How much will talent upgrade help the Beat?
I supposed I was rather modest in my assertion yesterday speculating that the Atlanta Beat would be vastly improved after it signed three former St. Louis Athletica players, including U.S. national team goalkeeper Hope Solo.
Jenna Pel, purveyor of the All White Kit women’s soccer blog, posts today that the demise of Athletica may just have “saved the Beat:”
“Suddenly this is a different team with a different pathos. It’s not everyday you have two of the world’s most skilled athletes at their respective positions suddenly donning your team’s shirt. O’Sullivan has legitimate top-class talent at his disposal now. Fitting for a top-class stadium.”
The Beat has now signed a fourth former St. Louis player, midfielder Lori Chalupny, who was Athletica’s captain.
FanHouse soccer writer Brian Straus, who covered the original Washington Freedom and the Women’s United Soccer Association (as did I with the original Beat) is fairly pessimistic that there’s a viable, long-term market for women’s soccer as a spectator sport in America:
“But it’s hard to take the WPS seriously at this point, and even harder to imagine that anyone else will step forward and view women’s soccer in the U.S. as a good investment. “Meanwhile, more than 10,000 fans showed up outside Madrid last week to watch teams from Lyon and Potsdam contest the final of the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Go figure.”
2 comments
I’m excited about the new signings and think that it does breathe some new life into the Beat.
I’m also not as pessimistic as Straus. The Beat drew over 7K for their first home game. It’s going to take time to build up the league. It’s also going to take different marketing & finding their niche.
Sadly, lots of hardcore fans of the sport will not watch women’s soccer. However, there are enough out there to make a successful league. As long as teams are shooting for a 5-6K average crowd to break even, I think it’s doable.
I think your numbers sound about right. I’m just now reading Dave Wangerin’s “Soccer in a Football World,” and it’s amazing that the interest in the sport in this country is what it is now, on the verge of another World Cup, given its history on these shores.
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