Washington Freedom

Women’s United Soccer Association (2001-2003)
Independent (2004-2005)
W-League (2006-2008)
Women’s Professional Soccer (2009-2010)

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Washington Freedom
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The Freedom were the original club of American soccer icons Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach as well as superb internationals such as Steffi Jones, Bai Jie and Sonia Bompastor. When the Freedom ceased play after 11 seasons in 2010, they were the longest tenured women’s professional soccer club in American history at the time. 

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Background

The Washington Freedom was one of eight original franchises in the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA). The WUSA formed in April 2000 in an effort to capitalize on the extraordinary success of the 1999 Women’s World Cup in the United States.

The financial backers of the league were a consortium of cable television companies including Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable and a pair cable industry executives, John Hendricks and Amos Hostetter. Each investor claimed operating rights to one (or more) of the WUSA’s eight clubs. The Maryland-based Hendricks chose the Washington D.C. franchise. Along with his wife Maureen, Hendricks would become the most commited benefactor of the women’s pro game in its first decade.

WUSA

Each WUSA franchise received an allocation of three “Founders” – the members of the U.S. Women’s National Team that electrified the nation during the 1999 Women’s World Cup. The Freedom received midfielder Michelle French, goalkeeper Siri Mullinix and the ultimate prize, forward Mia Hamm. Hamm was the transcendent star of the women’s game and, in many respects, the player on whose shoulders the aspirations of the WUSA rested. The league’s other seven clubs routinely drew their best crowds when Mia and the Freedom came to town.

The Freedom hosted the WUSA’s inaugural game at RFK Stadium on April 14th, 2001. The match pitted Hamm’s Freedom against the Bay Area CyberRays, who featured the league’s other biggest star, 1999 World Cup final hero Brandi Chastain. In the 69th minute, Chastain was called for a foul on Hamm in the penalty area. Brazilian forward Pretinha converted the ensuing penalty kick for the first goal in WUSA history. The Freedom won 1-0 and the RFK assemblage of 34,148 fans remains the largest women’s pro soccer crowd in U.S. history nearly two decades later.

The 2001 Freedom were a disappointment on the field, finishing in 7th place with a 6-12-3 record. At the turnstiles, the Freedom led the WUSA in attendance with 14,421 fans per match. They would ultimately  finish first in attendance for all three years that the WUSA operated, helped by the enduring appeal of Hamm and a series of attendance-inflating doubleheaders with D.C. United of Major League Soccer.

Back-to-Back Founders Cup Appearances

In 2002 the Freedom added the emerging U.S. National Team star Abby Wambach in the college draft. Wambach led the Freedom in both goals (10) and assists (9) en route to Rookie-of-the-Year honors. The Freedom advanced to the 2002 Founders Cup championship game on August 24, 2002 in Atlanta where they lost 3-2 to the Carolina Courage.

One year to the day later, the Freedom returned to play in Founders Cup III against the Atlanta Beat in San Diego, California. The Freedom were the lowest seed in the WUSA playoffs, but upset the top-seed Boston Breakers on penalty kick in the semi-final. In the final, the Freedom ousted the Beat 2-1 on a pair of Wambach goals, including a golden goal during sudden-death overtime.

The euphoria was short-lived. The WUSA folded less than a month later on September 15, 2003.

2004-2008: Into The Wilderness

Alone among the WUSA’s eight franchises, the Freedom soldiered onward after the demise of the league, thanks to the financial backing of the Hendricks family. The Freedom moved out of RFK to the more intimate and afforable Maryland SoccerPlex. The great senior National Team stars like Hamm and Wambach fell away from club soccer, playing only in residence and international competition with the U.S. National Team. Hamm retired following the 2004 Athens Olympics and a 10-match farewell tour of the U.S. with her USWNT teammates.

