In 1999, both the Virginia Roadsters and the Orlando Wahoos moved to Akron
Ohio's Firestone Stadium. The Roadsters became the Ohio Pride and the Wahoos (who
owned both of the former WPL's championships) became the Akron Racers. The
Tampa Bay Firestix continued on just as they were and another new team in Plant
City took on the Wahoos name... so even though they moved to Akron, the new "Florida
Wahoos" continued to "play" somewhat seemlessly. In 2001, the WPSL began
to explore outside territories for expansion as it "stabilized". The 4 teams began
doing a little barnstorming, playing in 11 other cities besides Plant City
and Akron. Dubbed the "Tour of Fastpitch Champions", this move by the WPSL turned
out to be a major force in where the league was headed next. The Tour of Fastpitch
Champions caught the attention of ESPN who had began covering the games
on ESPN2. Within 3 years the WPSL had played a total of 30 games on the nationally
televised channel and as it turned out, it drew better ratings than some MLS
and NHL games. The WPSL also began the Central Park to Sydney Tour playing all
over the world against the Olympic Team U.S.A with 11 games in 11 cities. (In
fact, that's Team USA right there in the dugout ready to begin practice before
their upcoming afternoon game). With all of this new ammunition in their back
pocket, the WPSL would do the most unusual thing... they actually shut down operations
for two years to do some major restructuring while secure new deals with
several cities. |