They play WNY 4 x Wash 3 x Chi 2 x Seat 2 x Port 3 x KC 3 x Bos 4 x Wouldnt Washington be their natural rival an deserve more than 3 games? If they were going with 21 games wouldnt they want 3 against everyone?
Portland held tryouts this past weekend, 80+ hopefuls. http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news/2013/02/thorns-fc-tryouts-force-tough-decisions-coaching-staff
It's pretty wacky. You'd think it would either be 3 games against each opponent or else weighted even more toward nearby teams. But they play Portland as many times as they play Washington (3). And odd that they play Boston and Western New York 4 times but DC only 3. If they're going to go this route, then my guess is that Portland's schedule will amount to something like this: Sea 4x KC, Chi - one 4x, one 3x Sky - 3x Bos, Was, WNY - one 3x, two 2x
I missed the link you provided at first--for some reason only having "up" hyperlinked was a problem for me. Guess my eyesight is going in my old age.
Aug 10 - For the first time since '03, there will be FOUR ProWoSo matches on the same day (in this country). Like.
The leaked Sky Blue schedule on the previous page is missing one match, on the road against the Spirit. The overall schedule makes somewhat more sense now. So for them it's: WNY 4 x Wash 4 x Chi 2 x Seat 2 x Port 3 x KC 3 x Bos 4 x
It looks like there's an soft East/West conference thing going on: play 4 games against each of the other three teams in your half of the country, (12 "in-conference" games,) then 3-3-2-2 against the four in the other half (10 "out-of-conference" games). I just checked Seattle and FCK City and that's how they've panned out; haven't double-checked the others yet. It's not the "three-all-plus-one-rivalry" first announced, but still close enough for my liking.
The Spirit's schedule matches that: 4 games against each of the east coast teams, 3 against Chicago and Seattle, 2 against Portland and KC.
I kinda like the scheduling: it ups the rarity value just a little for your team v. teams on the other coast. Thorns play Breakers and Sky Blue three times, Spirit and Flash only twice - and all those games are in the second half of the season. I'm excited.
They've got a kind of secondary division thing going on, too: Washington and Western New York are paired with Chicago and Seattle, with three matches in each east-west rivalry, while Boston and Sky Blue are paired with Kansas City and Portland, ditto.
I don't remember WUSA ever making it to September. WPS's second season was much longer, and let to a lot of complaining that it prevented players from working as college/high school coaches. EDIT: I'm late to the party. Sorry.
I'm wondering if there is national "television" coverage on Sundays? I'm noticing that the more lucrative teams (Portland, Kansas City, etc.) play a lot more home matches on Sundays, than say the lesser lucrative teams such as Washington and Sky Blue. Portland and Kansas City provide more of a sexy style game (not to mention a bigger crowd shown in the background on TV), than the defensive oriented Sky Blue, and the less glamorous Washington team. For example, Portland has six matches scheduled at home on Sundays. FC Kansas City has five matches scheduled at home on Sundays. This is compared to .... Washington only has one match scheduled at home on a Sunday. Sky Blue only has two matches scheduled at home on Sundays. Nobody else in the entire league has 5 or 6, except Kansas City at 5, and Portland at 6. Boston has 4 home matches on Sundays (they have Leroux, Simon, and a high potent offense), and will have a packed crowd on TV in the background as well. Just food for thought.
Those are some pretty ridiculous assertions with regards to "style of play". At this moment any assumption of which teams will be "defensive" or "sexy" or "glamorous" is just hogwash. Having spent years building schedules myself, I can pretty much assure you that Saturday/Sunday schedule has more to do with venue availability and team wishes. I do not believe any team in NWSL is the "primary" tenant at any of their facilities - though you could make a case for the Spirit at the SoccerPlex and the Reign at Starfire. Even then I'm guessing the NWSL scheduling takes a back seat to any regularly scheduled camps or tournaments.
Actually, I think I just cracked the code. Saturday evening is definitely when the "national televised match of the week" will be featured on (weekly), if they have it in this league. There are also some interesting start times on Saturday evening, that are differentiated from other start times on the other days of the week. Example here, such as multiple matches on Saturday evenings throughout the year starting at 7:35 (notice how the time there ends on a "5" and not a "0"). The inaugural match (Portland vs. KC) starts at 7:35 on a Saturday evening. Hmmm?
88 regular season matches in the entire league: Monday: 0 matches Tuesday: 0 matches Wednesday: 14 matches Thursday: 7 matches Friday: 3 matches Saturday: 37 matches Sunday: 27 matches In WPS, there were more matches on Sundays than on Saturdays (not just on TV, but overall). In NWSL, there are ten more matches on Saturdays than on Sundays (37 compared to 27). WPS decided that Sunday was more important than Saturday, fact (based on scheduling). NWSL decided that Saturday is more more important than Sunday, fact (based on scheduling). If Friday counts as a weekend here, then there are 21 mid-week matches, and 67 weekend matches, of the 88 total matches. Essentially, the league chose to schedule "approximately" (not precisely) 25% of all matches as "mid-week" matches, and 75% of matches as "weekend" matches, with more devotion toward Saturday than Sunday (on weekend matches). Just another reason to think if they have a "national game of the week" deal (with let's say, Fox or NBC Sports), then it looks like there's a better chance (by the odds) that it'll be on Saturdays than on Sundays (that's under the assumption it would even be on the same day of the week, like WPS Sundays on Fox Soccer Channel). Television coverage could be more sporadic and more regional this time.
For what it's worth (I have no idea), here are the NCAA Division I women's soccer day of week attendance averages for the 2012 season:
You misunderstand what "facts" are. It is a "fact" that there are more games on Sundays than on Saturdays. That fact does not indicate what NWSL thinks Sunday is more important. That is your opinion. Without researching venue availability, any such assertion is pure opinion.
WPS was even quoted (before the 2009 season kicked off) that Sundays were their #1 targeted day of the week for most of their matches. That was their preference. NWSL is leading off with their "inaugural" match on a Saturday (not a Sunday). That tells me everything I need to know. And if you're talking venues, most venues are going to be at least as readily available (if not more available) on Sundays than on Saturdays anyways (especially in the summer months), and the NWSL still squeezed in more matches on Saturdays than on Sundays. Players (Ella Masar and Yael Averbuch) on their twitter chats have even said the focus on weekends was to have more matches on Saturdays than on Sundays. All that makes it fact. And I agree with NWSL on it. Many families have religious commitments to attend on Sundays, and this especially shuts out attendance from fans (on Sundays) that live more than 150 miles away from the stadium. If you were to give a survey, to the general population, and ask them which day they'd rather travel a minimum of 150+ miles to attend a concert, sporting event, etc., a greater % will certainly say they'd rather travel that on a Saturday than on a Sunday, if they had the choice between the two days on the weekend. Now that is not fact, but that is certainly close to one, based on common sense (perception).