Move leaves D.C. area with no professional women’s soccer team
The evidence of top-level women’s professional soccer in Washington was there on a video screen at the German Embassy residence just outside of Georgetown last week.
But following last fall’s sale of the Washington Freedom to Dan Borislow, who abruptly renamed the WPS club and relocated it to South Florida, video and memories are the only proof of existence for what was the most recognizable brand in American women’s soccer.
Monday evening’s video was a tribute to Steffi Jones, a former midfielder for the German women’s national team and the Washington Freedom. Jones visited Washington to promote her current role as the president of the local organizing committee of the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will take place in Germany in June.
| United to launch women’s club |
| The departure of the Washington Freedom this offseason has led to D.C. United’s first foray into the women’s game, with the MLS club announcing the launch of the D.C. United Women. |
| The team will play in the W-League, the highest level of the amateur women’s game below WPS. |
| The D.C. United Women franchise essentially will be the renamed Washington Freedom Futures, a W-League franchise that was sold after its WPS parent club departed the area. |
| The formation of the D.C. United Women, who will play games at Maryland SoccerPlex like their predecessor, creates a mini juggernaut for D.C. United Women general manager Tim Schweitzer, who is also listed as the general manager of the Northern Virginia Majestics, another W-League team. |
| The two teams are in separate divisions and technically represent different territories, but it is unclear how the teams intend to remain distinct and separate entities. |
With Jones’ former Freedom teammate Mia Hamm also present, it felt like the heady days after the 1999 Women’s World Cup had galvanized the nation.
“I would like to thank Mia because she was always my role model,” Jones told the gathering. “I had to play against her, and then I got to play with here at the Washington Freedom, which I would say was the best time of my life.”
Jones beamed as video played of her being honored last summer by the Freedom at Maryland SoccerPlex. She was inducted into the team’s Hall of Freedom, a place where she and Hamm were supposed to always be remembered.
But 25 miles away in Germantown, the Hall of Freedom banners are gone, as are the Freedom offices, the temporary stands and everything at SoccerPlex that had anything to do with the team that resided there, except the team’s logo on the scoreboard.
“It’s sad,” Hamm said, “just because I know my experiences playing here were tremendous — fan support, ownership, the Hendricks, they helped develop the WUSA. The growth of our game wouldn’t be where it is without them and just the rich soccer tradition that’s in this area.”
After losing money for more than a decade, few blame John and Maureen Hendricks for selling their stake. But even fewer are happy with how Borislow has proceeded since the sale, starting with informing WPS that the team had been renamed magicJack — after his internet telephone business — the night before the league’s 2011 schedule was released.
With a week to go before WPS’ third season kicks off, magicJack bears little resemblance to a professional club. The team has no front office, media representative or website. The West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Borislow, who did not respond to an email request for an interview, never formally announced the team’s move to Florida. He recently told PotomacSoccerWire.com that a decision to play all home games in Florida was directed by league sponsor Puma, an assertion WPS rejected.
The team formerly known as the Freedom, which includes U.S. players Shannon Boxx, Christie Rampone, Abby Wambach and Becky Sauerbrunn, will play at Florida Atlantic University in a 1,500-capacity stadium, less than half of the attendance they averaged in two years at SoccerPlex.
But despite Borislow’s approach, perhaps he’s simply shown that even Washington isn’t immune to the instability of the women’s game.
“Women’s team sports at a professional, commercially successful level is a pretty difficult proposition still in our country,” U.S. Soccer general secretary Dan Flynn said. “I have three daughters so I’m not happy about that, but I think we have to take a realistic approach.”
Of course, U.S. Soccer is more concerned with developing players and winning the World Cup. But while the attention turns to Germany this summer, the Washington area will be left to wonder how after a whirlwind decade, the region is right back where it was before Mia Hamm and her teammates stole the country’s hearts.
It’s as if the Freedom never existed.
“I think nobody who watched the Women’s World Cup in ’99 could ever walk away from that experience and not know that women can make an impact in sports,” said Trish Heffelfinger, director of SoccerPlex. “I think that the people that wanted to support that and have that opportunity really did so. I think it will come again. This market can certainly support it, and we certainly would love to see them back, see a team here.”
