Talent on display as post-season is underway

Greetings from the commissioner’s office as our inaugural postseason has just gotten underway!

It’s been a whirlwind few months of great play and lively crowds, which culminated with a tremendous finish to our regular season: the Washington, New York/New Jersey, and Boston franchises all battling for the last two playoff spots. Congratulations to the Freedom and Sky Blue FC for claiming those berths and for putting on an exciting match in this past Saturday’s First Round. In hot conditions, Sky Blue FC persevered with super sub performances from Natasha Kai and Francielle to advance to play No. 2 seed Saint Louis Athletica in Wednesday’s semifinal (7pm ET live on Fox Soccer Channel).

Tens of millions of viewers have already had the chance to enjoy our televised games this season, and an estimated 70-80 million people will have the opportunity to watch our playoff games, including the Aug. 22 WPS Championship presented by MedImmune (3:30pm ET live on Fox Sports Net) hosted by the top-seeded Los Angeles Sol. This kind of visibility has given us some great momentum, namely in the form of corporate sponsorships swayed by our world-class level of play – MedImmune®, who, has signed on to sponsor this year’s championship, and just announced today, the U.S. Coast Guard as the presenting partner of the WPS All-Star Game.

Speaking of talent on display, we’re expecting a great show at our first All-Star Game (Aug. 30 at 5pm ET live on Fox Soccer Channel), at The Anheuser-Busch Soccer Park in Saint Louis, where 18 of our best players will take on Swedish titan Umeå IK. Sol coach Abner Rogers will coach the WPS team, which features 11 players chosen by an evenly split vote of fans, media, coaches, and players – and seven additional players chosen by Abner and me. The pool is actually deeper than 18 – of the original 11 All-Stars, five will be competing in the European Championships and were automatically replaced on the roster by the next-highest vote-getters.

The collaborative selection of the final seven players was a great honor for both Abner and me, and it was extremely satisfying to reward some of the league’s most dynamic stars. Yet it was also excruciating to leave off many, many worthy players who provided some incredible highlights this season. Every one of our seven franchises will be represented on the All-Star roster, and we’re hoping that this parity continues into 2010 with the addition of two expansion franchises, the Philadelphia Independence and the Atlanta Beat. We’ve been working for weeks on the mechanics of the expansion; although the new rosters will feature plenty of players entering the league for the first time, some familiar players will be wearing different jerseys next season. Our general managers will be conducting team meetings this week to introduce the players to the expansion process, which includes an expansion draft that will account for much of the off-season player movement.

That said, the best part of the 2009 schedule is ahead of us. Who will challenge the Sol in the final? How will our standouts come together against Umeå IK? Which players will shine under the season’s brightest lights? As always, stay tuned.