I will jump in and ask the same question so many people are asking.

What in the world is MLS doing proposing to get involved in a women’s pro league?

It has too many problems to be getting involved in a new startup.

Word that Philip Anschutz, owner of the Colorado Rapids, Chicago Fire and Los Angeles Galaxy, is gung-ho about a women’s league makes one wonder how he became No. 5 on Forbes’ list of the wealthiest people in the world.

Then again, the former oil wildcatter didn’t accumulate wealth estimated at more than $16 billion by making dumb decisions.

He used his oil money to buy money-losing Southern Pacific, and he acquired rights to lay fiber optic cable next to the 18,000 miles of track on which Southern Pacific operated.

The hot industry today is telecommunications, and you don’t get any hotter than Anschutz’s Qwest.

In Anschutz’s spare time, he’s moved into another kind of real estate: sports real estate.

He built the Staples Center, home of the NBA Lakers and Clippers and NHL Kings, in downtown Los Angeles.

He’s involved in developing American-style sports arenas in Europe. Going the reverse route, he’s even commissioned drawings for European-style stadiums for his three MLS clubs.

Therein lies the connection to a women’s pro league.

The one thing a stadium needs is dates. And the one thing a women’s league needs is a place to play. Indeed, the rival WUSA seems to have it all ù players, money, television, connections ù except somewhere to play.

Columbus, which just announced that Crew Stadium will be home to a new lacrosse team, is the only MLS team that needs to worry about filling dates for its facility.

That will change in the future.

And that’s where an MLS women’s league, as crazy as it sounds, comes in.

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