I've read several articles about them getting their expansion team, but none seem to mention where they'll be playing at until their own stadium is built.
Dash up for sale, relocation possible. SCOOP: Houston Dash owner Ted Segal has hired investment bank PJT Partners to explore a sale of the NWSL club. The move comes as team values have exploded, including $110M for a Denver expansion team. Fees were $2M four years ago. Details at @Sportico.https://t.co/pVhay4W9az— Kurt Badenhausen (@kbadenhausen) January 24, 2025
Rushing expansion? 32 teams doesn't seem possible under Berman's watch unless she adds 2 teams a year for ten years. https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_...on-teams-size-nfl-commissioner-jessica-berman
Successful commissioners have long tenures. Bettman and Stern had 30+ years, and Garber's creeping up on that.
It'll be hard to get to 32 without Canadian expansion. We got 16, who's the next 16? Cincinnati Cleveland Nashville Austin Atlanta Miami Philadelphia NYCFC Indianapolis Charlotte Minnesota St. Louis Las Vegas Phoenix Detroit Norfolk, VA
Your list leaves off Dallas, San Antonio, Sacramento, Tampa, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee. At that league size a 2nd LA team seems more likely than not. There are enough markets. The approach shouldn't be "we need to add 14-16 more teams." The question should be after each expansion: Does it make sense to add two more?
Dallas and Tampa have USL Super League franchises, for what it's worth. And for the kabillionth time, it's not as much about where these things are going to be located as it is who is going to own them? Yeah, there are more markets out there. How many more bona fide owners are there? We've already seen several NWSL teams get sold since their values have increased. That's fine, it shows there are people who believe in the league. But every time a team is sold, that takes a potential investor out of the mix. (If you were going to buy a team, you'd just keep the one you already had.)
The presence of an owner with a good plan would be at the top of the criteria for my "does it make sense?" question.
it's all wishful thinking to expand to 30 or 32 teams. there's not enough interested, rich owners out there currently. She needs to set a goal of getting to 20 teams by 2030. and then analyze where everyone stands by the 2031 WWC.
Atlanta to be awarded expansion franchise. Team to start play "after 2026". https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/ne...e-expansion-arthur-blank-165-million-dollars/
NWSL is expanding too fast and thereby diluting the talent and making the matches poorer and some unwatchable. By expanding they will spread out the better players and fill the gaps with lesser quality players. While I understand the desire for more soccer, more is not usually better and the drop in quality will mean some people watch one or two matches and then stop watching because the matches were poorly played. NWSL needs at least two more years with the current number of teams and then they might be ready to expand. MLS is still recovering from their over expansion and the quality is still poor. Remember: More does not man better soccer and it can defiantly lead to teams folding because they under estimate the tolerance for boredom that fans have.
i thought they'd wait until 2029, but that $$$ Atlanta is putting up is too big to turn down. I'd assume they'll add an 18th team to keep it even(Cincinnati? Austin?). Maybe 20 teams by 2030 seems likely now?
we shall see by 2027 if Atlanta and team #18 join that year. right now it seems balanced with the influx of African team talent coming in.
NWSL eyeing 18th team for 2028. https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/46945488/nwsl-expansion-18th-team-2028
Initially, maybe. But I'm also seeing the growth of the women's game, not just in the US, but internationally. What I think will initially happen is that players who have not yet matured (talent) will get spots. Some will succeed at a higher level, but many will either not greatly improve to that higher level. This will also be met with an influx of international players, as the game is growing internationally as well. But over time, these adding of new teams will be good, just as long as there are not too many teams added. A quick look at the schedule from the last 3 years is that with the two new teams added for 2024, that meant an additional 4 matches. I'm assuming the same to next season. And then in 2028 as well, meaning that there will be 34 matches played in league, plus what ever other competitions occur. I think that is about right. Maybe as many as 38, but that might be going to far. Still, the more matches played will eventually give the additional players more time to play and improve their skills.
There are also the NWSL players who didn't make the cut, dropped down to the USL Super League, and will be much more seasoned as pros who can fill out early roster spots during expansion. On top of that, there's a player like Ashlyn Puerta who left FSU to play for Jacksonville in the Super League and is tearing it up as an 18 year old, leading the league in scoring.
By 2028, they could split into two conferences. That could help keep the schedule around 30 games. 9 teams per conference. Play each conference opponent 2x(16 games), play a total of 14 games against non-conference teams.
Not the place to have this conversation, but if I am USL. I will try to keep all of my talent. See if I could get one player into the USWNT. If not, USL should be Division 2, not 1. NWSL should also be thinking of changing to the world schedule
Not if they want fans in the stands. Look how poor the attendance is when the weather is bad. Rafael said she left Arsenal in part because she could not deal with the weather in London. There are advantages to playing in good weather - which the NWSL does most of their current season. Also, it is not the world's schedule. There are leagues - even in Europe - who operate on the same season schedule as the NWSL. Damallsvenskan - Sweden is one example
There always will be. But there is a reason we don't play the Fall/Spring schedule. The cold weather would be brutal on attendance in a significant portion of the league and for a significant portion of the season. As it is now, we pretty much only deal with lighting storm issues. Who is bringing their kids to a game when it is 45 degrees out?