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CNN Live Saturday

WUSA Kicks Off Professional Women's Soccer League

Aired April 14, 2001 - 16:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: The nation's newest sports league kicked things off about two hours ago in Washington's RFK Stadium. The WUSA made their debut today as the first major professional women's soccer league in the United States.

CNN's Laura Okmin takes a behind-the-scenes look at this up-and- coming league.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, WUSA AD)

ANNOUNCER: Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain: former teammates turned opponents in a new professional soccer league.

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LAURA OKMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are some of the most recognizable women athletes in sports and the linchpin to the latest attempt to launch a woman's professional sports league: the WUSA.

BRANDI CHASTAIN, WUSA SOCCER PLAYER: I grew up watching professional soccer, sitting in section 129 at Spartan Stadium, row four, seat nine. I knew what it was like to sit in that stand as a young girl watching men's professional soccer. I want young girls to think, in 10, 15 years from now: I remember sitting in that stadium.

OKMIN: The foundation of the WUSA is the U.S. women's national team, which has been split up and its players assigned to the league's eight teams. Behind them is $64 million in investment, primarily from cable operators, and a national television package will that include 22 games on cable this season on TNT and CNN/Sports Illustrated.

SARAH WHALEN, WUSA SOCCER PLAYER: The fact that we can get people to invest millions of dollars in this league and have their faith in us for five years is something incredible. And it shows a lot of people what we've done for this sport and what's going to continue to happen.

OKMIN: However, the WUSA risks being dwarfed by an increasingly crowded sports market. More recent startup leagues have struggled not only to get a foothold, but to maintain one. The MLS, men's professional soccer, averaged over 17,000 fans during its inaugural season in 1996. But it's since seen its attendance drop 21 percent. And it barely makes a blip on the sports landscape.

The WNBA, the most success women's team sports league to date, saw its attendance drop 12 percent in its fourth season last year, dipping to 9,000 fans a game. And even with the marketing savvy of the WWF and national television exposure on NBC, the ultra-hyped XFL has been a ratings disaster in its rookie season.

PETER LAND: I think the best thing the WUSA has going for it, again, is its ability to kind of reach into its local community. I think the mistake would be to position the WUSA as this huge national sports property.

OKMIN: The WUSA goals for this season are modest: attract 7,500 fans a game and an average ticket price of $11.

KRISTINE LILLY, WUSA SOCCER PLAYER: Our fan base isn't 30-to-40- year-old women or men. It's 10 -- 8 to 13, I think is our main group. And they bring parents and they bring families.

MIA HAMM, WUSA SOCCER PLAYER: One of the areas we try to reach is just families and young kids, and making them feel that this is their league, because it wasn't so long ago that we were those girls, you know, sitting in the stands.

OKMIN: However, the question remains whether the WUSA's personal touch will reach enough fans, especially in a competitive sports environment in which only NASCAR has seen its ratings improve dramatically. Women's sports still aren't in the mainstream. And soccer is an international, not national pastime.

I'm Laura Okmin.

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