Word: antonucci
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...connect with its fans: Twitter. During Sunday's inaugural game between the Freedom and the Los Angeles Sol (the Tinsletown team features Brazilian phenom Marta, the top female player in the world), one reserve player from each team will blast their 140-character-or-less observations over the web. Antonucci isn't sure if the league's coaches will sanction player "tweets" during every game. "The question is how far do you push the medium without disrupting the integrity of the game," she says. "We're a major league. We don't want to become a sideshow...
However, the league will clearly promote the technology while it's red hot. "I don't think there's any question we will integrate Twitter pre-game, half-time and post-game," says Antonucci. "We want to be known as a league that innovates and stays current with communication mediums. It's a way that our fans can get closer to the experience, closer to the athletes, and it's a low-cost way to do that, which is very important for a new league watching its bottom-line very closely...
...tweet its way past the economy, which has hurts sports sponsorships. The LPGA, for instance, has had to drop a couple of tournaments because sponsors did. Though Antonucci says WPS is negotiating with consumer products companies, to date the league has only signed two national sponsors: Puma and Hint, a bottled water brand. It had expected five...
...league has modest expectations - Antonucci is shooting for an average attendance between 4,000 and 6,000 fans per game. But WPS is also launching within a crowded sports calendar: March Madness, the NBA stretch run, NHL playoffs, the start of baseball, and the upcoming Masters golf tournament are grabbing fans attention. Soccer is busy, too with MLS in full swing and the U.S. men's team in World Cup qualifying. Somehow, the WPS has to break through. "The league really has to catch fire early," says David Carter, executive director of the Sports Business Institute at the University...
Value may be the sweet spot for WPS. Women's soccer is a cheap ticket - the average price is in $15-to-$19 range, and some deals let fans grab a seat for as little as $10. "We're an attractive and affordable alternative," says Antonucci. "Whereas in a good economy, we might have been perceived as, well, a lower priority among sports fans. We might actually have some sports fans sample us who wouldn't have otherwise...