Women’s Soccer

The Fate of U.S. Women’s Soccer
by Jennifer L. Odom

So there’s good news and there’s bad news, and as a gracious attempt to be optimistic, I’ll save the worst for last.
The good news is that the Olympics are just around the corner, along with the U.S. National Women’s Soccer Team’s opportunity to again take home a medal. How glorious a moment it was to watch these athletes participate in the 1999 World Cup, at a time when women’s soccer was finally getting the recognition it had for so long deserved. One can only hope the team can do as well in Athens, Greece as they did then at the Rose Bowl Stadium, where the largest crowd to ever watch a women’s sporting event was present.
The bad news is that the 2004 Olympics will be the final stage in Mia Hamm’s long, and extraordinary soccer career. She plans to retire after the games and will try to lead a life away from the sport that she has performed so well in. What’s so horrible about that, you ask? Well, let me explain.
Mia Hamm’s decision to retire from professional soccer couldn’t come at a worse time. To begin with, the WUSA, which seemed at its birth to be such a promising league, folded in September 2003. The league was simply not bringing in enough money; there weren’t a significant amount of fans cheering in the stands or watching the games on television. While the WUSA was suffering, male sports such as football, baseball, and basketball continued to receive more funding, more television coverage, and maintained the larger fan bases. The WUSA games were shown at odd hours and on unfamiliar channels, making it difficult to know which teams were playing and when. Many a time I can recall setting my alarm for three a.m. to wake up and watch a WUSA match on PAX, an obscure channel that’s existence I became aware of solely because of the WUSA games.
The team that received the most attention in the WUSA was the Washington Freedom, led by Hamm. As the favorite player of young girls and of the media, who loves a pretty face to go along with that talent, Mia played a significant role in keeping the WUSA up and running for as long as it could.
Sadly, not even Mia Hamm, the most recognized player in women’s soccer, could hold up the league. The WUSA, still as defunct as it was in 2003, does not look like its going to be given another go anytime soon. Though the league is currently trying to raise funds through their “Keep the WUSA Dream Alive Ticket Fund,” the money is coming in slowly- not nearly fast enough or in large enough amounts for the league to start up again without the risk of failing for the second time. And now that Hamm is calling it quits, will there still be an interest in the WUSA? Will fans be able to see beyond the one-woman individualization the media has created and realize that there’s more to women’s soccer than Mariel Margaret Hamm?
Women’s soccer, aside from the recent disappointment of the WUSA, has always taken precedence over men’s soccer in the United States. After the 1999 World Cup, the women on the national squad became appreciated and admired by sports enthusiasts, filling in the void in interest in U.S. soccer that had for so long been present. Now there seems to be a reversal in appeal, due to the new addition to the D.C. United, Freddy Adu. Fifteen-year-old Adu, who plays forward for the United, has gained much publicity due to his undeniably remarkable playing ability. Though Adu’s talent should rightfully be regarded, it is safe to say that his entrance into professional soccer is capable of taking the focus away from the women’s team. Soccer fans, both male and female, are keeping an eye on Adu and on men’s soccer, and shifting their attention away from the women players. Though the addition of Adu to U.S. soccer is beneficial to the men’s professional teams, it is capable of putting women’s soccer in a worse position than it is already in. As with other women’s sports leagues, such as the LPGA and the WNBA, women’s soccer may confront the bias of being perceived as second best to the men’s league; a position both hard to swallow and hard to face.
Without Mia Hamm to hold the interest of U.S. fans, who can be sure where women’s soccer is heading. After her retirement, as well as the up-and-coming retirement plans of Brandy Chastain, Kristine Lilly and other veterans, it will be up to the younger players to bring in the crowds and create a reason to bring back the WUSA. The question is, will players like Cat Reddick and Abby Wambaugh be able to do what legend Mia Hamm has done for women’s soccer? Only time will tell.