Thank you and good morning, everyone. Today is another milestone on the road to our WPS Inaugural Season. Play kicks off March 29 at the Home Depot Center pitting Marta and her Los Angeles Sol teammates against Abby Wambach and the Washington Freedom at 6pm Eastern on Fox Soccer Channel.

It’s hard to believe that just a year ago, we stood here at the NSCAA convention and unveiled the league logo. A league mark that symbolizes the heritage and tradition of women’s soccer in this country with its Mia Hamm silhouette, while also representing the future of the sport with a new name and fresh colors.
(Bill Barrett/isiphotos.com)
WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci delivered her League Update prior to the 2009 WPS Draft on Friday, January 16 at the NSCAA Convention in St. Louis.

Now, 12 months later, we’ve unveiled seven more logos – one for each of our franchises:

• The Boston Breakers
• Chicago Red Stars
• FC Gold Pride
• Los Angeles Sol
• Sky Blue FC
• Saint Louis Athletica
• And …. Washington Freedom

We are well on our way to making WPS come to life in the stadiums, on television, through the Internet and in the media in 2009.
 
This past year has been about taking the foundation we’ve laid over the early stages of the Women’s Soccer Initiative, with our investors and franchises, and constructing the first floor -- a framework that will support the structure of Women’s Professional Soccer for many years to come.
 
We know this is a marathon, not a sprint. I’ve said from the start that we are planning for slow, steady growth. We’re shooting for attendance numbers in the range of 4-6,000 and we’re prudently managing our costs. We want to be measured by where we are after Season 5, not after Season 1.
 
In this economy, where corporations and individuals alike are tightening their belts and watching their spending, we are proud to offer season ticket packages as low as $99 to watch the best athletes in the world on the field. We think affordable and accessible family-fun can be very appealing and inspirational in any economic climate.
 
And we’ve found the right group of partners to help us along.

We’ve secured a fantastic television partner in Fox Soccer Channel, which will give us appointment television for our “Sunday Game of the Week” and help us reach core soccer fans who are such a vital part of our fan base – while also giving us broad national reach for our post-season and WPS Championship Games through Fox Sports Net.
 
We have partnered with the world’s leading Sportlifestyle Brand – PUMA – to become the official sport and lifestyle apparel, footwear and equipment supplier of WPS with its unique line of products and PUMA style.
PUMA’s commitment goes beyond the field of play and includes marketing and promotional opportunities that will help WPS grow and enhance the game of women’s soccer on the whole.

We have also moved forward with strategic expansion discussions at this week’s WPS Board of Governors meeting.
 
We have letters of intent with parties in Atlanta and Philadelphia which will bring WPS to nine teams for 2010.

We evaluate other markets based on the strength & suitability of potential ownership groups, their community relationships, the suitability of local stadiums for WPS that create an optimal soccer environment, and local fan support for a WPS franchise.

These principal criteria, along with others, dictate the timing of when we admit new franchises into our league. We have strong interest from a number of markets in which soccer is established and growing, many of which are well-suited for WPS.
 
At this stage, the most important expansion steps we can take are to launch successfully with our seven inaugural franchises, and we look forward to announcing further expansion plans over the course of our Inaugural Season.
 
We have also bolstered our front office with the hiring of key league staff and executives, including FIFA veteran Mary Harvey, a former Olympic gold medalist and World Cup winner herself, as Chief Operating Officer.

A central focus for WPS is operational readiness; we have solidified our stadiums and game-day planning. Setting the League schedule is a top priority for Mary and her staff, and we hope to have that finalized by the end of January.

The schedule will feature a 20-game season – 10 home games for each team – primarily on weekends with occasional weekday games to make up for an odd number of teams.
 
Several of our teams have partnered with MLS teams in their markets, and in stadia, and we’ll see some doubleheaders featuring an exciting soccer festival environment that will help grow fan support across both leagues. We’re proud of our relationship with MLS and want to thank them publicly for all of the support and insight they have given us over the past few months as we prepare for our launch.

I am also proud today to announce the post-season format for the first season of WPS.

The WPS Playoffs will feature the top four teams from the WPS regular season, in a unique format that rewards regular season success while offering the post-season drama which American fans are accustomed to in their sports season:

--  The winner of the WPS regular season will automatically advance and host the WPS Championship Game at their home stadium.
-- The No. 4 team will play at the No. 3 team in the first playoff game with the winner advancing to play at No. 2 in the semifinal game.
-- The winner of the game at No. 2’s host venue will advance to the WPS Championships game on the weekend of August 22nd-23rd.

All post-season play will air on national television through our partnership with the Fox family.
The benefits to this model are many:

By selecting the winner of the regular season to host the Championship Game, we stay true to soccer’s roots and genuinely, and generously, reward the winner of the season table. It also provides for a venue with an exciting championship atmosphere and rooting interest, while giving teams and the league several weeks of preparation and opportunity for ticket sales. This means that the race to the regular season crown will have added meaning for the public, the media and the players throughout the late part of the 20-game schedule.


By having No. 4 play at No. 3 we offer a home game to another team and reward the second place finisher in the league with a first round “bye”. Similar to Champions League or UEFA Cup qualifications in the European leagues, we wanted the final placings in the league table to have real meaning in WPS.

Lastly, we finish with a winner-take-all one game final like most major Cup competitions – but one that is heavily skewed toward the home team. To win the league title means either a great season performance capped by a final game victory or an incredible run of play in the post-season to overcome the  odds. I like those storylines.
But the playoffs can only be exciting with great players.

As you know from recent news, we have begun to build our team rosters. Our mission at Women’s Professional Soccer is to be the premier women's soccer league in the world, and the global standard by which women's professional sports are measured. To achieve that, we must have the best women’s soccer product out on the field.

And that begins with the teams, their coaching staffs and players.

We have already assembled some of the world’s best coaches in the past year, allocated U.S. Women’s National Team players, and signed international stars from Australia, Canada and Sweden. And of course, the LA Sol’s recent signing of 3 time FIFA Player of the Year Marta of Brazil. Marta joining WPS is statement-making for our League, and a sign of great things to come. Now it’s time to continue putting the rosters together.

 Which is why we’re here today. With the 2009 WPS Draft, teams will have the chance to select some of the top collegiate seniors from around the country as well as other undrafted players.

Last month, WPS hosted two combines in San Diego and Ft. Lauderdale to assess the skills of some of the top soccer talent in the U.S. Many of those participants will be among the 70 names selected today along with other recent collegiate stars and possibly even WUSA veterans.
 
No doubt today’s results will continue to build momentum for the League. The next key steps include an unveiling of the official PUMA team uniforms, hosting pre-season training, solidifying regional broadcasts of our games and finalizing additional WPS commercial partnerships. All of these pieces will come together over the next two  months to bring this start-up League to life.
 
We hope all eyes will be on the Home Depot Center in LA on March 29, 2009. It’s been too long since we’ve had a professional soccer league for women in this country. The WPS Inaugural Match kicks off world-class soccer for fans everywhere, and signals the arrival of a new generation of stars in a professional league of their own.

Thanks for everyone’s support and enjoy the draft. I’m looking forward to seeing the selections.