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March 08, 2007

Killion weighs in on potential successor to WUSA

In a column headlined, "New women's soccer league has realistic vision - including a Bay Area team," Mercury News columnist Ann Killion talks to Women's Soccer Initiative president Tonya Antonucci and offers her own hopes that this time, a sustainable business model for a women's league will be put to use.

Once again, the man in the middle of the speculation regarding a Bay Area franchise is Lew Wolff, who is currently hard at work crafting a stadium deal which would bring back the Quakes. But Killion's column notes he may have some competition:

A Bay Area franchise is very much in the works, Antonucci says. She is talking with A's owner Lew Wolff, who has the rights to an expansion Earthquakes team. Wolff's priority is bringing back a Major League Soccer team, a move dependent on getting a venue built (yes, soccer fans, it always comes back to the stadium). According to a Mercury News report, Wolff and San Jose State University have agreed on the framework of a deal that would put a new stadium next to Spartan Stadium.

So is a women's team predicated on the Earthquakes' return, which is predicated on a new stadium being built, which is predicated on big-city and university politics? That seems like an awful lot of predicateds to be realistic.

But Antonucci said new and intriguing potential investors have stepped forward in recent days and all options - including playing at Stanford or Santa Clara - are being explored.

"We're very optimistic about a team in the Bay Area," Antonucci said.

We're going to take this opportunity to editorialize a bit ourselves. First of all, if anyone should be given the first opportunity for a women's team, it's Wolff and the folks at Earthquakes Soccer, who have already shown a strong commitment to the sport and the Bay Area. Secondly, as Killion notes, "This proposed league plans to partner with MLS, both in some ownership groups - such as AEG in Los Angeles - and league-wide for marketing and sponsorship deals. That is a smart move, one that will help contain costs and avoid duplication. In the four years since the WUSA died, there are new soccer-specific stadiums, which need to be filled." All that leverage disappears if the two teams have separate owners, separate front offices, and separate sponsors, so let's hope that professional soccer in both leagues is brought forth under one big umbrella. Right now, it's the best thing for the sport here in the Bay Area.

P.S. We also wanted to give a quick shout-out to Ron Gilmore, who has been instrumental in putting together the Earthquakes reunion events that we've seen over the years. He's mentioned today in an Arizona Republic story about an investor who is trying to put together a stadium deal for an MLS expansion team in Phoenix. Inspired in part by SSV, Ron is leading the formation of a new group, MLS Phoenix Rising, which is working to organize soccer fans in the area to give them a more prominent voice in the community.

Posted by Jay at March 8, 2007 08:10 AM

Comments

Posted by: Ron Gilmore at March 9, 2007 08:40 PM