By: Tonya Antonucci
In a new segment to my blog, I'll be answering fan questions periodically. Check out this week's question and answer - you can even listen to this week's Q&A - and then send me your questions by emailing commissioner@womensprosoccer.com!
Q: How will Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) differ from the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA)?
A: That’s a question that we hear a lot. And we’ve spent more than two years making sure we have the right answer!
We have said all along that the debut of WPS is the launch of a professional sports league, not a re-launch. WPS stands completely independent of WUSA.
With that in mind, WPS will mirror WUSA in a couple of aspects. 1) WPS will be the premier level of women’s soccer in the United States and the world, and 2) we will cater to some of the greatest, most loyal sports fans in the world.
However, in order to ensure long-term success, WPS has developed a brand-new business model, focused on shared infrastructure, cost containment and realistic expectations that will maintain profitability for the league and team owners. Also, WPS has partnered with Major League Soccer (MLS) to create synergies between the two leagues, the highlight of which is working with Soccer United Marketing (SUM) to attract corporate sponsors and other league partners.
Not to be forgotten is that launching a league today presents a host of digital communication opportunities that simply weren’t available at the turn of the century. As you can see from our website, www.womensprosoccer.com, we have many tools at our disposal – blogs, videos, social networking, etc. – that allow us to talk one-on-one with our fans and reach supporters from the ground-up, actively enabling all of you to become ambassadors of the league!
And we encourage you to do just that. Talk about WPS with your friends, family, teammates and colleagues. Blog about the league on your own website. Contact your local team to see how you can get involved. We do all of this for you, the fan, but we can’t make it work without you.
Until next week…
Tonya Antonucci
WPS Commissioner
Have a question for WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci? Send it to commissioner@womensprosoccer.com.