This is a two-part story looking at women’s professional soccer in the United States. First, it is a look at the newly formed National Women’s Soccer League. The league is the third attempt to establish a women’s professional soccer league in the U.S. Low attendance, low-ticket sales, and poor team ownership spelled the end for past leagues. The United States Soccer Federation’s involvement in the league has team owners and players overwhelming confident that the league will be a success. Challenges await them as the NWSL looks to learn from the mistakes of its predecessors.
The second part looks at women’s professional soccer in Texas. The first audio story focuses on the Houston Aces and Lauren Prewitt. Prewitt plays semi-professional soccer for the Aces. At 30 years old, she still has dreams to play professionally. Aces owner William Brumbaugh is hoping his team can be the first women’s soccer team from Texas, to play in a women’s top league.
The second audio story puts a focus on the Austin Nationals and the Austin Women’s Soccer League. Both are attempting to build women’s soccer in Austin but are going about it different manners. Anna Villarreal is attempting to establish a team that is not as reliant on ticket sales as most teams are. Through community outreach and partnerships with local businesses she is hoping to build a team to compete in Europe come 2014.
The AWSL is a local soccer league for women that is trying to establish itself in Austin. They receive little outside support in terms of funding but president and vice president Angela Molock and Casey Gannon are hoping the changes they have brought to the league can help it grow.
The “Soccer In Austin” piece focuses on the local establishments that have given soccer fans a place to go to watch their favorite clubs on television. Fadó Irish Pub and Cuatro’s have established themselves as the more popular locales when it comes to showing soccer games on television.
Others have attempted to emulate Fadó’s and Cuatros’ popularity but many have struggled to attract the committed fan base that have helped Fadó and Cuatro’s become the go-to spots to watch a soccer game in Austin.
Aside from showing soccer matches, these places provide people who share interests to come together and interact. For those who come from soccer loving countries such as England and Ireland, these places help to remind of home. While not quite the same in every aspect, the fans have fully embraced having a place to go where they can watch a soccer match while drinking a pint and engage in some friendly banter. / text
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTEXAS/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/24000 |
| Date | 15 April 2014 |
| Creators | Vega, Aaron, active 2013 |
| Source Sets | University of Texas |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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