The Downside

By: Melissa | November 12th, 2008

Previously, I wrote about the upside to non-overlapping, short-season leagues (more money & more playing time) but I neglected to mention the possible more problems scenario. The downside being more injuries. And Sydney FC’s captain, Heather Garriock, injured her hip during last weekend’s game. Apparently it’s serious enough that it may end her W-League season so she can focus on regaining fitness before the WPS season starts. International draft pick, Sara Walsh is also injured but I don’t know the scope of it – and the article only mentions her missing one W-League game. Oh and Marta is injured too. An overstrained hip flexor caused her to sit out most of Umea’s 3-2 loss to Arsenal in the UEFA Cup quarterfinals on Nov 6th (the second leg is today – no idea if she’s playing or not).

Speaking of… the WPS rumor-mill now has Marta demanding $500,000 a year and a guaranteed 3 year contract. So apparently, even if she gets injured or if the league folds, she still gets paid. But this rumor seems a little fishy since the WPS salary cap is only around $540,000. It makes more sense that Marta is perhaps demanding a contract with a smaller base salary that includes a percentage of merchandise revenue (or something similar). But, hey, since we ARE talking about AEG here and the majority of the 2008 LA Galaxy salary cap went towards the paychecks of 3 (then 2) players… Perhaps luckily for The Galaxy, one of those two remaining players may be gone come 2009 (with the other to follow?) and maybe luckily for WPS, the women’s league hasn’t yet introduced the idea of a designated/marquee player. Also luckily for WPS, the only record of Marta’s current salary I can find, puts her at an abysmal $55,000 a year (which also includes a Puma endorsement deal). And at the moment, we don’t see pictures of her plastered all over the LA Sol website but who knows what will happen if she does indeed sign with the team. But at the same time, she is not an underwear model, doesn’t have her own scent, nor does she have a promotional deal with Sharpee — if you know what I mean.

But despite the above rumors, the hype machine still soldiers on. Now, Nadine Angerer wants to leave Sweden to possibly play in the WPS and her agent is already negotiating with a few WPS teams.