2000 – Launch of WUSA

Launched in the wake of the USWNT’s 1999 World Cup triumph, the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) became the first professional women’s soccer league in the United States. WUSA represented a hopeful leap toward gender equity in professional sport and was backed by national enthusiasm and major sponsorships. However, despite its symbolic power, the league struggled to draw consistent viewership, media coverage, and revenue. This disparity ultimately led to its collapse in 2003 (Longman 2003).

The WUSA’s rise and fall reflected a broader truth: visibility alone could not sustain a professional women’s sports league without serious economic investment and institutional commitment. The USWNT’s excellence has often been met with cultural resistance and financial neglect, even when their success draws massive public attention (Gregory 2019). Players were asked to serve as pioneers and role models without receiving the structural support given to male athletes.

The WUSA’s failure taught a generation of players and fans that gender equity must be more than symbolic; it requires durable, material backing. This lesson would inform the team’s future activism around labor rights and professional sustainability.