I would be curious if MLS and NWSL would compete against each other for fans in the same market? Does anyone know if Thorns and Timbers had a lot of fan crossover?
Worth noting that the San Antonio Spurs did end up selling their WNBA franchise due to poor attendance. And yet they shared the same arena.
I don't think they'd "compete" that much... That is, I don't think there would be many people who would be "caught choosing" whether to support the men's team or the women's team - you're either a fan of both, or a fan of just one and unlikely to have supported the other anyway. Portland's an interesting example - they have a sizable contingent of fans supporting both teams, as well as just a huge number of fans for each individual teams and a large amount of "general" fans to support both teams in a more sporadic sense - but since they've always been the attendance outlier before this year, I don't think they're the best example to look towards. One true thing is that the appearance of the Thorns didn't hurt the Timbers - and that general rule seems to have been true in Houston, Orlando, NC, Louisville, Salt Lake, and (not quite comparable) LA. So adding a women's team certainly doesn't hurt. The only question is if the women's team can support itself. Not sure exactly what happened with the Stars, but for the first decade-plus of their time in San Antonio, they were above the WNBA average. Their attendance then cratered in 2015 for whatever reason, and although it bounced back up in 2016, it stayed below the WNBA average after that. Would be interesting to try to suss out what changed. Also worth noting that the WNBA league average was remarkable steady for well over a decade, then generally started falling league-wide *after* the Stars moved to Vegas as the Aces. IDK what to make of that...
Boston is in the running for an expansion team: Jennifer Epstein, founder of Juno Equity and the daughter of Celtics co-owner Robert Epstein, is the investment group’s controlling owner, with Anna Palmer, a general partner at Flybridge Capital; Stephanie Connaughton, an angel investor, advisor and mentor with early stage start-ups; and Ami Kuan Danoff, co-founder and CFO of the Women’s Foundation of Boston, as managing partners. Both Epstein and [Boston Mayor] Wu emphasized no agreement has been reached on where the prospective team would play, but White Stadium in Franklin Park appears to be the leading candidate. Wu mentioned East Boston’s Memorial Stadium as well. Neither of those stadiums is particularly ideal from a location standpoint. White Stadium, at least in photos, looks to be natural grass. East Boston is an artificial surface. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/12...ing-nwsl-team-back-boston-expansion-finalist/ (behind paywall)
As the potential sites for NWSL expansion teams are narrowed down, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is voicing her support.“Starting up a pro women’s soccer team is a challenging endeavor, but one that we are excited about.”— Front Office Sports (@FOS) December 30, 2022
Still no word where this Boston franchise would play. Could be a major roadblock to getting a team. Still say the Bay Area group will get team #14.
I agree with you toad455. How can the NWSL grant a team to a city without a quality stadium? The NWSL is prime to soar right now. Putting them in a playing environement not suited for professionals is a big step backward. I also believe it will be San Francisco.
Would have been great if New England Revolution of MLS has their own stadium and share with an NWSL team but they still play in the Patriots stadium.
NEW: The National Women’s Soccer League is set to add teams in Utah, Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area, with the coastal teams agreeing to record $50 million expansion fees.w/@jtoonkel: https://t.co/PRvWk8k4TA— Rachel Bachman (@Bachscore) January 27, 2023
NEWS - The Bay Area has reportedly won its NWSL expansion bid.More to come soon at @sfchronicle https://t.co/IpQK7Pgt0R— marisa ingemi ✨ (@Marisa_Ingemi) January 27, 2023
Interesting viewpoint: Jake Cohen @JakeFCohen NWSL just sold rights to a non-existent team for ~17 times what it would’ve cost to buy a team w Rose Lavelle, Adrianna Leon, Natasha Dowie, Midge Purce, Katie Stengel + coached by Matt Beard. Huge missed opportunity for everyone in Boston with the ability to raise ~$3m in 2018
Still no word where this Boston team is playing. Probably why there's no timeline for when they're starting.
In hindsight, accepting Boston now as the "third" expansion in this group is a genius stroke for marketing & business. Not only are you "returning" to a market and earning a lot of "good feels" from fans, but the fact that it's "date TBD" (due to stadium issues) means that NWSL has very, very not-slyly implied that they're giving other potential expansion groups (and fans) time to plan ahead to be Boston's expansion partner like we've seen LA+SD and UTA+SF. If NWSL ever operates with an odd number of teams again, I'll be shocked.
With Boston and SF joining, NWSL will now cover 7 of the top 10 media markets in the US, only missing Dallas, Philly, and Atlanta (the latter two also "missing" previous professional teams, just as all three of these current expansions being returns of ProWoSo to their cities)
Honestly I'm a bit surprised NWSL decided to let this be a Friday evening new drop as if it was bad news they wanted to sweep under the carpet (like they've done a lot over the past year or so). If I were them, I'd announce it midday on Monday and have the entire week to parade the news around.
At this point, I'd say highly unlikely. Sounds like Boston has been approved to start from scratch. This is stuff that involves lots of contracts and signing paperwork, and the dollar amount of $50m has already been thrown around, so I'm guessing everything is essentially done and dusted. Remember, WSJ broke the story, so I don't think there's any hidden PR spin here of a "new team" being a relocation in disguise.
Utah is coming in on a previously agreed to deal back when the first iteration of the club ceased operation - the larger Salt Lake club hadn't been sold yet, so NWSL promised they would offer whoever bought it the opportunity to re-enter NWSL at what the expansion fee was at the time, which was only in the low seven figures
Reports are saying they'll look to add a 16th team with Boston to even things out. But there's no timetable to add that 16th team or when Boston will actually start play. Maybe the once-interested MLS owners might be the ones to get a relocated franchise(Chicago to Cincinnati?).
Boston is being held back to protect the quality of the league. If you expand too fast the product goes down. Look how 2022 expansion devastated Gotham, for example. NWSL had said awhile ago that it would expand by two teams in 2024 and two in 2026. Boston also needs time to secure a professional quality stadium.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/nwsl/st...eams-in-san-francisco-bay-areaboston-and-utah NWSL did not release this. It is reporting based on sources. That is why it happened on a Friday - it is not official. "We remain engaged in our expansion process and are excited about our prospects," a league spokesperson told ESPN. "When we have news to share, we will do so."