(FORTUNE Magazine) – Behind the new Women's United Soccer Association, which debuts this month, are two sets of players: the triumphant athletes from the 1999 U.S. World Cup team, led by superstars Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain; and cable industry moguls, led by John Hendricks, founder and CEO of the Discovery Channel. The cable guys are backing the WUSA, hoping to make money, have fun, and do good. "John and the rest of the investors really believe in us," says Hamm, who plays for the Washington Freedom. "The players are enthusiastic. And the product is going to be great."

Maybe so, but skeptics abound. Startup sports leagues are risky and unpredictable: Major League Soccer, the men's league, has lost $250 million since 1996; the WNBA's average attendance fell by 12% last year; and the XFL's TV ratings have dropped faster than the Nasdaq.

The WUSA has its own peculiar problems. Half of its nationally televised games will be carried by CNN/SI, a network with limited reach. (The rest will air on TNT, a more popular channel.) Teams must choose between playing in big stadiums they won't be able to fill or in smaller arenas that lack amenities. And only two major sponsors, Johnson & Johnson and Hyundai, have signed on. "It's going to be a struggle," says Paul Kennedy, managing editor of Soccer America. "U.S. women's soccer has been a success, but will there be interest in watching these teams play week in and week out?"

Hendricks, who poured $8 million of his own into the WUSA and raised another $56 million from his cable pals, is undeterred. "There are a lot of doubters," he says, "but I'm used to that." When he started the Discovery Channel in 1985, skeptics told him that an all-documentary network would never work; today privately held Discovery Communications operates 33 networks and is valued at roughly $20 billion.

Like Discovery, the WUSA is being pitched as wholesome, feel-good entertainment. Quaint as it sounds in an era of pampered, ill-mannered superstars, the WUSA will market its athletes as role models--players who have sacrificed and worked hard. "This is an American, apple-pie story," says league CEO Barbara Allen, a former top executive at Quaker Oats. "To have a successful business, we've got to appeal very broadly to families."

The WUSA, again like Discovery, will be owned, marketed, and distributed by cable operators. Hendricks, Comcast, Cox, Time Warner Cable (which, like FORTUNE, is owned by AOL Time Warner), and Amos Hostetter, the former CEO of Continental Cablevision, will each operate one or more of the eight franchises, televise games locally, and own shares in the league. The WUSA itself owns all the teams; this single-entity structure, pioneered by MLS and the WNBA, avoids conflicts between big and small markets, centralizes control over licensing and sponsorships, and promotes economies of scale. It also keeps player salaries under control. "We couldn't see ourselves creating a bidding war between Time Warner and Cox for Mia Hamm," Hendricks says. WUSA players will make between $24,000 and $85,000 per season, although they will share in league revenues if they grow.

Expectations are modest. Tickets will sell for about $11.50 each, and if the teams can attract about 7,500 fans per game, the league will be on the road to breakeven. And, says Hendricks, millions of young girls will discover new heroes.