By Mark Vincent Lincir

The writing is on the wall again. Another United States professional soccer league is in imminent danger. Women’s Professional Soccer just dropped down to five teams and is in grave danger of going away. My suggestion…let it.

This isn’t meant to be an article hating on women’s soccer…quite the contrary; I am here to provide a solution. A league with five teams is not going to make it…pure and simple. So in the business world, which ultimately pro sports are; the next move is to decide what to do next.

The next move for the women is to meet up with Major League Soccer and for each team in MLS to start up its own women’s side. You can piggy-back ticket sales, merchandise, camps, appearances…but most importantly…GAMES!

The thing with MLS games in all the new stadiums now is that…they’re too short! If I spend good money on a ticket to sit in a beautiful, state-of-the-art stadium to watch soccer, I want to watch it for three or four hours…not just two!

That is where the SOLUTION of MLS having women’s sides comes into play. The Women’s team will play before the men (no, don’t call it a preliminary game, it’s just the first of a doubleheader).

So, using MLS Cup Champs L.A. Galaxy as an example, the Women’s Galaxy will play at 5:30pm. The game will consist of two thirty-minute halves (some people have said that the women’s game is too slow, so we’ll shorten it up and hopefully speed it up)…with a ten minute half-time. The game will be over at 6:45.

The Men’s Galaxy can come out to warm up at 6:45 while the women’s team signs autographs, does interviews, etc. Fans of the women’s game will linger to watch the men. Fans of the men’s team will get there early for dinner at the stadium and watch the women. IT IS WIN-WIN!

Imagine marketing Socal products Landon Donovan and Alex Morgan together?

For the women, it’s the best option and the ONLY option before it all goes away…maybe for good. My suggestion is to get the meeting with MLS quickly…go for whatever makes sense to make it happen for this upcoming spring and work the details out as you go in order to secure a viable long-term solution. Share stadiums, staff, revenue, success and most of all…fans!

Again, this would be the best move for the women, because I still want them to have somewhere to play. But business is business and if it doesn’t make sense, you have to move on to the next option.

Do it and do it quickly and we could all be watching four hours worth of soccer this spring instead of two every time we venture into the incredible soccer stadiums that have been sprouting up all over the United States with only one question in our minds.

When is the next game and can I still get a ticket?

Mark Vincent Lincir is the author of the traumatically hilarious book A SOCCER LIFE IN SHORTS

HAVE YOUR SAY...Can the WPS survive? Is merging with MLS the answer to long term success? What other options are available to WPS? Leave your comments on facebook below.