WUSA 2008

After a five-year absence, the WUSA is coming back. Scheduled to return in April of 2008, the WUSA will have seven teams — Dallas, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Chicago, New Jersey, Boston and Washington D.C. Each team will play 21 games, and the playoffs will be the final weekend in August.

What makes Cummings feel this time around will be different?

"The business plan is based upon the hard numbers between 2001 and 2003, whereas the launch in 2001 was based on hoped-for numbers," Cummings said this week while watching one of his former Boston Breakers, Wilton's Kristine Lilly, practice with the U.S. national team at the Farmington Sports Center.
"So the revenue numbers now are something that we can look to as being consistent from year to year. On the expense side, we've taken a good look at the expenses and adjusted them to match the proposed revenues.

"Salaries have also been adjusted across the board for both players and staff. It's not just that alone, but the projections for the sponsorship dollars now match up with what the sponsorship dollars were in 2003. Everything is coming on line."

Slowly but surely, the WUSA is starting to inch itself back into the public eye. Already, Cummings says, the Breakers have sold over 100 season tickets (even though they don't formally have a stadium to play in). They have an office and are assembling a staff, and most importantly, the Web site www.bostonbreakers.com is up and running.