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University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 5-2011 The case of the Women's United Soccer Association : explaining the rise and fall of a social movement organization. Meghan O'Connor McDonogh University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Recommended Citation McDonogh, Meghan O'Connor, "The case of the Women's United Soccer Association : explaining the rise and fall of a social movement organization." (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 945. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/945 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE CASE OF THE WOMEN'S UNITED SOCCER ASSOCIATION: EXPLAINING THE RISE AND FALL OF A SOCIAL MOVEMENT ORGANIZATION By Meghan O'Connor McDonogh B.A., American University 2001 M.Ed., The University of Georgia, 2002 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Louisville In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements F or the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Leadership, Foundations and Human Resource Administration University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky May 2011 ---."-.. -.--~.---~~~-~~~~ THE CASE OF THE WOMEN’S UNITED SOCCER ASSOCIATION: EXPLAINING THE RISE AND FALL OF A SOCIAL MOVEMENT ORGANIZATION By Meghan O’Connor McDonogh B.A., American University 2001 M.Ed., The University of Georgia, 2002 A Dissertation Approved on April 15, 2011 By the following Dissertation Committee: Dissertation Co-Director (Mary Hums) Dissertation Co-Director (John Keedy) Dan Mahony Laurie Rhodebeck ii DEDICATION To my mom, for always expecting more from me and To all the women in US Soccer who I grew up in awe of and served as role models to me and to young girls around the world. 111 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank first and foremost my co-advisors, Dr. Mary Hums and Dr. John Keedy, Dr. Hums for providing kind guidance and patience as I worked in crazy spurts to complete this and to Dr. Keedy for his attention to detail in the design of this study as well as his patience with my schedule. Additionally, 1 would like to thank the other members of the committee, Dr. Dan Mahony and Dr. Laurie Rhodebeck, not only for their patience and time, but for their insightful comments throughout this process. Just as Dr. Hums is my academic mentor, along my professional career I have been fortunate enough to encounter several individuals that have provided great support. "Mama Mar" (Marlene Bjornsmd), Ilisa Kessler, and Mike Allen each, in their own individual way, have provided me with a constant source of support. This dissertation could never have come to fruition without the generous gift of time for the WUSA leaders whom I interviewed. I will never be able to adequately thank them for all of their help throughout this process. Finally, I would like to thank my friends and family. My friends were wonderful in supporting me and cheering me along as were my family, especially my mother, father, stepfather, and my Yorkie, Percy Bob. I never could have completed this endeavor without their support, both financially and mentally as there were days I was certainly ready to pack it in. Special thanks to my mom for her additional editing, constant support, and in pushing me to finish; to my dad for providing encouragement and IV financial assistance, even ensuring I had a constant balance on my gold Starbucks card and food in my fridge; and to my stepdad for making sure I was always informed of any soccer happenings. v ABSTRACT THE CASE OF THE WOMEN'S UNITED SOCCER ASSOCIATION: EXPLAINING THE RISE AND FALL OF A SOCIAL MOVEMENT ORGANIZATION Meghan O'Connor McDonogh April 15, 2011 The purpose of this study is to examine the creation and demise of the WUSA, and to establish the league as a social movement organization (SMO) within the context of the rich body of social movement literature. In explaining the rise and fall of the WUSA, three research questions were answered: (a) How was the WUSA founded? (b) Why was the WUSA founded? and (c) Why did the WUSA fail? The design used to answer these research questions is a case study design from a historical analysis perspective. Eight in-depth interviews were conducted with WUSA leaders. The interviews were then transcribed and coded to establish themes answering each research question while also establishing the WUSA as a SMO. Three themes emerged to answer the question "How was the WUSA founded?" They were: (a) the 1999 Women's World Cup Championship Team, (b) John Hendricks, and, (c) the "collision" of these two entities. Three themes also emerged in answering the question "Why was the WUSA founded?" and were: (a) players provided great roles models, (b) the desire for a premier women's soccer league, and (c) the passion surrounding the players. Five themes emerged to answer the question "Why did the VI WUSA fail?": (a) inadequate business plan, (b) lack of support for women's sports, (c) lack of trust in leadership, (d) a mixed league identification/branding message, and (e) inevitable sense of failure. This study adds to social movement literature as well as provides insight for those starting new professional sport leagues. Vll TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................ IV ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... VI LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... XIV CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 Timeline of Events Related to the Organization of Women's Professional Soccer ........... 3 Social Movement Theory .................................................................................................... 8 Sport and social movements ........................................................................................... 8 Prevailing schools of thought in social movement literature ........................................ 10 Resource mobilization theory ....................................................................................... 10 Political opportunity structure .... ................................................................................... II Cultural cognitive/framing/new social movement theory ............................................. 11 Success and failure of social movements and social movement organizations ............ 12 Statement of Problem ... ..................................................................................................... 13 Research Questions ....................................................................................................... 14 Purpose of Study .......... ................................................................................................. 14 Significance of Study .................................................................................................... 15 Delinlitations ..................................................................................................................... 16 Lilnitations ........................................................................................................................ 16 Operational Definitions ...... ............................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................... 19 Vlll ---------- Early Sociological Studies of Culture ............................................................................... 20 History of Social Movement Theory ................................................................................ 23 Social movement organizations ........................................................................................ 32 Social movement associations .......................................................................................... 34 Success and failure of social movements .......................................................................... 35 S uIuIuary ....................................................................................................................... 40 Prevailing Schools of Thought in Social Movement Theory ............................................ 41 Cultural cognitive/framing/new social movement theory ............................................. 41 Social and cultural context.. .......................................................................................... 42 Collective identity/personal values and beliefs ............................................................. 46 Sun1mary ....................................................................................................................... 49 Political Opportunity Structure/Political Processes .......................................................... 50 Access to political elites ...............................................................................................

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