Lots more in store in 2010 for women's professional sports

By Mike Tierney

For the AJC

The page to 2010 has not yet been turned, and the year already is a historic one for metro Atlanta sports.

Balls of three different sizes will be in play as a resurrected soccer team and a transplanted fast-pitch softball club join a toddler basketball franchise.

Among U.S. cities, only Chicago will offer as many options, based on a list of recognized professional leagues provided by the National Women's Sports Foundation.

Bob Hope of Atlanta, a Foundation executive committee member, senses that conditions are ripe for women's teams to embed themselves in the area's sports conscience.

"There is a lot of support being cast into women’s sports as a reaction to what is perceived as greediness and misbehavior of athletes in men’s sports," said Hope, an electee to the U.S. Women's Sports Hall of Fame. "The women just want to make a living at the game they love.

"Advertisers and sponsors are warming up to women’s sports not only because the athletes are not likely to be arrested but also because the women tend to like to make appearances, enjoy working with kids and are far more accessible. Also, they have found that women athletes appeal to women and men, not predominantly just men, as male athletes do."

All three teams have rookie owners, each drawn to what they consider a calling, motivated by something other than turning a profit.

"Allowing a platform for offering role models up was the big plus about buying the team," said Kathy Betty, majority owner of the Dream, soon to enter its third season in the Women's National Basketball Association.

It's no coincidence that the men in charge of soccer's Beat and softball's tentatively named Thunder have children immersed in those sports.

"I like what sports does for people, especially women," said the Beat's owner, entrepreneur Fitz Johnson, whose two college-age daughters grew up in soccer cleats. "Not so much just playing, but what it gives you -- attitude, edge. It builds confidence.

"Starting a pro soccer team is not something you do to make money."

Attorney Preston Delashmit believes the Thunder eventually can operate in the black but suggests his goals are rooted in benevolence.

"Provide talented athletes an opportunity to show their God-given talents," said the father of a freshman outfielder at Georgia Tech, whose bid on the Thunder in Rockford, Ill., awaits approval from the seller and the National Fastpitch Pro league. "Create a vehicle by which these players can make a living."

Both upstarts will stage home games at Kennesaw State University, which fields an existing 1,500-seat softball park and expects to cut the ribbon on an 8,300-seat soccer stadium by opening day.

The family-inspired impulse is hardly unique among owners in women's athletics.

"The strongest sales message in women’s sports is: Do it for your daughter," Hope said. "Women’s sports has a touch of altruism that is appealing."

Though basketball season nearly coincides with softball and overlaps with soccer, the Dream's Betty has contacted both fledgling teams about joint efforts with community outreach.

Betty envisions players who shoot, kick and catch a ball conducting clinics together and making group appearances.

"For young girls to wake up in the morning and say, ‘Hey, I can play professional sports,' we'd like to move that along a little bit," said Betty, whose hometown in Alabama was devoid of organized team sports for girls.

The Beat's Johnson is onboard with Betty. "That would go a long way for kids to see these pro athletes from more than one sport," he said. Count in the Thunder's Delashmit, who said, "There's a great opportunity for all of us to cross-promote."

Beth Bass, CEO of the Atlanta-based Women's Basketball Coaches Association, applauds such collaborative steps.

"Girls can say, ‘What sport do I want to choose?' " she said. "When the water rises, all ships rise."

Bass speaks with an evangelist's fervor on the Dream's impact in Atlanta during its brief existence.

"It's not just a sport. It's a movement," she said. "Young girls have role models. It's like a spark."

The spark pushed Johnson to launch a 2.0 version of the Beat, which attracted decent crowds in a now-defunct league from 2001-3 and is affiliated with Women's Professional Soccer.

And it prompted Delashmit to accelerate plans to acquire an NFP expansion franchise in a few years.

"I think this league is going to take off," he said, noting the high participation levels in the area.

For devotees of women's pro sports, there will be no shortage of options next spring and summer.

Said the Dream's Betty, "It's kind of exciting, isn't it?"

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Dream

League: Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)

Season: June through September

Venue: Philips Arena

Beat

League: Women's Professional Soccer (WPS)

Season: Late March through August

Venue: Kennesaw State

Thunder (tentative)

League: National Pro Fastpitch (NPF) softball

Season: June through mid-August

Venue: Kennesaw State