Saint Louis Athletica - Women's Professional Soccer

[Joanie]

Athletica Deal of the Day! 4 Club Level tickets - Personalized ticket - signed PUMA ball by Tina Ellertson->now to Sun->1-888-STL-GOAL #fb

[Joanie]

Athletica Trade!! Anita Asante and Nikki Washington for forward India Trotter -> http://bit.ly/SLA-Trade1

[Joanie]

Athletica wins 2-1 on goals by (Own Goal) and Lindsay Tarpley! Next weekend come check them out as the take on Sky Blue FC - Sunday Afternoon at 3 PM.

[Joanie]

Athletica wins 2-1 over Philly! Game recap -> http://bit.ly/SLA-2010-SLA

[YYYsoc]

great news that Tarpley is back in action. She is a huge value to our team!

[Tankfan]

I'd rather be watching Tank but Tarp works just find. Great job Athletica on 1st place! Keep it up.

[Tankfan]

Ok I'll come clean here, I'm friends with Tank. Here is what the players are saying. Jorge Barcellos is tired of the Athletica $ issues and is taking the Chicago RedStars job. Coopers world is unraveling. Great news for Jorge, he is awesome!

[Vodja]

Word from the Bosnian underground and trust me, the sources are good! Another fact is the WPS is going to make Athletica play all road games and totally the over the fans and front office and players. Imagine playing all road games? what a death sentenance for Athletica. Official statement will come from WPS tomorrow. Cooper is out and the league is taking over the team. The Staff or players have yet to be paid for the last 3 weeks. Wow! this bad decition to play all road games sums up Cooper. What a sell out guy he has become!

[WayWestKicker]

what a mess. Cooper you really are a dissaster! thanks for ruining soccer in STL for a long time!

[WayWestKicker]

and that is coming form a KC boy!

[IamBob]

be nice, Cooper put up million$! mon

[POD]

The only one to blame here is Jeff Cooper. He has single handley killed soccer in St. Louis for a long time. First he killed Busch, Metro and SG (they are all a mess right now and fumbling all over the place with no identity) and now he has killed pro soccer for our town for a long long time and maybe forever! You don't get into something this big without a 5 year plan and you don't partner and give control to people you don't know or trust or look into. They just left? really? I hear very bad business practices coming out of the SLSU offices along the way and some great people got shafted along the way. Let the bloodshed begin! Cooper is done. The strong will survive but the one that won't is the pro game in STL - it's scar is permanent.

[Shipdawg]

Not Good News

Athletica shutting down, AC St. Louis looks like it survivedBy Tom Timmermann
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Athletica players have just been told in a meeting at the Soccer Park that the team is shutting down in the wake of the team’s financial problems. AC St. Louis appears to have survived, though that’s not definite yet. No word yet as to whether the Athletica will play this weekend’s game at Atlanta or not.

More to come.

[KNVB]

The bar has been raised

[Joanie]

Here’s an official statement from team founder Jeff Cooper:

“The termination of Saint Louis Athletica is a painful outcome from the funding shortfalls and ultimate default by the investors who had the obligation to fund and operate the team on a day-to-day basis. I’ve given this matter my complete attention since returning to a more active role in the last few weeks, and numerous parties have spent a lot of hours during that time exploring what options or solutions might be available. Despite best efforts, nothing was found that would answer the immediate needs of the franchise. With more time, it is possible the answer to the financial challenges Athletica faced would have been met, but unfortunately we do not have the benefit of extra time. The investors who defaulted on a contract to fund Athletica through this season and beyond broke a promise to a league, team, players and a community, and that is what is most troubling about today’s development. I am grateful for everyone’s support of Athletica and am particularly appreciative of our players who represented the sport and our community with such class and spirit.

Despite the disappointing outcome with Saint Louis Athletica, we continue to work hard on securing the long-term future of AC St. Louis.â€

[Florissant United]

Boycott Jeff Cooper’s Athletic Club of St. Louis – St. Louis Scott Gallagher – AC St. Louis minor league men’s team.

