This story is a developing one and we expect more information as the day goes on. Please check back for updates.

We’ve received word from a WPSL club front office that the league has announced it will be “keeping $2500 of the $3500 of entry fees and letting us credit $1000 for next season.” That came from an anonymous source, but we’re working to confirm this story with other clubs and the league. While the source wasn’t willing to go onto the record, for obvious reasons, they did mention that “people aren’t happy and it’s going to get ugly.”

While many leagues seem to be taking this approach, including the NPSL (according to this twitter post from @Apyramid_blog), it certainly comes across as tone deaf as the individual clubs are struggling to stay afloat. Even if it’s an economic reality, it will not play well in the court of public opinion and certainly not with the league’s member clubs.

UPDATE

Sean Jones, WPSL President, has confirmed that the rumor is true. He offered an explanation on the part of the league. According to Jones, “only 10% of our annual budget are variable costs directly tied to the season and we are in the 9th month of our fiscal year which began in September of 2019 which means that 75% of the budget had already been spent,” that includes payroll, rent, office expense, payroll, rent, office expense, AGM, conventions, social media, dues and license, etc. From the league perspective, there were two options:

“We could shut down the office, lay everyone off, and go “dark” until October when the 2021 fees begin to come in and give everyone a check back for $500 - $600 or we could keep the office open, continue to pay staff, and work towards continuing to provide teams that can with the ability to register players to train in the late summer, hopefully play some friendlies, and have the potential of a fall season (depending on what happens with the NCAA) all while trying to figure out how to budget for a minimum $130K reduction in revenue for the 2021 season. We decided on option 2.”

While that may seem small consolation to member clubs, Jones did mention that two of the management team with other sources of income have given up 100% of their league salary, while the other has taken a 40% pay cut.

For Jones, and he was very adamant about this, “there are clearly NO good options.”

If you’re a WPSL club with information, shoot me an email at DanVaughn@protagonistsoccer.com or DM me on twitter. Our DMs are open.