NEEDHAM, Mass. (AP) – The Boston Breakers were among the most financially stable of WUSA’s eight franchises, according to team officials.

But in the women’s professional soccer league that shut down operations Monday saying it didn’t have enough money to stay in business, that success was relative.

Even after winning the regular season title and reaching the league championship semifinals, the Breakers were still losing under $1 million a year, said president and general manager Joe Cummings, who declined to give specific figures.

And even though the Breakers, owned by Pilot Soccer House, a group of private investors, had seen losses decrease over the past three years, it would have taken double the projected five years to break even, Cummings said.

Owners of the Atlanta-based WUSA invested more than $100 million to fund the league in the afterglow of the 1999 Women’s World Cup, creating a system in which the franchises would share in the profits and losses. But sponsorship and other revenue had continued to fall and some of the top players took pay cuts this season to help keep it afloat.

“The team will begin the process of closing up the office,” Cummings said Monday, following the league’s announcement.

There was always a glimmer of hope that new investors and sponsors would take another look at the league following the Women’s World Cup, which starts next week in Philadelphia, Cummings said.

But for the time being, the team would lay off its squad of 20 players and 15 office staff. Eight Breakers players will play in the World Cup, including three for the American team.

The Breakers, who played home games at Boston University’s Nickerson Field, won the regular season title this year and their first-ever playoff berth after going 10-5-7. They lost to eventual league champion Washington in the semifinal match.

Cummings said the team’s players showed class through the very end, saying: “When I told them the news, their first question was what could we have done?”

AP-ES-09-15-03 1759EDT