Came across this: [Olney] Amanda Duffy said in her press scrum today that the league is in conversation with teams looking to enter the NWSL in 2020, 2021, AND 2022. Sounds like 10 teams for 2020, 12 for 2021, and the possibility of 14 for 2022.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Amanda Duffy said in her press scrum today that the league is in conversation with teams looking to enter the NWSL in 2020, 2021, AND 2022. Sounds like 10 teams for 2020, 12 for 2021, and the possibility of 14 for 2022.</p>— Charles Olney (@olneyce) <a href="Amanda Duffy said in her press scrum today that the league is in conversation with teams looking to enter the NWSL in 2020, 2021, AND 2022. Sounds like 10 teams for 2020, 12 for 2021, and the possibility of 14 for 2022.— Charles Olney (@olneyce) October 26, 2019 ">October 26, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> If Mia Hamm really wants a team in the NWSL soon, she needs to get moving for 2022. Otherwise, she may have to wait until 2024 the earliest. 2020: Sacramento 2021: Louisville & Atlanta 2022: Cincinnati & Los Angeles??* *Austin & Nashville were both brought up recently, hence the need for Hamm to push LAFC.
Five teams in three years is a bad idea, as I've said before. I'm hoping that the "expansion three years in a row" means one team per year - as even in that case, we'd only have one more year on an odd number. Nashville wasn't mentioned except by you from a source you thought existed but couldn't find. Austin was mentioned in the SI article, but with no real explanation.
While I agree it may be too much in a short time, the one redeeming benefit it may have on the league is it will quickly redistribute the allocated players from teams like Chicago, North Carolina, and Portland who are repeatedly in the play-offs each year, Out of 9 teams those 3 teams had 64% of the 2019 NT allocated players.
Adding 5 over three years seems fine. Wouldn't do anymore. Let the 2023 WWC boost these teams and see who's stable by then. Reconsider expansion after the 2023 season. If needed, relocate a struggling team or two.
Relocations (and ownership shifts) can happen at any time. No need to wait for significant events in either case.
https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/10/2...lana-cook-europe-sacramento-nwsl-championship Sacramento 99% in for 2020. Atlanta United aiming for a 2021 start.
Before Atlanta makes any commitment, they want to know what the future role of US Soccer is going to be. I am surprised that the other teams are not expressing the same concerns. They need to call a special board meeting to deal with this issue now. This is the statement below that caught my attention. "I’m also told that Atlanta United is aiming to have an NWSL team in 2021, but it’s waiting for more information on U.S. Soccer’s role in the league moving forward, which should come by the December board meeting of U.S. Soccer."
It could be that the other teams were already much further along in the expansion process than Altanta is, so they already got a "well here are the two possible scenarios" and found both satisfactory. Considering that SAC and LOU are both USL teams while ATL is an MLS team, it could also be that they're coming from a different viewpoint and the level of USSF involvement is less of a concern.
Well I’m pretty sure any of these new teams coming in would love to have Kristen Hamilton (who came off the bench for NC today) in their starting 11.
This reminds about the fact that, as an European, I don't know anything at all about how an expansion draft is supposed to work. Since we're now sure that there will be an expansion (although we don't know for sure yet if there will be a draft and how), do you think that this topic could deserve a thread of his own?
You can always look up the previous ones here on this board or here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_NWSL_Expansion_Draft and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_NWSL_Expansion_Draft
I already created a "2020 player moves" thread, but was intending for a separate expansion draft thread if it happened, since discussion the protection lists and such wouldn't itself be news of player moves. (Same with the college draft)
Ok. I was tempted to create an "expansion draft thread" myself, but in fact it doesn't make sense as long as we don't even know for sure if the draft will actually happen. I agree that it should be a separate thread, but I'll wait for you to create it when it will be time to do it.
In reality, I hope Sacramento is announced soon. If the season is to start in April, it would be nice if they had a solid 6 months to promote the team and build a fan base.
FWIW, we missed some news on Sunday... Could be a complete coincidence, but it'd be a pretty impressive coincidence if so (especially the wording). BIG NEWS for the California Storm!!!Brandi Chastain and Leslie Osborne are joining the California Storm women's soccer team Board of Directors!!! We are taking this franchise to the next level!!!***#wpslsoccer… https://t.co/Uii1u6CEYp— California Storm (@CalStormSoccer) October 28, 2019 Odd to me to hear that a WPSL team (level below NWSL) even has a B.o.D.... Guess what city the Storm currently play in?
