Catching Up With: Joe Cummings (Part 2)

Boston Breakers' President and GM on the Business of Soccer

By Mark Goodman

April 28, 2009

Soccer New England continues its interview with Boston Breakers President and General Manager Joe Cummings.

Joe Cummings

Joe Cummings also worked in the front office of the New England Revolution during the launch of MLS.

In case you missed it, here's the first part of the interview.

Soccer New England: You were with the Revolution for the launch of MLS. What similarities and differences are there between the beginning of MLS and the beginning of WPS?

Joe Cummings: There’s an emotional experience that is unmatched. When you launch a brand new league, there’s something very emotional about it in the sense that you’re all working toward that common goal. After the season gets going, everyone is on a different stage. But everybody’s focused in on trying to get that first game going, so there’s that synergy.

I remember the days in 1996 with the Revolution, I remember the days in 2001 (WUSA’s first season) and I remember these days in 2009. If I’ve forgotten anything, I’ve forgotten how much work it is to put a team together. This is my third time. I had forgotten and was very much reminded a couple months ago when we thought we had a lot of time left and, before you knew it, the opening game was around the corner.

As I look back over the course of a nearly four-decade career in this sport, definitely 1996 with the Revolution, 2001 with the Breakers and now again, they’re the highlights of all that time that I’ve spent in this sport.

SNE: Is there anything in the works for a local television deal for the Breakers?

JC: The league has a national deal with Fox Soccer Channel. We’ve not announced locally yet. If we do anything locally, it will probably be just a couple of games. We’re going to let people sample the sport here, and then obviously that will drive the level of interest in television. But our approach right now from a television standpoint is to try and keep things for this first year very conservative, have a national platform with Fox Soccer Channel, do a couple games locally, but we don’t have anything beyond just broadcasting a couple of games at this point.

SNE: Have there been any sustained attempts to try and get a more involved television deal?

JC: It’s something that I’ll do more next year. For this year it’s not anything that I’m focusing in on.

Kelly Smith

The ability of Kelly Smith has caught the eye of the Breakers' president and general manager. (Photo by CHRIS ADUAMA/aduama.com)

SNE: What are your impressions of the Breakers so far?

JC: I’d say that I’m more than pleasantly surprised. The level of play, top to bottom, is much, much stronger than what we saw in WUSA. There was a drop-off in WUSA when you got down to some of the players at the tail end of the roster. That’s not the case here. We’ve had great success playing some players that, when you look at the roster you might say, ‘That’s player 14, 15, 16,’ and that’s not the case. We’ve got a number of interchangeable parts.

The example that I’m using right now, and full credit to our coaches - Stacy Bishop comes off the bench in a couple of games and she was the next-to-last player drafted in the 10 rounds of the draft in January. That tells you something about the strength of the league and the strength of some of these players. She’s doing a fantastic job for us.

I still marvel at Kristine Lilly. I mean, age (she turns 38 in July), experience, fitness, having had her first child (last summer), she steps back on the field and is still one of the best players on the field… I had seen and I had appreciated Kelly Smith, but the package of Kelly Smith and Alex Scott has been real strong for us.

SNE: In terms of attracting a fan base and keeping fans coming to games, how much pressure is there on teams to put forth a winning product? Inevitably, one of these teams has to finish last. What kind of impact, if any, do you think that would have on fan interest?

JC: That’s a good question. I think there are cities in the United States where that might be more important. I think, because from the standpoint of where we are as a league, it’s women’s sports, first of all, so there’s a demographic that wants to come and support it. I believe that here in Boston, they will support that no matter what the results. We had two years (in WUSA) where we didn’t make the playoffs, and the third year we did, but all three years were equal across the board as far as attendance is concerned.

It’s a tough city to play in. You’ve got the four major sports all sitting at the top of the standings, and that makes it really hard for us to try and find our little piece of the attention, so to speak. I think that doing well, finishing in a position where you’re in the playoffs (the top four teams qualify), would be something that we’d want to try and do for this first year.

SNE: The league is going to expand by at least two teams next year.

JC: Yes, Philadelphia and Atlanta. There’s always a chance for a third one, which I think would be great because the odd number of teams creates some scheduling issues, as we know this year. It would be nice to get three more and go from seven to 10.

Atlanta was great during WUSA, and Philadelphia coming in - both an MLS team and a WPS team - having those two things is really exciting, too.

SNE: How has the team’s relationship with Boston Aztec been working out?

JC: Very good. I know all of those principals pretty well. Meotis Erikson and Rebekah Splaine, the two coaches, played for the Breakers a long time ago. I know Mike Kersker, who runs that club, so we’re very excited by that relationship, and we’re very excited by the relationship we have with Mass Premier Soccer and the Renegades. We’ve got two great relationships, one in the W-League and one in WPSL.

SNE: You’ve been around the game for quite some time now. Generally speaking, looking at the soccer scene in New England as a whole, what are some of the changes you’ve seen from the 70’s and 80’s up to the present day?

JC: Obviously, the participation numbers is the biggest thing. But to add to that is just the level of attention that everyone now has for the sport, not just the youth players. You’ve got incredible numbers from 6-16. The notion of somebody being a soccer player, or the possibility of being able to play soccer from womb to tomb, so to speak, that exists now. It exists very much here in New England, and I think that’s the most exciting thing.

Mark Goodman can be reached at newsdesk@soccernewengland.com.