women's Football Association Stories from October 27, 2004
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