The real problem with Atlanta, for me, is where do they play? Even Portland Thorns sized crowds would be swallowed alive at MBS, and Utah Royals sized (10k) crowds would evoke the Wiz at Arrowhead (not a good look). The training ground at Marietta, while fine for ATL2, isn't big enough, and it has issues with local light pollution ordinances, and frankly I don't think it's big enough. The perfect stadium might be the Kennesaw State stadium (2011 Women's College Cup site), but it's pretty far from the core of Atlanta, and I think Blank would only want to get in if he could get bigger crowds. Morris Brown's old stadium (Atlanta Beat 2002-2003), which is a couple blocks from MBS had a capacity of 15k and would seem to be a perfect mix, except that at this point it's a complete disaster area. I'm pretty sure copper thieves have stripped the facility, and the site would require building a completely new stadium. I just don't see that kind of investment coming. I would guess that KSU would be the primary ground with the occasional big game or doubleheader at MBS.
Given that the Courage will lose only one player total in the draft, I don't see her as being the one taken
The Flash moved to Cary in January. Not ideal, and at least that was a team that was already assembled. I think the real deadline is to have the head coach and general manager in place prior to the college draft at the latest. And as Sacramento organization already exists, I'm guessing a lot of the behind the scenes technical work and player scouting is already underway. Obviously earlier is better than later.
Actually, I can definitely see her being left unprotected. Protected lists are a complex puzzle when done right. Often teams leave players unprotected that have leverage over being taken. Hamilton has some personal attachments that would make relocating her problematic. Other teams know this. I would expect the Courage to also expose older, higher contract cost, players like Zerboni and McDonald - both of whom could choose to retire rather than relocate. And Zerboni being married to the Courage's top assistant further complicates things, though it's not necessarily a deal breaker. Crystal Dunn and her Portland Thorns staffer husband are making it work. The real question is how much Riley rates up and comers like Pruitt and Spetsmark. Riley has traded away top 2017/2018 goalscoring draft picks Ashley Hatch and Darian Jenkins. He's grooming them, but can't afford to keep them. He might be willing to let one of the older players go if he feels Pruitt is ready. Or he might expose Pruitt. The teams around the league know where the real value is. Bringing in a "name" player might help sell some tickets in the short run and provide some veteran leadership. A Zerboni could be a good pickup, but if you want to start winning, it's finding those players in the margins. Leah Pruitt, Cari Roccaro, Kayleigh Kurtz, and even Katelyn Rowland (an NWSL Championship game winning goalkeeper in 2018) make more sense than a mid-career spot starter like Hamilton. And let's be real. The player that's probably going to be taken from Carolina this year is whoever is left exposed from Mewis, Dunn, and Dahlkemper. My money is on Dahlkemper - unless Riley swings some sort of trade deal that sends Dunn to Portland (or somewhere else). I don't see Mewis being exposed, and I think the team would like to keep Dunn, and Dunn has long, local ties through her UNC days. I know they'd like to keep Dahlkemper as well, but I think she's holding the short straw here. Zerboni is the other U.S. federation player, but with only one player likely taken, I don't see her getting pulled. The wild card is that I don't know if they'll be able to protect either Rowland or Labbé. Carolina could easily lose a goalkeeper if they're able to protect Dahlkemper. Paul Riley used three different GK in the three championship wins over the last four years.
The SKC ownership started looking around women's pro soccer almost immediately after they bought the team from HSG. They were there at the inaugural WPS player draft. They were in negotiations and planning when the NWSL suddenly announced FCKC. And anyone really aware of the shit show that was the FCKC organization at the end understands why they didn't swoop in and buy the team and inherit the existing personnel (not players, but staff). The main reason SKC hasn't jumped in yet is that they're hemorrhaging money with all the construction they've undertaken (Swope Park, Pinnacle, CMP) as well as building out their academy system and USL team. The death of Neal Patterson and Robb Heinemann being forced out of day to day management has also affected things. I know the interest is still there organizationally, but it's definitely on the back burner for the time being. If the NWSL ever makes it to 20 teams, I'd be surprised if one of them was not part of the SKC organization.
I think you underestimate what that organization is capable of doing. I don't think they have any intention of doing 15,000 or less. I think they are looking at Portland and what they have done and may feel they have the resources and money to do at least that and possibly more. The ability for them to do what they were able to do on the men's side went way beyond anyone's expectations so they must feel they can achieve those Portland kind of numbers on the women's side. I don't think they are thinking small on this and the idea of having the games in any other stadium would simply be good reason for them to not pursue a franchise for 2021. With regards to the stadium, in the beginning their plans called for designing it so that soccer would be able to accommodate up to 35,000, but due to the very high ticket demand they increased it to 42,000. Meanwhile, the design calls for closing off large portions of the stadium for the soccer matches thus creating a much better atmosphere for the games.
In September, 2016 the USWNT played in Atlanta in front 15,652 in a desolately empty Georgia Dome. I would still guess that an Arthur Blank NWSL team would plan to play most games in Kennesaw unless a better option presents itself.