So here's something to get people talking. #NWSL final to be played in Portland, not site of top seed, less than 50 days ahead. Second mid-season format change: http://t.co/IqmaoYo8Sj— Jeff Kassouf (@JeffKassouf) August 14, 2015 I think we all expected this (moving to neutral site) at some point but that point was not the middle of the year. Personally and as I Reign fan, I don't think I mid too much even though we may be losing our supposed home advantage in the play offs but oh well. For the NWSL, it makes sense to choose a neutral site as it is better for planning and selling tickets. This move to Portland in the middle of the season might not sit well with some fans though and I can't say I blame them.
MP has clarified that actually it is not a mid season change. It just wasn't announced. I was going to post I link to the tweet but given the life expectancy of Paulson's tweets, I decided to take a screen shot instead.
Portland hasn't been finalized as the site of the final yet. But that sucks for Seattle, since they're the most likely ones to win the Shield and Memorial would have probably been available this year.
I guess I get the idea of choosing a neutral site... but the fact that it happens to be the NWSL city that has far-and-away the highest attendance makes me feel like it's a little bit of pandering nonetheless. I mean - what happens next year? --Does the "neutral venue" move to another NWSL city? Because unless RSL or ORL comes in, I expect it'd be a huge drop-off in whatever attendance they could get at the final and kinda defeats the point of announcing the neutral venue early to begin with. --Does it move to a non-NWSL city that has the potential to draw big like LA or maybe PHI/ATL/STL? Then why not start this year in a non-NWSL city and not lead other NWSL cities on with the potential of a future neutral final hosting? --Or does it just stay in Portland until another high-attendance club appears? I mean, I get it - I just also see this being a huge potential problem in the future for rubbing people the wrong way if they're not veeerrry careful of future final venue decisions.
And then this happens: Go follow @Hal_Kaiser for more reporting on #NWSL final situation. He hears Houston could still host; I am told PDX is *nearly* a done deal.— Charles Boehm (@cboehm) August 14, 2015 Note Merritt Paulson comment as well. Portland is a possibility, but not a done deal yet. https://t.co/fhq9JfY6Lk— Hal Kaiser (@Hal_Kaiser) August 14, 2015 (EDIT: sorry, I realize these Tweets are mostly redundant with what Blue said, I missed that post earlier it seems...) Considering how much of a soccer culture Portland (supposedly) has, I think 11k would still be easy even if neither Seattle nor Portland makes it. Granted, if Seattle made it, I could see 15k, and if Portland magically was in, sellout.
I like his blog, nevertheless. However, having said that, I plan on going to the Brazil game in Orlando. USWNT and Mickey Mouse in late October. Should be fun.
It would have nice if the league had announced this at the beginning of the season including either the host city or the criteria and timing for deciding, but I guess for some reason they weren't ready to do that yet. I don't know if the reason was a good one, I guess I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I note that Paulson referred to a "neutral site format." That isn't exactly right, at least if the decision on the host city is being made now, since Portland has not yet been eliminated as a possible participant. As for Portland being the host city, if it is, I agree that if Portland is in the game (seems not likely) then the attendance should be great; and if Seattle is in the game (seems like a definite possibility) then the attendance should be good if Seattle fans show up (I don't know anything about the level of commitment of the Seattle fans so I don't know if they would show up in Portland in large numbers or not). If neither is in the game, I'm not sure what the attendance will be -- it will be interesting to see. Regarding Houston, if they were to make it to the championship game, I think it would be good for the league over the long term for the game to be there, as that's where the potential for the highest attendance is other than Portland. I say that because I believe that how the game comes across on TV is very important to the league long term and high attendance is a major part of that to the "uninitiated." Plus it would give a significant boost to Houston over the long term.
after rotating between them for 5-6 years, hopefully the landscape of the women's game will be a little bit more established in order to have the ability to host in at different MLS facilities.
I'm not sure why we are assuming only Portland and Houston will be eligible to host going forward. I'm guessing these are the only two options for this year due to short notice (agreed on April 10). Going forward, I don't see any reason why Chicago can not host it at Toyota Park if it is available. Likewise for FCKC/Sporting Park, Seattle/Century Link, etc. As long as the stadium meets the minimum requirement, I'm guessing anyone can bid for these championship games.
