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An Ultimate Soccer League kicks off in Manhattan Beach
by John Tawa
A fledgling company headquartered in Manhattan Beach is hoping to score big when its new women's soccer league begins play in the summer of 2001.
Organizers say the Ultimate Soccer League's brand of soccer will be fast-paced and high scoring, played on a shorter 80-yard-by-50-yard field with no offsides, free substitutions and top secret goal posts (a patent is pending) that increase the imminent scoring threat.
"Ultimate Soccer League will give fans the intense entertainment they want and ambitious female role models they need - right in their own backyard," said Hermosa Beach resident Tracy Gale, the league's commissioner.
Today the league is more concept than reality. Although the Ultimate Soccer League is fully funded by an undisclosed private investment group through its first year, it has no players, no coaches, no venues and no sponsors.
But it does have six hard-working employees tucked into a second floor suite in the Friendly Hills Medical Plaza on Sepulveda Boulevard. They are dedicated full-time to making the concept come to life.
Hermosa Beach resident Josh Hodge is the league's president and visionary.
"What he saw was an opportunity to create something unique for young, female athletes," said Director of Player Development Jeremy Gould. "Men have the NFL, NBA, NHL, major league baseball. We really wanted to create something unique for young female fans and athletes and target them."
In June the Ultimate Soccer League will field six to 10 top-level amateur teams from Ventura County to south Orange County. The target athlete will be a highly skilled amateur or college player 18 years or older willing to play a 35-game summer schedule for the Ultimate Cup. Gould said that the league will begin signing players and hiring coaches in January.
The league will begin play in 4,000- to 10,000-seat venues with admission charges of $3 to $5, but the organizers envision greater things. If successful, the league hopes to become a full professional league within five years, with a television contract, major sponsors and teams spread at least through the West and, it is hoped, even across the country.
The Ultimate Soccer League, however, has no plans to compete with the Women's United Soccer Association, an eight-team national, professional league also forming for play in 2001. Ultimate Soccer League's initial business plan is to look like the minor leagues, where what surrounds the game is as important as the game itself.
"We're looking to make our games an event, so that girls who come there have a variety of things to do," said Sarah Lightfoot, the league's director of marketing. "Of course, the game is important, but we also will have other things going on, other games for kids to play."
"It's going to be a Lilith Fair-type deal, just sports oriented," added Vice President of Broadcasting and Marketing Anna Rothman.
For more information about the league, call league headquarters at 372-0707. The league's website, at www.ultimatesoccerleague.com, should be up within the next few weeks. ER