A tempered second act for women’s pro soccer

The New York Times takes an expansive look at the first season of Women’s Professional Soccer, mentioning Atlanta coming aboard (along with Philadelphia) next season.

Interesting comments from a Boston Breakers executive in charge of business development on how the league is trying to go beyond what was emphasized during the Women’s United Soccer Association, and an approach that is familiar in women’s pro and college team sports in general:

“We need to get out of the ghetto of being a role model for girls. You can’t make dads feel like they’re visiting Chuck E. Cheese’s.”

Clearly the fan base for women’s soccer will always be families with young children, but the sport, and the league, is being marketed to a broader base of fans at the same time. The key is making it feel like a sporting event for all fans, and not just a kiddie jamboree for some. Says Doug Logan, the first commissioner of Major League Soccer, in the same story:

“Success at the gate has to have a tribal following and not just a van of soccer-playing kids who come to one game a year. If your business model depends on youth soccer, it won’t be enough.”

Tens years (to the week) after the phenomenal event that was the 1999 Women’s World Cup, the growing pains of women’s soccer have entered a new stage.

WUSA and U.S. national team veterans are wizened from their experiences, including former Beat goalkeeper Briana Scurry, who along with former Atlanta teammate Homare Sawa is playing for the Washington Freedom of WPS:

“The fact that we’re out here, playing soccer, is what’s important. To go from nothing to something is amazing. You rarely get a second chance in life, and we’re getting one now.

“We need to make the most of it.”