The Freedom played a series of exhibition matches in 2004 and 2005. In 2006 the Freedom played a more structured schedule of exhibitions, competing in home-and-home friendlies against several East Coast-based clubs in the amateur W-League. A new generation of U.S. U-21 National Team players such as Ali Krieger and Joanna Lohman suited up for the Freedom during this era.

The Freedom joined the W-League as a full-fledged member in 2007, participating in a true league table for the first time since the WUSA’s final campaign in 2003. They defeated the Atlanta Silverbacks 3-1 in the 2007 W-League championship game.

All the while, plans were afoot to launch a new women’s pro league in the U.S. to replace the old WUSA. The new league announced its formation (but not yet its name) in 2007 with an anticipated 2008 debut. Washington expected to leave the W-League for the new pro circuit in 2008, but the league’s launch was delayed until April 2009. The Freedom played one final amateur season in the W-League in 2008.

Meanwhile, the name of the new women’s league was announced in January 2008: Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS). The league’s logo was a silhouette of the now-retired Mia Hamm.

2009-2010 Women’s Professional Soccer

As they had in WUSA eight years earlier, the Washington Freedom played in the inaugural match from Women’s Professional Soccer on March 29, 2009. It was the club’s first professional match in nearly six years. Once again, the match featured the league’s two biggest stars: Brazilian forward Marta of the Los Angeles Sol and Wambach, returning to the Freedom after a six-year absence. The crowd was much smaller though. 14,382 turned out at the Home Depot Center in suburban L.A. to witness the Sol’s 2-0 victory.

Wambach and Lori Lindsey were the only players to return from the WUSA-era Freedom. The club also brought back a number players that played for the team during their W-League/exhibition years. Key newcomers included USWNT defender Cat Whitehill, Japanese striker Homare Sawa and French midfielder Sonia Bompastor.

Besides Hendricks, Wambach and Lindsey, there was one other holdover from the WUSA era who requires mention here. Jim Gabarra was the Freedom’s only head coach in its long and winding history. Unfortunately, that history was about to come to an end.

WPS wobbled into its second season in the spring of 2010. The league’s Los Angeles franchise abruptly closed its doors after the college draft in January. The league was dealt another embarrassing black eye when St. Louis Athletica folded in midseason in late May. Crowds were down across the league, including in Washington where averaged attendance dipped below 4,000 per match at the Maryland SoccerPlex. In September the Freedom went out in the first round of the WPS playoffs for the second straight year.

Demise & Aftermath

As the 2010 season ended, John & Maureen Hendricks revealed they were seeking new investors for the club. Up until this point, the Freedom were not considered to be one of WPS’ many trouble spots. Soon enough it became clear that the Hendricks’ were through with WPS.

In November 2010, they handed the keys to the franchise to Dan Borislow, the wealthy communications entrepreneur behind the MagicJack Voice over IP device that was ubiquitous on late night cable TV commercials during the aughts. Borislow moved the club to his home base of West Palm Beach, Florida and renamed it MagicJack after his signature product. The story of MagicJack is too twisted to get into here, but Borislow turned out to be a deeply corrosive figure in the already badly weakened league. Borislow immediately alienated just about everyone involved with WPS. His fellow owners terminated the franchise in October 2011 to get him out of the league. The league itself folded three months later in January 2012.

Women’s pro soccer returned to the Maryland SoccerPlex in 2013 with the formation of the National Women’s Soccer League and the Washington Spirit franchise. Former Freedom head coach Jim Gabarra coached the Spirit from 2016 to 2018.

Washington Freedom Shop

Washington Freedom Video

The Freedom host St. Louis Athletica at the Maryland SoccerPlex in 2009. Fox Soccer Channel WPS game of the week broadcast.

Downloads

2008 Washington Freedom Draft Marketing Plan

2009 Washington Freedom Media Guide

2009 WPS Final Ticket Revenue By Team

Links

Women’s United Soccer Association Media Guides

Women’s United Soccer Association Programs

Women’s Professional Soccer Media Guides

Women’s Professional Soccer Programs

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