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The Daily Tar Heel

Women Get League of Their Own

Rather than a conference room or board meeting, the Women's United Soccer Association, or WUSA, was born on the field of Pasadena's Rose Bowl. In the championship game of the 1999 Women's World Cup, the U.S. team defeated China in a dramatic 5-4 penalty-kick victory, after which an exuberant Chastain celebrated by ripping off her jersey, captivating 90,025 fans in attendance and millions watching at home.

"Something magic happened in the summer of 1999 that touched the heart of America," said Amos Hostetter, one of the WUSA's primary investors, in the league media guide. "We were all captivated by the determination, competitive drive, and wholesome appeal of the U.S. women that took on the world and won."

Realizing this peak in the popularity of women's soccer, John S. Hendricks, Chairman and CEO of Discovery Communications, Inc., organized an investment group that consisted of major U.S. media companies such as Time Warner Cable and Cox Enterprises, and all 20 members of the 1999 World Cup Team, including Chastain, Mia Hamm and Carla Overbeck.

While these 20 players provided the talent necessary for founding the league, they also provide valuable notoriety.

"Everybody needs -- and this is one of the key things we have -- star power," said WUSA Commissioner Tony DiCicco after Saturday's Carolina-Washington matchup. "Every league needs to have star power to get underway and really to generate some of the goals that they're after."

Twenty players obviously couldn't fill a league, causing the WUSA to hold drafts such as the Foreign Player Allocation Draft, a Global Draft and a Supplemental Draft, during which international stars such as Brazil's Roseli joined the league.

In considering the potential markets for hosting the initial teams, the group focused on cities that would provide a substantial cable television distribution.

The league received a tremendous response from cities wishing to host a WUSA team. Initially, the league narrowed its choices to a "Sweet 16" list of markets before announcing that its first eight WUSA teams would be in Atlanta, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Orlando-Tampa, San Diego, the San Francisco bay area and Washington. The Orlando-Tampa team was later relocated to the Raleigh-Durham area.

Six months later it was announced that the teams would be the Atlanta Beat, Bay Area CyberRays, Boston Breakers, Carolina Courage, New York Power, Philadelphia Charge, San Diego Spirit and Washington Freedom.

The eight teams comprised one division with each team playing a 21-game schedule. At the end of the season, the top four teams advance to the playoffs. The WUSA Championship Classic will be played August 25.

Although it will cost about $40 million to fund the league during its first five years of operations, now young fans can dream about a career that Hamm never imagined while in college.

"We weren't even in the Olympics, were only barely able to create a World Cup for ourselves, so a professional game was so far away," Hamm said. "It wasn't even a thought in my mind at that point."

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.

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