Small Crowds Mean Losses for WPS Investors

• Los Angeles Times, Monday, May 18, 2009 3:15 PM

The LA Times' Grahame Jones suggests that the LA Sol's crowds have fallen far short of matching its announceded attendance. The LA Sol's announced crowd of 6,210 on Mother's Day, for example, came on an afternoon when there might charitably have been 3,000 fans on hand, according to Jones, who wrote that on Friday night, the Sol claimed an attendance of 6,115 when there were perhaps half that number watching.

The small crowds add up to large losses, and the team's co-owner, AEG, will not put up with that beyond this season. "Are we going to lose money the first year? Yes," Tim Leiweke, the president and CEO of AEG, said. "Is it a million-plus? Yes. Did we expect that? Yes. Will that continue? No.

"We've made it clear that our job is to get it started, and then we're going to let others step in here and continue this. But we felt we owed it to the women's game to give them a shot.

"We were never intent on being here forever. Our plate is full. We're very, very focused -- despite what people think -- on the Galaxy and on the Kings. Those are our highest priorities."

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