WPSL CONFERENCE CALL
August 11, 2003
7:00 PM PDT/8:00 PM MDT/10:00 PM EDT

TEAMS REPRESENTED
Ajax Southern California (Los Angeles, CA.) - Jeff Thomas
Elk Grove Pride (Elk Grove, CA.) - Frank Vellutini
California Storm (Sacramento, CA.) - Jerry Zanelli
Maryland Pride (Millersville, Maryland) ö Jack Wetherson
New England Mutiny (Springfield, MA) ö Joe Ferrara
San Francisco Nighthawks (San Francisco, CA.) ö Dick Cross
Lady Arizona Sahuaros (Carefree, AZ) ö Linda Suiter, Mark Nabity

TEAMS NOT REPRESENTED
Rhode Island Rays (Wakefield, RI) ö James Kelly
SWC Houston Stars (Houston, TX) ö Luis Labastida
East Bay Power (Orinda, CA.) - Ernesto Silva
New York Vendaval (New York, NY) ö Cathya Espinoza
Utah Spiders (Salt Lake City, UT.) - Jamie Schock
Sonoran Thunder (Tucson, AZ.) - Mark DeBenedetti
Northern California Blues (Monterey, CA) ö John Richer
San Joaquin Valley Quest (Modesto, CA) ö John Abkemeier
Houston Tornados (Houston, TX) ö Rose Leverton
Denver Diamonds (Denver, CO.) - Scott Dedycker
San Diego WFC (San Diego, CA.) - Lu Snyder

1. Provisional teams may now participate as full-fledged teams, provided they have paid all league fees.

2. By majority vote, all new teams must put up a $5000 bond, letter of credit or escrow account. The money will be returned at the end of the year, if there are no forfeits, past due league fees or unpaid claims. 

a. In addition, each region has the authority to require existing teams that are delinquent in paying league fees to put up a $5000 bond in order to participate in the upcoming season. Current teams that are delinquent include the Denver Diamonds, East Bay Power, Utah  Spiders, Sonoran  Thunder, Maryland Pepsi Pride, New England Mutiny, Rhode Island Rays, New York Vendaval, Northern California Blues.

b. The following 2003 Provisional teams will not be required to put up the $5000 bond provided they have paid all league fees: Northern California Blues, Lady Arizona Sahuaros, Houston Stars. 

3. If a team forfeits a game, they will be responsible for reimbursing their opponent all hard costs (field, employees, referees, etc.) as well as $500 for loss of ticket revenue. 

4. Frank Vellutini will specify the criteria for traveling team's arrival and departure times when making flight arrangements, thus insuring that games will begin at their scheduled time. 

5. The San Joaquin Valley Quest were allowed to take over the charter of Chico Quest and participate as a full fledged team for the 2003 season without paying the $2000 entry fee under the condition that they create a new team with a new name, have a different head coach, complete the Chico schedule, reschedule games against Ajax and San Diego and travel to Utah. These conditions were not met. Therefore, the SJV Quest must pay the $2000 team entry fee in addition to the $5000 new team bond in order to participate in the 2004 season. 

6. A schedule for the committed teams will be created early on and then games with provisional teams will be added as they come into the league. 

7. Members of the league are concerned with the quality of the teams that the league brings in. It is suggested that the league determine standards that must be met by all interested teams. Each region must have input as to which teams within their region are accepted into the league. This will be an agenda item at the AGM in November. 

8. A virtual office will be leased with Raven Communications INC. The address is 601 Montgomery Street, 16th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94111. 

a. All checks and financial information will still be sent to the Treasury Office at 1708 Waller Street, San Francisco, CA 94117.

b. Regional offices will also be set up in Sacramento, CA (Jerry Zanelli of California Storm), Springfield, MA (Joe Ferrara of New England Mutiny), and San Diego, CA (Lu Snyder of San Diego WFC). 

c. A toll-free number has been obtained, but given the need for a system that will transfer calls to the regional offices, a new  system and number with the features needed will be researched and obtained by Colette Hanlon. 

9. Playoff/Championship Critique (report and recommendations). 

a. Report ö Quality of participating teams was excellent, field was of great quality, weather was reasonable, referee quality pretty good though they were late for the Championship game, games were well staffed with San Francisco Nighthawk players, an announcer, trainer and videographer. Publicity was weak, and attendance was weak. 

b. Recommendations ö Obtain referees from local area, create a Championship Tournament Committee at AGM to establish a budget for the event, publicity early on, sponsors for travel and tournament costs, and other details so that next year's tournament will be well attended by fans and press and will establish our league as a more professional organization. 

10. Votes for the Most Valuable Player, Most Valuable Goalkeeper, All-Star Team players, Coach of the Year and Manager of the Year must be given to Colette Hanlon by August 31, 2003. Nominations that must be voted on are: 

a. Most Valuable Player ö Krissa Campbell of the Utah Spiders, Stacie Alberico of the California Storm, Amanda Detterline of the Maryland Pepsi Pride. 

b. Most Valuable Goalkeeper ö Melanie Stratford of the Utah Spiders, Megan Pickering of the California Storm.

c. Coach of the year ö Joanna Barney of Utah Spiders, Danny Cruz of Elk Grove Pride, Austin Daniels of the New England Mutiny, Ben Neil of the Maryland Pepsi Pride. 

d. Manager of the year ö Frank and Carrie Vellutini of Elk Grove Pride were nominated and recognized as the Management Team of the Year. 

e. All-Star Teams ö Each team may nominate from their team 1 player for 1st Team and 1 player for the 2nd Team. 

11. A WPSL Select Team made up of available non-college players will play games vs. Ghana in Portland August 30th at 6 PM and Monday, September 1st at 1:00 PM. Exact location TBD. 

12. The New Team and Annual Team Agreement and Commitment Form has been updated and is available on the website. The Registration Form will also be updated. Colette Hanlon will discuss with USASA the possibility of putting the Registration Form online. 

13. The league has accepted the Utah Spiders request for a leave of absence. It is agreed that their remaining balance is due. 

14. The process for registering a professional player as an amateur will be explained to Jerry Zanelli and Colette Hanlon at the USASA/USSF AGM. USSF is working on designing a notification system that alerts the amateur team if a player is signed to a foreign or professional team. 

15. A consultant will be hired to bring new teams into the league and obtain sponsors for the 2004 season. The consultant will be paid $500 per team signed after September 1, 2003 and will receive commission based compensation for obtaining new sponsors. 

16. Jerry Zanelli will be in charge of finding sponsorship. He will put together a hit list including airlines and hotels. Colette Hanlon will help put a sponsorship package together. 

17. Areas of responsibility will be delegated to each team for the 2004 season at the AGM in November. 

18. Colette Hanlon will oversee the details of the AGM to be held on November 8-9, 2003 in Las Vegas. Options will be distributed via e-mail. 

19. Renegotiations with SCORE will be set-up by Jerry Zanelli. Jerry Zanelli, Dick Cross, Jeff Thomas and Lu Snyder are asked to participate in negotiations.

Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 8:40 PM PDT. Next meeting scheduled for September 8, 2003 at 7:00 PM PDT, 8:00 PM MDT, 10:00 PM EDT as a
conference call.

Minutes respectfully submitted.
Colette Hanlon