In case you missed the news over the Christmas holidays, the American Basketball League, the women’s pro basketball league, folded. The decision by the league’s directors was not a shock — it barely survived the offseason — but the ABL’s folding demonstrates just how harsh the pro sports business can be. One day, players were preparing to visit family for Christmas. The next day, they were returning permanently. The ABL shared more with MLS than the fact that they were launched the same year (1996). Like MLS, the ABL brought back the top U.S. players after years abroad and offered them the highest salaries ever offered to American players to play at home. MLS isn’t so solid that one day its owners could suddenly decide to leave the key under door. The ABL’s problems were the usual ones. Underfinancing. Poor attendance. Too much competition. The rival WNBA had the backing of the NBA to promote the heck out of women’s basketball and outdrew the ABL by more than 2-1 (even if it did not offer comparable salaries). The ABL’s sudden demise demonstrates just how difficult it will be to launch a women’s pro soccer league. Women’s basketball has far more tradition and much greater support at the college and high school level, but its most competitive pro league couldn’t survive. Some will argue that the WNBA is the better example for a proposed women’s soccer league. Why not piggy-back on MLS? The WNBA has been able to tap into more than money from the NBA. It has access to the front-office staffs of NBA clubs in WNBA cities. It can use the NBA’s clout to cut solid TV and marketing deals. MLS’s front offices, on the other hand, are overworked. And the league has no clout to speak of. The NBA it is not. FANS: LET’S HEAR YOUR VIEW Could MLS go the way of the American Basketball League? Are the prospects for women’s pro soccer any brighter? Do you even remember the ABL? Click here to log onto (Soccer) American Graffiti. Then click on the topic entitled “YOUR VIEW: Lessons on the ABL’s demise” and respond to Paul Kennedy in 200 words or less. Don’t hold nothin’ back! Best responses will be reprinted in Soccer America Magazine. If YOUR View is selected, we’ll send you a cool t-shirt and pin… Because You’re FANATIC.