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WPSL. UWS. USL W. WISL. It\u2019s easy to get lost in the scattered acronyms of the lower leagues of women\u2019s soccer in the United States, leagues that have existed in various states off and on for decades now. Some of them resemble loose confederations of regional rivals, like WPSL. Some of them, like WISL, don\u2019t even exist yet. What they all have in common is a desire to strengthen the footholds women\u2019s soccer has in the U.S., <\/span>and all on comparatively meager budgets<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n According to conversations with top executives at four of the biggest lower-division women\u2019s soccer leagues in the U.S., these leagues are also attracting international teams interested in operating teams of their own.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On first glance, the reasoning makes sense. NWSL only has so many slots available for expansion, and the cost of buying and running a team at that level is rapidly ballooning. But for a modest six figures, perhaps low seven in a D-II league, rich or even modestly successful European women\u2019s teams might be able to establish feeder teams that have access to one of the best and biggest player pools in the world, with thousands of current and former NCAA Division-I athletes and elite high schoolers all also looking for a place to land that isn\u2019t NWSL.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d say Europe, they\u2019re looking at it very seriously,\u201d said WISL managing director Lynn Berling-Manuel, who confirmed she\u2019d had conversations, albeit on a casual level, with European teams interested in establishing a lower-league foothold in the U.S. \u201cQuite frankly, I\u2019ve been surprised by the interest out of Europe \u2013 everybody\u2019s intrigued, just like they\u2019ve been on the men\u2019s side. We are all intrigued (by) the amount of talent in this country. And quite honestly, there are very, very, very few outlets for that talent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n WPSL president Sean Jones speculated a D-III league might be more appetizing, but agreed that there was potential for a team that wanted to get a big return on a relatively small investment, given the budgets of some of the operators in Europe. \u201cIt could literally be an incubator for clubs to say, well, we\u2019re ready to make the jump from amateur but we\u2019re not ready to go to tier two\u2026. My guess is honestly it\u2019s two-and-a-half, three million, your budget.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ve been really forthright about our interest in competing in the global game and the global market,\u201d said USL Super League president Amanda Vandervort. \u201cEven to the point that we\u2019ve made our calendar on the international match calendar. So that opens opportunities for us, not only on the international transfer market, which we know is growing at an exponential rate, but for opportunities with organizations and Federation\u2019s leagues and clubs around the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n These aren\u2019t the only new developments in these lower levels of the women\u2019s soccer pyramid. At least two groups are assembling Division-II outdoor women\u2019s leagues; given USSF requirements for D-II sanctioning, these leagues could represent an exciting step forward on multiple fronts.<\/span><\/p>\n For this article, <\/span>The Athletic<\/span><\/i> spoke to staff at four different women\u2019s soccer leagues, each with their own unique challenges and goals, to get an idea of what the lower-division picture looks like in U.S. women\u2019s soccer at the start of 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>venerable Women\u2019s Premier Soccer League<\/span>, which initially broke away from the original USL W-League in 1998, currently lists 107 teams across over 30 states on its website and rosters around 4,000 players total. The league encompasses different kinds of teams; some sit at the top of a larger youth system and give an opportunity to aged-out players. Some are aimed at giving college players or players out of NCAA eligibility a place to keep playing, or even keep developing in anticipation of finding a pro contract either in NWSL or overseas. There\u2019s also room for post-professional players who want an organized league with more resources than just your local rec league, where they stay in a relatively high-level training environment comparable to what they were used to as pros.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It is, though, still women\u2019s soccer on a tight budget.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI would say on the low end our lowest operators are maybe (spending) $15 to $20 (thousand per season),\u201d said league president Sean Jones on a call with <\/span>The Athletic<\/span><\/i>. \u201cThe high end is probably around $100K.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s interesting, though,\u201d he added, \u201cIs that budget doesn\u2019t necessarily translate to how good of a job they do, either on the field or off the field. We\u2019ve got some clubs with low budgets, they do a fantastic job because they have such a great volunteer base and everyone is pulling on the same rope, but they\u2019re trying to do it for the right reason. So they do a really good job of game day atmosphere, really good job of taking care of their players.