SkyBlue's plan seems to be win every game 6-5. And while that can be entertaining for fans, it's not a successful strategy for an entire season. But Houston recruiting players from South Africa is probably going to backfire on them. Their midfield is in all likelihood the weakest in the league and they can't stay onside to save their lives.
I am not sure if you would know or not, but do the Lifetime games blackout any local TV deals that a team might have? Also, I saw that there is free online streaming on go90? Is that for all NWSL games or only Lifetime ones?
I'm not 100% sure, but I believe any game on Lifetime won't be available on whatever local channel airs games. The games on go90 are going to be all the games not on Lifetime. Utah has 6 Lifetime games this year, and the remaining 18 will be on go90.
Thanks! I have always liked that MLS didn't show many RSL games, because then I could watch them live on MLS Live and avoid the blackouts. I don't have Lifetime, so I guess I will be hoping for less national broadcasts there too.
The good news is that the only Utah game on Lifetime that isn't a home game is at North Carolina in May. The other 5 are home games. If I find an alternate legal solution to watch without having Lifetime, I will let y'all know.
RioT is one of the better choices to broadcast from in NWSL. The cameras and computers are already there, the crowds are likely to be among the largest, and it looks like a major league facility.
very much so Not to speak badly of the other clubs, but when I watch highlights of past NWSL games I'm always a bit saddened by how strange the stadiums are that they're playing in. Like, did someone forget to put up the stands?
Do they intentionally restrict seating so that the stadium looks full from the camera angle? Seems like that would be a good PR move. Downside is that it puts everyone in the non-shade seats.
Only some of the sections are currently unavailable. The second level and some of the north and south ends. Hansen wants to sell as many Royals tickets as RSL though, so if that is going to happen, the rest will have to open up eventually. Also, I am basing this only off of the opening night game as that is what I bought tickets for. I did hear that Hansen was flying all of the Women's families out to see the first home game this season. So a couple of those sections may be restricted to make room for them...
There are now 5 of the 9 NWSL teams in MLS stadiums. Royals, Thorns, Red Stars, Pride and Dash are all playing in the local MLS stadium and 4 of them share the same MLS owner (I believe that the Red Stars are owned separately.) So most stadium situations are better now after KC and Boston are gone. The only sub 5k stadium is Washington's, which really restricts how successful that team can be, I wonder if they will relocate to the new Audi Field owned by DC United next season. ***I got bored yesterday and looked into all of the NWSL stadium situations.
It's the unfortunate reality of a league trying to survive where two others failed. SkyBlue plays at Rutgers because it loses less money than playing at RBA. Chicago used to play at Benedictine for the same reason- the cost was about 1/10th there than it would have been at Toyota (although I believe they got a better deal to play there now). But I think if we start seeing more NWSL teams owned by men's teams join (and they don't necessarily have to be MLS teams- NCFC isn't on the same scale as an MLS team, but they have the same equal treatment policy towards the Courage as Mr. Hansen does for the Royals), then standards across the league will improve and the days of playing in smaller venues with all the fans on one side will be gone.
Royals trim preseason roster to 25 players In related news: - Royals won their first scrimmage, behind closed doors, 1-0 against BYU - Another scrimmage is scheduled for 3/16 against UCLA Why is this thread still titled NWSL Franchise and not Royals?
Yes, as there also is for USL teams like the Monarchs. Similar to the Monarchs, I think we'll want a dedicated Royals season-long thread here for folks interested primarily because the team is affiliated with RSL rather than the WSL per se.
Bonus points for the professorial "per se"! My expectations have now been heightened. Next post I expect either an "as it were" or an "if you will".
Didn't get to see RSL's home opener (and after seeing the scoreline, not sure I would want to watch it, because it sounds like a horror show), but I doubt the same thing will happen to the Royals in their home opener. They're too good defensively for that. KC was always one of the better defenses in the league (minus one match at Portland in 2014 that we do not speak of because of how embarrassing it was for KC).