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WPS Commissioner's Kick-Off Week Conference Call Remarks

April 7, 2010 - Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) News Release


Commissioner Tonya Antonucci:

Thanks everyone for joining us this morning.

You would think with one year of play under our belts, it might feel a little bit routine now, as we get ready for season two -- but there is still much to be done to build this league into a long-lasting, sustainable and successful league. And make no mistake, we are all working tirelessly as a group towards that goal.

All of us... from the league office to our partners, owners and team staffs in eight WPS markets ... as well as all the players and coaches in this league... we are all incredibly busy with just three days to go until WPS Kick-Off Week 2010 opens in Washington D.C. on Saturday, and WPS first 2010 broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel this Sunday featuring defending WPS Champions Sky Blue FC hosting the Chicago Red Stars at 6pm ET.

Through all the hard work, the off-season adjustments and the last minute preparations, we head into this upcoming weekend and the entire 2010 WPS Season with a sense of optimism, a sense of purpose and a sense that we laid a solid foundation in 2009 upon which we can grow.

2009 taught us many things. It taught us that we have to be nimble. It taught us that we have to be efficient and it taught us how to weather the storm, the economy, and that we have to be able to make adjustments during the early years of this business. These are possible within the flexible business model we have created for WPS.

It also solidified the notion that we had championed heading into season 1: that our fans come first and we have to present them with an exciting, world class product on the field within the framework of an affordable and family-friendly atmosphere. That remains our mission. To build our base one fan at a time

To achieve that in 2010, I'm happy to mention a few of the league's key developments for this season.

First, we start with 2 new expansion teams in Atlanta and Philadelphia which brings our league to a total of eight teams. Having new teams and new ownership groups brings in new perspectives and new ideas. The two clubs will face off Sunday April 11 in a match-up of expansion teams. What a great way to start their WPS story...

And the Atlanta Beat will feature one of the league's biggest developments this season. On May 9, Atlanta Beat's new stadium in Kennesaw, Georgia will open. A beautiful 8,300 seat venue, the first stadium built specifically for a WPS team. It will also host our WPS All-Star Game presented by the U.S. Coast Guard on June 30. We've seen the impact new stadiums can have in other pro leagues and it will be an important window into the future of WPS this season as the stadium opens.

We'll see another team debut a new home stadium with FC Gold Pride renovating and retro-fitting Pioneer Stadium in San Francisco's East Bay. It's a perfect marriage of a university with a great little stadium and a team that now has venue that it can call home which is fan-friendly with many aspects in place for a terrific atmosphere.

On the field, our league's owners have made an on-going commitment to signing the world's best. WPS now has players from 19 different countries including first-time players from Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Holland and Germany, one of the sports powers. Those signings, coupled with the incoming college class that features several national team players and collegiate record holders, should make for even more depth and quality play in WPS.

Along with more talent, we're going to feature a longer season this year. With a 24-game regular season, we have more revenue opportunities and a season that stretches into September when teams can take advantage of group ticket sales to schools and clubs back from summer break. By moving our season into September we have also shifted our WPS All-Star Game to mid-season, separating one of our league's national events from our WPS Championship on September 26.

All of these are done with the fan in mind, but also with an eye towards important business decisions that should benefit our teams and our league.

On the business side, we're happy to see several positive trends this season. Last year was one of the worst economies in decades and through it all - and I don't think we made this point enough last year - our league created 200 jobs for players and coaches, another 100 front office jobs and another 300 part-time positions for game day staff.

This year, we have seen season ticket sales for returning teams up about 20%, local sponsorships up about 150% on average, with four teams that have announced jersey sponsors so far in 2010 - a two-fold increase on last year.

In our Inaugural Season, we averaged over 4,600 fans and we hope to improve our attendance numbers by a modest 5-10% in 2010. We're debuting our new "Defend Your Turf" campaign during this Kick-Off Week with 50-foot interactive video projections on the side of buildings of star players in New Jersey, D.C. and Chicago that should catch the attention of quite a few. And we're pleased to announce that we've already signed partners for our WPS Camps in eight cities across the U.S. to expand the WPS brand at a grassroots level and provide diversity to our revenue streams

Nationally, we continue to look for key partners that want to make multi-year commitment to WPS. PUMA and the U.S. Coast Guard were important partners in 2009. This pre-season we were proud to announce Citi as the second founding partner and the league's first-ever national jersey sponsor. Citi recognizes and supports the opportunities that WPS has created for female athletes and women's soccer players over the past two years and looks forward to continuing to support the growth of youth soccer in communities around the country through its WPS partnership.

Finally, we hope to see an increase in the focus on our league's personalities and players. WPS is a super league of amazing stars ready for the mainstream. Ultimately, they are our biggest assets - athletes who have worked their whole lives at their craft simply out of passion for the game, who are incredible role models, heroes and entertainers for everyone both young and old.

They are athletes who do not come to the field with a sense of entitlement, but rather a sense of community. These are athletes that all fans can relate to, and we relish in offering that fan-player interaction, whether its autograph alley at the end of games or special ticket packages that include on-field photos with players.

As we look ahead to the future, WPS will embark on an expansion strategy for 2011 which could see as many as 2 markets join the league. With carefully planned growth - and a strong player pool to support that - along with our midseason countdown to the 2011 Women's World Cup in Germany, the next few years look bright for the future of women's soccer.

I look forward to seeing all of you out at a WPS game this year and thank you for your support and coverage of WPS.

NOTE: Audio will be posted within the next day.



Women's Professional Soccer Stories from April 7, 2010


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.


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