WPS Calls it Quits

Four months after it suspended the 2012 season, Women’s Professional Soccer announced that it had ceased operations on Friday.

The league, which began play in 2009, saw a number of teams fold in its three seasons. But after poor attendance and litigation related to the Dan Borislow/magicJack dispute put the league further in the red, there appeared little else the league could do to revive itself.

“We sincerely regret having to take this course of action,” T. Fitz Johnson, owner of the Atlanta Beat and chairman of the board of governors, said in a statement.

The Boston Breakers were the lone WPS representative from New England, and one of only two (the other being Sky Blue FC) of the original seven clubs to survive all three seasons.

After the the 2012 season was suspended, the club joined the WPSL Elite League, which assembled eight teams – including other former WPS clubs like the Chicago Red Stars and Western NY Flash – for competitive play this year.

It was hoped that WPS would return for 2013 under a new business model. But Friday’s announcement ended any hope that the league would live to see another day.

“We are proud of what WPS has accomplished, having attracted the highest quality players in the world to play in the best women’s league, as well as the progress women’s soccer has enjoyed over the past three years,” WPS CEO Thomas Hofstetter said in a statement. “We are extremely grateful to our sponsors, the talented players and dedicated fans that made this league so special. They, along with our teams, have invested an incredible amount of resources for the benefit of the women who played in WPS and the young players who aspire to play professionally someday.”

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