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. |