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Going low-budget can also be a mid- to long-term strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf we can get teams close to breakeven, to where they\u2019re stable and you have the same clubs for five, six, seven, eight years,\u201d said Jones of what he wants to see, \u201cThen in their market, they can go find new sponsorship, because they\u2019ve been around for seven or eight years, which is just more money that they can put into the program.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Jones agreed that the majority of clubs in WPSL aren\u2019t in it primarily for a profit, but he did say that the ultimate goal was longevity, and for longevity, clubs need stability from season to season.<\/span><\/p>\n WPSL is also trying to balance understanding the need for low budgets with players\u2019 needs for good environments and facilities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t set the standards so high that only 20 teams would qualify,\u201d Jones said. \u201cBut you also can\u2019t swing so low that it\u2019s any kind of risk to players.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There are league minimum standards requiring things like having an athletic trainer or physician present before a game can be played, mandatory background checks for coaches, playable field conditions, minimum seating capacity, and locker rooms for both teams. \u201cWe don\u2019t want players out in the parking lot changing,\u201d said Jones.<\/span><\/p>\n The costs can quickly add up. Mandating a certain number of seats in stadiums means going from a $500-a-game venue to one costing $1000 per game or more. That extra $500 a game over a 12-game season doesn\u2019t sound like much until you remember many of these teams have an operating budget well under $100k.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jones said that what WPSL really focused on in the 2022 season was more on promotion and figuring out how to amplify what the clubs are already doing on their own. \u201cHow can we help our clubs promote themselves? How can we get their message out? Most of our clubs have very small staffs. So what can we do? Can we hire folks to help instead of just retweeting and reposting the articles that they\u2019re writing? Can we hire staff writers that can cover that conference and they can do feature stories for them?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n WPSL also has a growing contingent of U-21 teams, which Jones said was a way for more players to get meaningful minutes in games, since some teams may have as many as 40 players available to train, but only 20-22 will ever get to play. Jones wants to add more U21 teams \u2013 a lot more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI would love for our U-21 league to have 150 teams,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s another 3,000, 4,000 players that are getting to experience this level and experience WPSL\u2026. From my perspective, I would be really happy if we did that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n United Women\u2019s Soccer currently lists 49 teams on its website, for a league that rosters about 1,000 players total. They just saw a former UWS player, Santa Clarita Blue Heat\u2019s Alyssa Thompson, go #1 overall in the 2023 NWSL draft. Five other first round picks also had stints in UWS or UWS League Two teams. But while league commissioner Joe Ferrara Jr. said in a call with <\/span>The Athletic<\/span><\/i> that while there was some discussion of UWS becoming a Division-III pro league, for now they will continue as an amateur league that nevertheless is committed to providing a professional atmosphere for its players. That means mandating a certain quality of playing surfaces and providing locker rooms, showers, and livestreamed games.<\/span><\/p>\n Like WPSL, UWS isn\u2019t hyperfocused on expansion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to water down the league. We don\u2019t have ambitions of trying to be the largest league in the world,\u201d said Ferrara. What he does want to see in the future is being able to play in different windows during the year to continue accommodating collegiate seasons, while also being able to have a longer season overall.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n League executive director Stephanie Cleaves, also a co-owner of the Lancaster Inferno in Pennsylvania, said that they\u2019re better able to oversee teams and ensure that they meet the league\u2019s standards because they\u2019re smaller than WPSL, and that if UWS offers a certain quality, it forces other leagues to be able to match those standards in order to remain enticing to players.<\/span><\/p>\n Cleaves pointed out that UWS has added teams since 2020, despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. When everything shut down in 2020, she said, they used that year to work on expansion. \u201cUsually it\u2019s just teams coming to us and then connections that we have,\u201d she said. \u201cBut actually doing our research and seeking out teams that would be a good fit, we really used that time to do that.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOur vision is to be the preeminent pro-am league in North America,\u201d said Cleaves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n UWS won\u2019t be pursuing D-III sanctioning yet, with Cleaves pointing out that the requirement for each club to have a 35% principal owner worth at least $5M presents a big roadblock. The roadblock is compounded by investors historically being dismissive of choosing women\u2019s sports over men\u2019s, although that is certainly changing now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nWPSL<\/span><\/h3>\n
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