USL Feature
Thursday, March 8, 2012
By NICHOLAS MURRAY
When it comes to the evolution of women’s soccer in North America, Seattle Sounders Women General Manager Amy Carnell has seen a lot.
A player for the Seattle Sounders Women in the W-League in 2002, Carnell has seen the club’s commitment to the women’s game increase through the years. While the Sounders Women are now owned by an outside group, the overall growth of the sport in the Pacific Northwest - and in Seattle in particular - has seen the W-League team attract greater attention than when Carnell was playing.
“Back then [the Sounders Women] were happy to piggyback off the USL Sounders during double headers,” she said recently via email. “We were happy if 500-1,000 caught the second half of our game. The success of Sounders FC over the past three years proves that Seattle fans have a true love for the game.
“We know there is a market for soccer in Seattle and it’s time to prove that women’s soccer can find its niche within the community. I think we are in a great position.”
This week saw another step in the growth of women’s soccer in North America with the announcement of a partnership between the Colorado Rapids and Colorado Force that will mark the launch of the Colorado Rapids Women. There’s much to be said about the importance of this partnership in particular, but even more about the state of Major League Soccer and the W-League, and how the growth of these two leagues together will impact the future of women’s soccer.
“We now have four officially recognized W-League teams that are either owned by or partnered with MLS clubs through agreements that have been approved and executed by MLS, USL, SUM and both team organizations” said W-League Senior Director Amanda Duffy. “These four W-League teams represent the club by approved use of name, marks, uniforms, access to media, sponsors and other critical elements that represent the MLS club on the women’s behalf.
“In addition we have fifth W-League team, the LA Strikers, who have a relationship with CD Chivas USA where an important collaboration is in place to expose the Strikers to Chivas fans with a booth in ChivaTown alongside presenting sponsors of the MLS team and league, use of Chivas players in marketing campaigns and access to Chivas season ticket holders. We’ll continue to see this partnership develop as both organizations grow.”
Finding a niche in the community has always been a key in the success of a soccer club, whether in men’s or women’s soccer. With MLS now having an outstanding level of stability within its clubs, some of its members are looking to the W-League as another avenue for growing its brand and extending its player development.
The most recent announcement in Colorado comes as a result of years of relationship building between the two organizations, years of the W-League’s Force operating with the highest standards, and successful existing partnerships that the Rapids could rely on, raising confidence in knowing the mutually positive results of joining the W-League. Brian Crookham, the Director of Operations for the Rapids Academy, was full of praise for the Force’s co-founder, Amy Snider.
“This partnership has been a long time coming,” Crookham said. “Amy Snider has done a great job promoting the women’s game in our area and our annual Women’s Soccer Celebration was certainly a catalyst. We have discussed the possibility for a long time but I think we really got motivated a little over a year ago. Our former Managing Director Jeff Plush was a big advocate and it just took off from there.”
In previous years, the Rapids had teamed with the Force to host an annual game at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, with last year’s event seeing the Force face their in-state rival the Colorado Rush. Now DSG Park will be the permanent home for the Rapids Women, offering the club a chance to build its fan base and provide long-term stability.
Crookham cited the success D.C. United had in its partnership last year, which resulted in the formation of D.C. United Women, as one of the motivating factors in the club’s partnership with the Force. In addition, the opportunity to play in the W-League, currently the highest level of women’s soccer in North America, offers greater opportunity for young players in Colorado.
“We are quite serious about exposing the local girls and women to what is currently the top level of women’s soccer in the best women’s soccer nation in the world,” Crookham said. “I think the women will connect well with our fan base, but most importantly they will fill a much needed role for aspiring women’s soccer players.”
While the Rapids and Force are helping elevate the women’s game in Colorado, D.C. United helped keep it alive in the capital after the departure of the Washington Freedom to South Florida. D.C. United had worked with women’s soccer teams in the past, most notably hosting doubleheaders with the WPS’ Washington Freedom before their move, but entering a partnership similar to the one employed by the Sounders allowed the club to boost its standing in the local soccer community. While having no financial stake in the team, D.C. United Executive Vice President Stephen Zack believes partnering with the W-League team, which enables them to use the D.C. United name, provided benefits to both the W-League and MLS clubs.
“We saw it as a way to both support the women’s game and also to extend our brand by allowing them to use the name and the logo,” Zack said. “Obviously they get the uniforms through adidas, so it also gave some added exposure to our jersey sponsor, Volkswagen.”
In addition to being able to use the MLS club’s name, D.C United Women also have a location on the MLS club’s website and access to their communications staff, a major benefit in terms of helping publicize the team within local media and among the club’s supporters.
Carnell believes it is important for MLS and W-League clubs to try and grow the game at all levels. One of the clubs where that sentiment is shared is the Vancouver Whitecaps, who have had a long-standing, and successful, W-League team that counts among its alumni numerous Canadian Women’s National Team members. Having been the home of recent USL Hall of Fame inductee Christine Sinclair, and others such as Sophie Schmidt, Melissa Tancredi and Melanie Booth, the Whitecaps Women have been a mainstay in the W-League while supporting the efforts of the Canadian Women’s National Team, and its youth programs, to achieve international success.
“We want to try and help our national team achieve the most success possible on the international stage, because ultimately that will reflect back on club soccer throughout the country and ideally our club,” Whitecaps President Bob Lenarduzzi said. “We’ve always tried to apply that principle whenever we’ve had to, our country commitments are paramount and I think we’ve demonstrated in the past that has been the case, and we’d certainly do that moving forward.”
Lenarduzzi said the Whitecaps have spoken to Canadian Soccer Association officials about how the club can help as the Canadian Women’s National Team prepares for the Olympics in London this summer. With current Canadian internationals such as Booth, Kaylyn Kyle and Robyn Gayle having played for the side in the W-League as recently as 2010 and 2011, the Whitecaps could see a number of internationals taking to the field for them this summer against their Western Conference opponents.
The ability of the W-League and its Canadian clubs to give a strong platform to grow north of the border is something that obviously gives Lenarduzzi and the Whitecaps organization great pride. With the history of the Whitecaps name, the club has been able to build a strong level of support in MLS and the W-League, which has allowed the franchise to flourish.
“The Whitecaps brand is a significant one, and we have a history,” Lenarduzzi said. “Fortunately, I’ve been with the Whitecaps throughout all of the 37 years as a player, coach and administrator, and what we weren’t doing was we weren’t capitalizing on that brand, and I think that now we are doing more of that and that has helped the women’s side of our club, because people are familiar with the Whitecaps from way back, and so it provided an instant recognition.
“It’s been beneficial, and what we’ll look to do is continue to try to grow our club, and we see our club as professional men and women, boys and girls.”
The benefits of having an MLS affiliation have already been seen by the Sounders and Whitecaps, with D.C. United and the Colorado Rapids set to be the next club’s to harness the power of an MLS brand. Carnell believes the reach those clubs are capable of is a key benefit for W-League teams as they aim for a strong and stable future.
Add in the W-League’s sustainable business model, which sees all 27 of the league’s teams returning in 2012 with three new additions for its 18th season, and you have a recipe for a league that is able to continue to build the game, and provide a destination for young women’s players around the country.
“I think there has always been a market for women’s soccer in this country but the financial and logistical model has never been sustainable,” Carnell said. “Partnering with MLS clubs strengthens the brand and gives a greater bandwidth to W-League teams who operate on limited budgets. It shows that the W-League is growing and moving toward that sustainable model.”