May 14, 2008 by Jeff Cooper 

Once again, my blogging has fallen by the wayside as we work diligently behind-the-scenes to secure an MLS franchise for St. Louis. As usual, activity has far from ceased. Rather, our quest for an MLS team continues to gain momentum and we expect that we will have big news to share with you soon.

In the meantime, I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly remember and thank Collinsville Mayor Stan Schaefer, who passed away in early March. Mayor Schaeffer played a pivotal role in getting our project off the ground, garnering public support, and securing TIF financing for our state-of-the-art soccer facility. Personally, I'm extremely saddened by his passing and will miss our frequent conversations. My sincerest condolences to his family, as well as the city of Collinsville, who lost a great leader.

With that, I'd like to focus the rest of this blog on the women's game. In less than a year, Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) will kick off its inaugural season and St. Louis is proud to be part of the fold.

Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy... After the 1999 Women's World Cup, these women were household names. And I guarantee you that very shortly, names like Abby Wambach, Heather Mitts, Hope Solo — and St. Louis' own Lori Chalupny – will be rolling off the tongues of mainstream sports fans. If you haven't already, wait until you see these women play. Their intensity and skill level rivals, if not exceeds, that of their male counterparts.

Along with St. Louis, WPS teams will play next spring in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New Jersey/New York, and Washington D.C. And a number of cities are already viable expansion options — Atlanta, San Francisco, Philadelphia, just to name a few.

League Commissioner Tonya Antonucci has done an amazing job over the last few years to ensure that WPS is operating under a sound business model, priming the league for long-term success. Capitalizing on all of the digital resources at our disposal – in particular, social networking and video/picture sharing – the league's marketing strategy is all about connecting with the fans at a grassroots level. A move that, I think, is key to building a loyal fan base. We even have the star power of Phoenix Suns forward Steve Nash and former Yahoo! President Jeff Mallett on board as part owners in the league. Will it be an overnight success? Who knows. But we're in it for the long haul – and we hope that you'll join us.

Locally, we'll have a number of announcements related to the WPS team coming your way very soon — including the unveiling of a team name and uniform, details on where the team will play, and how you can purchase tickets. Until then, keep checking back here and visit for news and updates.