Overview
The Philadelphia Charge was an American women's professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association. The team played at Villanova Stadium on the campus of Villanova University near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
History
In spring of 2000, the newly formed Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) announced eight cities were granted franchises to start the league, including Philadelphia. Most of the inaugural teams were owned by major media companies, with the new Philadelphia club operated by locally headquartered Comcast Corporation who invested an initial $5 million into WUSA. In November 2000, the club's name and logo was officially announced as the Philadelphia Charge and would play home matches at Villanova Stadium. The logo for the Charge incorporated the Comcast Corp. "C" as part of its marketing efforts. The Charge began preparations for the first team with a 15-person front office and was supported by the Comcast-Spector organization for stadium operations, marketing, promotions, tickets, and merchandise.
By late 2000, the Charge had announced that University of Hartford women's soccer coach, Mark Krikorian, would be appointed the first head coach of the team. Prior to the start of the season, Krikorian would bring on former Swedish international Pia Sundhage and John Natale as assistant coaches.
The Philadelphia Charge conducting sports performance training at Aspiring Champions in King of Prussia, PA with certified sports trainers, Antonio Davis and Maine Prince. Both attending Penn State University and studied Exercise and Sports Science. Eventually after the team dissolved, Antonio Davis opened The Premiere Sports Academy in King of Prussia, PA. Sports Performance Trainer. Maine Prince, opened Philadelphia Sports Training Center in 2005, with his wife Justina Prince, a 2-time Academic All-American Soccer Player from Moravian University in Bethlehem, PA. The 85,000 square foot sports training facility located in Aston, PA was the premiere sports performance training facility for professional athletes, college athletes, high school athletes, and weekend warriors. Until sold in 2011 for over one billion dollars and is now the largest movie studio in Pennsylvania called Sun Center Studios. Following the sale of the building for Philadelphia Sports Training Center, Maine Prince opened a fulltime sports agency called Prince Management Group.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).