Women's Professional Soccer by Andy Dolich

Ever since Brandi Chastain made sports bras a multimillion-dollar business with her shot heard round the globe at the heart-pounding conclusion of the 1999 Women's World Cup, we have seen optimism turn into soccer sackcloth when it comes to the development of a strong and financially successful women's pro soccer league in the USA. First we had the Women's United Soccer League (2000-03), then Women's Pro Soccer (2007-12), and now the National Women's Soccer League.

The USA Women's National Team's World Cup victory in Canada brought a standing ovation from sea to shining sea and a parade through the Canyon of Heroes in New York City. Women's soccer continues to grow in the United States. It is estimated that of the 19 million soccer-playing Americans, close to 8.5 million are female.

Why hasn't women's pro soccer worked?

• Soccer in the USA is an event-driven sport Whether it be Brandi's bra, Mia's marketing, Hope Solo dancing with stars or Alex Morgan's magazine covers, it's just another Tuesday matchup with no stars to jack up the attendance.
• Success does not breed success The success of the National Team in the Olympics or the world cups hasn't been enough to sustain a professional league.
• Soccer OD Ask any soccer mom, dad, sister, brother or player about going to another soccer game after having played four games during the weekend and you might elicit a yawn.
• Players don't become season-ticket holders Just because you played the game doesn't mean that when you grow up you're going plunk money down on your favorite childhood sport.
• Why no significant MLS co-promotion? The Major League Soccer model is working well with soccer-specific stadiums and growing fan affinity. Big Brother MLS is starting to put an arm around his little sister.
• Lack of a consistent and significant TV partner At various times the WUSA, WPS and NWSL was televised on TNT, CSN, Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Sports en Espanol, CNN SI, ESPN 2, PAX TV and a variety of local and regional sports channels. It helps to have a stable broadcast home.
• Competition The NBA, WNBA, NCAA, MLB, NFL, NHL, MLS, PGA, LPGA and NASCAR make it difficult to capture disposable sports dollars and time from fans.
• Moolah and patience The past is prologue. It has taken the men's game in the U.S. 50 years and hundreds of millions of dollars of investment to gain a foothold. MLS is making significant progress.

What's on the horizon?

The kickoff for the 2015 Cup in Canada brought the most live media coverage in history. Fox Sports spread the coverage out on a number of platforms, televising a record 16 games live -- and the ratings blew away even the most optimistic predictions. The Olympics are right around the corner for another soccer spike.

Investors

Calling all multimillionaires. You can get in for an affordable investment. The four major sports leagues are starting to cost real dough. Just ask Steve Ballmer about the $2 billion he dropped on the L.A. Clippers or the L.A. Dodgers ownership group who picked up the franchise for a horsehide-choking $2.15 billion. That number would fund women's pro soccer for a few decades.

The Women's Professional Soccer League

Formed in 1998 as an affiliate of the United States Soccer Federation, the WPSL is an independent national league with over 50 teams and an Elite Eight team division whose main focus is on the development of highly competitive women's pro leagues. It flies below the media radar screen.

The National Women's Soccer League

The momentum of the U.S. women's victorious road to the gold at the London Olympics launched the eight-team National Women's Soccer League, composed of the Houston Dash, Portland Thorns, Seattle Reign, Washington D.C. Spirit, Western New York Flash and FC Kansas City. The season is on, as we speak. Do you know who your favorite team is playing next weekend?

There is a rose within the thorns of women's professional soccer, and it happens to be in Portland: the Thorns, sister team of the fanatically followed Portland Timbers. The Thorns regularly draw over 15,000 per game and have an eye-popping 10,000 season-ticket holders.

When the chants of "USA! USA! USA!" quiet down, will there be enough enthusiasm left to drive fans to buy tickets to see their stars play in an NWSL game? Stay tuned.

Postscript: The July 23 edition of SportsBusiness Daily posted an article regarding the record crowds some NWSL games are experiencing, specifically the Portland Thorns FC, who draw in excess of 15,000 fans to each game. The senior VP of business operations for the Thorns? Cory Dolich, son of Andy Dolich!

Andy Dolich has worked as an executive in all four major sports leagues, including the Oakland A's, Golden State Warriors and San Francisco 49ers. He is the managing director and head of U.S. sports practice for Odgers Berndstson, the UK's leading executive search firm, and director of career development for the University of San Francisco's online master's program in the business of

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Wait Till Next Year ... Again  by Pete Elman

 Not even the reassuring play-by-play of returning hero Ken Korach could save this one. In an entirely predictable development, the A's got swept by the Giants this past weekend, making them 0-for-4 in the post-Scott Kazmir era, another not so surprising fact. If there was ever a series that demonstrated the different directions these two franchises are headed, this was it.

For the second time in a row, poor Marcus Semien whiffed to end the game, sadly marking yet another in a frustrating season of one-run losses -- the Athletics' record in these nail-biters is now a pathetic 10-25. The respectful, quiet, never-complaining young man from Saint Mary's High School and Cal just went 0-for-10 against the Giants with five strikeouts, dropping his average to a season-low .249, to go along with his MLB-leading 28 errors. What were Beane and Melvin thinking when they anointed him the everyday shortstop?

The A's had gotten a reprieve in the bottom of the eighth, dodging a bullet after two more infield errors, courtesy of Ben Zobrist and Brett Lawrie. My hopes were up because the embattled and maligned bullpen rose up and pitched their best game of the year, holding the Giants scoreless for a remarkable 6⅔ innings, and more startling, not yielding any walks. But even with these auspicious signs a victory was not to be.

The top of the ninth was comical. After Oakland got two on with no out, Josh Phegley whiffed on a Santiago Casilla (formerly Jairo Garcia when he pitched for the green and gold) slider, and rookie Jake Smolinski, apparently emulating fellow rookie speedster Billy Burns, inexplicably attempted to steal third and was easily gunned out by an alert (as always) Buster Posey, setting up the clarion call to the wings, where the femme avoirdupois was summoned to home plate at AT&T park. As Semien went down swinging, the Fat Lady delivered the coup de grace for the A's 2015 campaign.

The saving grace for a diehard A's fan? Tim Hudson earned a win against the only team he had never beaten in his illustrious 17-year big-league career, and that means something. When he was on this side of the bay, Hudson was a crowd favorite, the Bulldog, the one player we could count on to never back down. He may not have half the stuff he used to, but between the ears nothing has changed, and that is why the Giants will still be playing come October (and we know anything can happen once they get there!) and the A's will be going fishing.

Last year Billy rolled the dice -- to his credit -- and lost. This year there were low expectations, and the A's have met them. But something feels different about this team. For the first time in years, I cannot see the one thing I've always been able to glimpse, out there over the horizon: hope. And that's a bad feeling. Wait till next year ... again.

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What do all these illustrious names have in common?

Michael Altfest, Steve Baker, James Brandt, Paul Brekke-Miesner, Robinson Brown, Walter Champion, Harvey Cohen, Isaac Cronin, Eileen Curran, Nick Curran, Glenn Dickey, Andy Dolich, Jeff Elefante, Pete Elman, Leland Faust, Nancy Finley and Chris De Benedetti, Jim Fitzpatrick, Rob Flammia, Daniel Geary, Andre Johnson, Kenny Karst, Ira Klein, Richard Lupoff, Bruce Macgowan, Patric Mayers, Ross McKean, Robert Moselle, Dave Newhouse, John Ourand, Howard Pearlstein, Rudi Petschek, Laurel Poeton, Phil Schaaf, Jonathan Siegel,

Tom Stern, Shelia Young

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