Gabriel Fuentes Manhattan Beach, Calif. Could you please help me to understand why important soccer competitions, especially those in Latin America, are increasingly transmitted over pay-per-view? I am disappointed that I will need to spend over $100 to watch my national team compete in the Confederations Cup. Shouldn’t national team games, especially when a team is participating in an official FIFA event, be transmitted to a wider audience? Any insights would be appreciated! Ridge Mahoney: Money. It’s much more efficient to telecast pay-per-view, as network broadcasts reach much greater audiences, and if only a small portion of those households watch a program, the network can lose a lot of money by not showing programs with wider appeal. In PPV, the fees are collected up front and by estimating how many subscribers an event will draw, it’s very easy to compare expenses with revenues. Expansive broadcasts, on network or cable, are much riskier without a proven product. Most major soccer events are transmitted to wide audiences in foreign countries, since the demand is so high. In the U.S., demand is quite small. Since both ESPN and Fox show a lot of profitable programming, someone would have to guarantee to underwrite losses if a broadcast system cleared air time to show soccer. I, too, find it disappointing that ESPN, which shows most U.S. matches, did not pick up the Confederations Cup, but U.S. Soccer has certainly dropped the ball in the past and has done so again. Joan Insco Kansas City, Mo. Could you give us an update of the injuries and status of the women’s national team? Specifically, I want to know how Michelle Akers is doing and if she is able and willing to continue with the national team. Also, what is the USA’s national schedule in the next few months? Dean Caparaz: Michelle Akers is up and around. She did not suffer a concussion in the WWC final, it was more a matter of sheer physical exhaustion, with the impact of her collision with Briana Scurry being the final straw. She has recently played staff games at the soccer camp run by Seattle Pacific coach Cliff McCrath and on July 16 she threw out the first pitch at the Seattle Mariners home game at the new Safeco Field. She’s also planned a hike through the Cascade Mountains with her father and a friend. Akers has not determined whether or not she will continue to play for the national team. She will make a decision sometime this fall. “I’m just waiting for God to give me the A-OK to quit,” she said during the World Cup. More recently she told USA Today, “The biggest question is the [upcoming Olympic] residency period. That’s a full-time schedule. That requires a life commitment.” As for the U.S. women’s schedule, the USA will play in the U.S. Cup, with games Oct. 3 (at the Columbus Crew Stadium), Oct. 7 and 10 (with both sites to be determined). The other U.S. Cup teams are yet to be announced. The rest of the schedule is tentative. U.S. Soccer has set up “victory tour” games against as yet undetermined teams on Aug. 29 and Sept. 5 at sites to be announced. A number of the U.S. players may play a series of indoor games on another “Victory Tour” this fall (October to December). That tour was set up by the SFX Media Group, which put together the USA women’s gymnastics tour after the 1996 Olympics, and has the backing of the players, who would stand to make about $40,000 apiece. On the other hand, U.S. Soccer and FIFA want the women to go on a “FIFA World Tour” to Egypt and South Africa (Oct. 22-Nov. 8), to the Caribbean (January/February) and possibly to other areas. A trip to the Australia Cup (Nov. 29-Dec. 2) is also tentatively scheduled. Look for this issue to be resolved in the coming weeks. For more on the U.S. schedule up to Sydney 2000 and reaction from U.S. coach Tony DiCicco, check out the article “Americans start on prickly path to Sydney” in the Aug. 2 issue of SA. Nick Fimiano Easton, Pa. I see that Jovan Kirovski is back with Borussia Dortmund after a loan spell at Fortuna Cologne. I was wondering what his chances were of securing a first team spot with Dortmund. I was also wondering the status of John O’Brien. Has he returned to Ajax from his loan spell at Utrecht and why hasn’t Arena even given him a look yet? The national team needs more youth and O’Brien would be great for them. Pete Bailey: Borussia Dortmund, which enters Champions League play in the final preliminary round, spent $25 million on new players, including German international Christian Woerns, Nigerian star Victor Ikpeba, and former VfB Stuttgart striker Fredi Bobic, giving them the most expensive roster in club history. With Kirovski coming off a so-so year in the Bundesliga 2, where he was benched by former Dortmund assistant Toni Schumacher for most of the second half of the season, it seems unlikely that he will crack the Dortmund starting 11. As for O’Brien, he is still hampered by the toe/foot injury he suffered earlier this year that kept him out of the Utrecht lineup for the second half of the Dutch season. While he has returned to Ajax, he was unable to travel with the team to the U.S. for July 21 friendly against the New England Revolution and the Gotham Cup at Giants Stadium this weekend. He won’t be healthy for the start of the season, and with the Dutch club’s signing of a number of new players to try and bounce back from last year’s dismal (for Ajax) sixth-place finish in the Honor Division, O’Brien may not see much first-team time this fall. Eric Schmidt Syracuse, N.Y. Do the U.S. women receive salaries for playing on the U.S. national team? Do they have contracts like other professional sports? Scott French: Hi, Eric: Yes, the national team players had contracts as part of a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Soccer that expired with the end of the Women’s World Cup. They’ll begin negotiating a new agreement in the coming months. National team players received salaries between $20,000 and $45,000 during their residency in Florida. Lorrie Fair was paid a per diem — she would lose her college eligibility if she accepted payment or a bonus. Most of the players also have endorsement and apparel contracts and several (Brandi Chastain at Santa Clara, Carla Overbeck at Duke, Shannon MacMillan at Portland) also have jobs as assistant college coaches. Players also make money on camps, and all aside from Fair will share in $1.12 million in bonuses for winning the World Cup. A number of players also are part of the aforementioned indoor “Victory Tour” slated for the fall that would pay each in excess of $40,000. David Phillips Austell, Ga. Whatever happened to Nate Friends, who played for University of Virginia a few years ago? Is he in the USL or the A-League somewhere? Ditto for Jim St. Andre, who did commentary in the World Cup broadcasts. Has he retired? Surely, some team out there could use him. Mike Woitalla: David, I was just at the MLS All-Star Game and posed your question about Nate Friends to some of the former Virginia players there, like Richie Williams and Ben Olsen. They say Nate is not playing professionally, and believe he is pursuing a career in law. Nate was an excellent goalscorer at the college level, but his playing style may have been too predictable and too reliant on physical attributes to succeed at a higher level. Or he figured there’s more money in law. Jim St. Andre has been doing TV work. I believe the United States has no shortage of keepers as good or better than St. Andre.