I wonder how much of this decision was due to Seattle having to change venues for last year's final. It's possible that the owners wanted to avoid the same situation happening again.
I don't think anyone was assuming that it would always be Houston or Portland going forward... Those are the two in discussion right now for this year's final, because those are the two that have been mentioned by media people on Twitter. As for the future... that's what I had asked about in my post. Would it always be Portland (or Houston)? Would it go to other, smaller-attendance NWSL cities? Would it go to potential-high-draw non-NWSL cities? We don't know anything about the future of this predetermined-final-venue setup yet.
It shouldn't always be Portland or Houston, it wouldn't be fair to the other teams or to their fans. On the other hand, the quality of the TV watching experience for those who aren't die hard fans is important to the league over the long term, both in terms of expanding fan bases (people watching on TV who currently don't go to games, but who might in the future if they think attendance would be fun) and bringing in TV dollars. For the league and the ownership groups, it's probably a balancing act, which may be why there is not yet a publicly defined process.
Exactly. This whole thing shouldn't have leaked without NWSL having some supporting information as to what kind of precedent this sets. Of course, they needed to say the final venue was predetermined fairly soon, so they couldn't have delayed the announcement much later than now, (heck, they still need to make the official announcement,) so I guess they didn't come up with a solid-enough agreement on the new format soon enough. But who gets the final in the future can/will be a big deal unless they set a method and make it public soon, plus stick to it going forward. That's what I was trying to ask about in my first post.
I agree that they should have said something about predetermine location at the beginning of the season but my guess here is that they themselves hadn't even figure out what the rules will be going forward. I won't be surprise if this idea is still in it's infancy and hence may just go to Portland/Houston this year and for future years the details will be worked out. So to save everyone further headache, I won't take as gospel anything they say or do this year. Though I'm not sure we can blame them for this leak.
I think I'll ask Arnim or Alyse this Sunday about the venue for the final and how the decision came about to be.
Yeah... the fact that NWSL itself hasn't said anything definitely makes it look like this info got out unintentionally, though it also looks like there was definitely a crew of non-NWSL people who knew earlier anyway... It's just weird.
As a Reign fan, I would be really unhappy to lose the chance at a home final. But if the Reign make it, especially as top seed, and it's in Houston? ...
I know the situation with Seattle not being able to use Memorial stadium last year sucked, but I really can't see this neutral venue thing working out... I think it creates more issues than it solves. And this isn't like the SuperBowl where thousands of people are willing to buy tickets and make travel plans before they even know who is playing in it. It's going to depend primarily on the local residents being willing to come out and see the teams that are playing.
I don't disagree but can understand the league's concern if the final ended up someplace in a 3-4K stadium with poor media access and lacking adequate TV/stream facilities. Conversely, what if it is scheduled for a 20K stadium and only draw 3K? Crappy production vs crappy visuals..... toss up. Opportunity for pre-sale and promotion isn't vey valuable if there is no one to presell and promote to. Especially if you don't presell and promote all season. Maybe some intern forgot to release the announcement back when the decision was made?
My idea would be for the NWSL to get a commitment from te MLS to host the NWSL final. To facilitate this the NWSL and MSL would have to plan a final date into the MLS schedule. Then the final would be held at the site of the MLS team closest to the highest seeded team in the final. In the case of WNY they have a big enough park to host their own final So it would be Portland, Houston and WNY in their home Parks. Chicago at Toyota, KC at Sporting, Seattle at the CLink, Washington at RFK, SkyBlue at Red Bull (or PPL) and Boston at Gillette
I don't see the neutral site idea lasting past 2016. I think they are trying to milk every dime and attract every eyeball they can out of the WC bump and to guarantee TV coverage as long as possible. By hosting the championship in a first class stadium with a fan base that will guarantee at least 7,000 people show up, even if their team is not in the final, is good enough for TV and to make some additional money. Once 2017 hits with no WC or Olympics to draw national attention to the stars of the league for an extended period of time a neutral venue for a final would be a terrible idea. I don't see this lasting unless the league some how does become mainstream in America within the next 18 months which unfortunately is a quixotic expectation.