As the debut season for the WUSA approaches, it would be wise to reflect on the direction of the new Professional Women’s League. While many may shun from any comparison to the men, the fact is that the WUSA, for all intense purposes, will be imitating the structure of MLS. The good thing is that the Women’s League has the luxury of being able to learn from both the successes and mistakes of MLS. It is perhaps timely, for that matter, that preparations for the league are beginning in the midst of the on-going MLS player’s lawsuit, since the lawsuit highlights the many points of contention regarding a single entity structure. The major issues concern player movement, player salaries, and the inhibition of competition. Of course the first two issues inevitably relate to the latter. A professional sports league is expected to be legitimately competitive. Therefore, the WUSA should be very leery about how it is to proceed.

The first concern is that the WUSA Combine is set to begin in a matter of days, and many of the coaches have not yet been hired. Is it wise to select players when all the coaches do not yet exist? The problem with selecting players first is that coaches have their own personal tastes. Picking a team is not merely a matter of good players versus bad players. There is a great deal of subjectivity involved. And no coach wants to be stuck in a situation where they have little control. So who will choose the players for those teams which are without a coach? It’s hard to imagine that such a decision would not fall at the feet of the two individuals responsible for choosing the players for the Combine: Tony DiCicco and Lauren Gregg. If not DiCicco and Gregg, then perhaps the coaches will be subject to the decisions of the teams’ General Managers, many of whom have little or no background in Soccer! This brings us back to our initial reflection: the Direction of the League. If the goal is merely to find players suitable enough to start a league, then perhaps all is well. But if some sort of legitimate competition is sought, then a good bit of intense thinking is due before the league proceeds.

A second issue of concern regards the allotment of foreign players in pairs from their respective countries. If the idea is to make the players feel more comfortable, then it grossly underestimates the maturity of these women. These ladies are, first and foremost, adults. Secondly, they are professionals. Therefore, they all are no doubt prepared to make sacrifices for their careers. They need not be coddled. And such coddling will only prove cumbersome for the coaches. A prime example is the Washington team which has been allotted an overabundance of strikers all because of this foreign pair procedure. Coach Gabarra, most likely, will be left with an experienced strike force and a weak midfield and/or defense. A balanced squad is critical to any coach, even if it means having only one Brazilian, or one German, or one Norwegian International! The coaches should not be force fed players regardless of position, merely to coddle adult professionals. Ultimately, it is legitimate competition that is at stake!

The Last concern regards player salaries. This is arguably the underbelly of the MLS lawsuit, and will most certainly be the biggest issue with the women as well. The cry from MLS players that the salaries are unfair and being artificially held down by the single entity structure is not a hollow one. It remains to be seen whether or not the women will have similar concerns. Many well wishers love to postulate that women are not tainted by the raw capitalistic greed of professional sports. But they fail to realize that the desire to be paid a just salary has little to do with gender. A good number of people were stunned when, at the beginning of the year, the Women’s National Team went on strike in protest of their USSF contracts. Fairness can not always be judged according to good/bad, male/female notions. The issue of equitable pay is not only real, but delicate.

WUSA has suggested three salary tiers for the league: The U.S. National Team players, the Foreign Nationals, and the "others". The tiers are said to range from $24,000 to $65,000. But last year a number of potential WUSA players were interviewed by Soccer America and some interesting concerns were raised. Some of the international players expressed concern about being paid salaries in the same range as some recent college graduates. It is of course too soon to test the validity of such a concern, but it does hint at trouble ahead. It was quite evident in MLS’s short history that the league’s best performers were not always the highest paid, or the most accredited. How much will this tiered structure allow for flexibility? What if a young player who is not on the national team, ends up being far more valuable to her team than one of the national team players? Will players be able to advance in pay according to their actual worth, or will they be stuck in these false categories that have little relevance to on-field performance?! Since the League will sign players and own their rights (Single Entity), it will be very difficult to work around these tiered categories. Single Entity invariably means that the team’s concerns become secondary to the league’s.

Very little grace time has been allowed for the start-up of this league. And we all wish it much success. But let us hope, for the sake of competition, that many of these issues will not only be pondered, but duly addressed!