The only good thing Jeff Cooper did in his St. Louis Soccer involvement was to bring the only REAL St. Louis Professional Soccer team, the St. Louis Athletica to town. Since then he has been the driving force behind the ruination of the only professional team we have had in decades. He let his wet dream of the MLS in Collinsville Soccer City undermine the only GOOD thing he has done for Soccer in St. Louis …the St. Louis Athletica. By his thinking, the AC St. Louis men’s team is showing the MLS St. Louis can support a minor league men’s soccer team, big deal. This mentality has killed the sustainability of the only REAL professional soccer team since the St. Louis Stars…the St. Louis Athletica.
Let’s see… what would be better, a Professional Women’s team with real World Class players from around the world or a minor league Men’s team. How could someone from St. Louis, with any soccer background, think the AC St. Louis, a minor league team at best, is the one worth trying to salvage. Especially with memories of the soccer team that is here today is gone tomorrow. Do you think the MLS really cares. The St. Louis Athletica was the most credentialed professional player filled Soccer team St. Louis has ever seen. Starting with Hope Solo, Shannon Boxx, Lindsay Tarpley and Lori Chulupny, all of whom have brought home the Gold for the USA, plus prominent Internationals like Eniola Aluko, Anita Asante, and Aya Miyama. The REAL DEAL...St. Louis professional soccer... Trying to save the AC St. Louis is another Cooper blunder pulled out of his arse.
Here is how the Athletic Club of St. Louis could have saved the Athletica... With the youth soccer conglomerate created by Cooper by merging three clubs, St. Louis (formerly Busch) Soccer Club, Scott Gallagher and Metro United, into what is now St. Louis Scott Gallagher. St. Louis Scott Gallagher is operated by seven directors, including Cooper. Cooper’s entire soccer operation is called Athletic Club of St. Louis. This was done in an attempt to bring national youth soccer titles to St. Louis and provide players for Professional teams like the St. Louis Athletica... not a substandard team like the AC St. Louis. Professional soccer and AC St. Louis are not even worth mentioning in the same sentence.
Cooper still has MLS on the mind... Major League Stupid! So now we, St. Louis, have no professional soccer, when we had the best.
Let’s get back to a way to support the St. Louis Athletica. St. Louis Scott Gallagher (Athletic Club of St. Louis), you know the Cooper breeding ground for future Professional soccer players. Again, another failed venture that has ruined competitive youth soccer in St. Louis by eliminating the player pool for the other youth Clubs in St. Louis. The average St. Louisan would be amazed at what St. Louis Scott Gallagher charges per player per year…upwards of $1200. A Golden Goose for the seven directors of Cooper’s Athletic Club of St. Louis. Hey maybe the Athletic Club of St. Louis could take $600 from each of their thousands of players in their youth soccer program and use the $500,000 plus to keep the St. Louis Athletica, the only PROFESSIONAL...in St. Louis. But that probably wasn’t a thought because it would dip into the Athletic Club of St. Louis golden goose…youth player soccer money and profits!
Thanks, Pat

[FreeKick]

I appreciate the effort of Jeff Cooper and others to bring Athletica and AC-St. Louis to reality. Very disappointed that things didn't work out.

Can't see how folks can bash him because of his efforts, his money and his time. Maybe better choices could have been made, but until we invest our funds to run an organization, I don't think we have a leg to stand on to credibly bash him.

Good luck to the players. And good luck to AC-St. Louis in making them a success.

[Run_On]

The lesson here is that ANY professional sports francise without a TV contract and significant local promotion & attendance can only survive with extremely deep-pocketed ownership committments.

It just won't work in St. Louis right now without such. Many potential investors have certainly 'ran the $ numbers' on the Athletica and have found it a losing proposition. This seems surprising as AB/InBev gave the facility away for free but, even with that, its still not viable.

Further local considerations - KPLR televised a couple of games with dismal ratings. Regarding attendance, don't know what profitability level is but probably around 7,500 (without TV). Reducing to a simple question: how can you get 7,500 people to attend a women's pro game in St. Louis? If you can come up with a solution to that, then its workable here.

This said, St. Louis is not unique as evidenced by LA women's franchise folding with a market size 10X STL not to mention having the best, most recognized player in world. Women's pro soccer is a tough business!

[Upper90]

While it is a shame that the Athletica is folding mid-season, does it really come as a surprise that this did not pan out. Just could not see women's soccer being a viable product, long term, in the US and esp. here in St. Louis. Professional soccer in St. Louis has been a tenuous proposition all along...see...Storm, Ambush, Steamers etc...

Based on today's Post, Athletica was the lowest drawing team in the league, with just over a 3,000 average attendace. I know many will not like my take, while I give the marketing folks credit for doing what they could on a virtually non-existent budget, the bottom line is that the quality of play was just not good enough to draw most soccer fans. I hope the players land on other teams and esp pull for our Chalupny. Unfortunately, I don't see the the league being around in another year or so, so it probably makes little difference.

[moosebreath]

"... the bottom line is that the quality of play was just not good enough to draw most soccer fans." Unfortunately, this is true of all american soccer, women and men. There are flashes of really good games and players here and there, but nothing nearly consistent enough to continually draw fans. A successful world cup (e.g. get past 2nd round) may be a good spark to sustain fans across the nation overall.