Though originally thought to be entering in 2021, now it appears Sacramento may wait until 2022 to start. Even more California expansion for the #NWSL. According to multiple sources, the league's found its 12th team via the ownership group of Sacramento Republic FC. The team plans to start play in 2021.Reporting with @PaulTenorio, new at @TheAthleticSCCR: https://t.co/lGvtar8I8x— Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) August 19, 2020
At first, I thought it was really silly to even consider Sac for 2021 and that 2022 was the clearly superior choice. I still think 2022 is better choice, but upon further reflection, I can understand some arguments for 2021. For 2022: --More than a year of run-up --NWSL stays at even # of teams each year --Both Cali teams enter together For 2021: --"Disruption" of expansion is set more on already-disrupted Olympics year (i.e. 2022 is relatively un-disrupted) --Sac get the "exposure" benefit of running with the Olympics --2022 expansion draft doesn't hit the 2021 expansion teams anywhere near as hard
I think the hesitation to enter in 2021 may be due a possible delay or another Challenge Cup scenario. Why enter in a season where you can't bring in a good amount of revenue. Though, IMO, I think the 2021 season will see teams playing in their home stadiums with some fans.
Well, we don't know* which parties want to enter in which year. I get the impression that Sac wants to enter in 2021 but NWSL wants them in 2022. The original reports only said 2021 until it was later corrected that 2022 was in discussion. *However, I can't see the articles int he Athletic or in the Sac Bee, and any other articles I see don't say who wants what exactly.
We might have a brewing problem in Utah. 1299003953766526977 is not a valid tweet id If DLH decides to get out of MLS, I can't see him staying with the NWSL or USL, either. He was the white knight that saved RSL when Dave Checketts ran out of cash. The real question is who steps up to save these teams in this market if DLH decides to bail?
He basically came in and saved FCKC, too, albeit moving it to his market. For those wanting further context on what Hansen said, here's a bit more: https://www.sltrib.com/sports/rsl/2020/08/27/rsl-owner-dell-loy-hansen/ Personally, I can't get past the fact that he felt personally disrespected by the boycott. I get that he's upset because of fans coming to the MLS game and all, but this was bigger than a game. I would hate to see the money leave the NWSL, but I don't think it'll come to that. If it does, Jozy Altidore has said that he's part of a group ready to purchase the MLS team; would they do the same for the women's team?
Considering that Jozy fairly regularly tweets about NWSL, especially compared to most MLS/USMNT players, I wouldn't be surprised if their group takes the Royals on as well. I am curious why an interpretation of a potential sale-or-contraction was put in the expansion forum though... >.> <.< I saw the notification and was expecting something about Sac, Louisville, LA, or one of the other previously discussed possibilities.
Because this is where I posted due to the ongoing discussion of potential changes in the league, rather than start a new thread based on a couple tweeted comments. If you want to think that potential change in ownership doesn't affect potential expansion, that's one opinion. I think the two are interrelated. If the mods think otherwise, they're more than free to move/delete my post. If you think it doesn't belong here, you can either report the post or apply to be a mod. It doesn't bother me whatever happens with the posts. I saw some potentially relevant news of interest, so I posted it.
With the soft announcement of Sac joining the league, I went in and updated the NWSL Expansion page on Wikipedia, and then thought (because I'm a numbers guy) to look at NWSL's size over time and compare it to MLS. I was a bit surprised to find that, with 10 teams in year 9 and 12 teams in year 10, NWSL's size exactly matches MLS's size at the same respective times for each league. I'm sure it's mostly just coincidence, but it does make me wonder if there's something macro-economic about pro sports league survivability. MLS and NWSL even have similar trajectories over the first 8 years, even if NWSL was a bit smaller than MLS over that time (early expansion by 2, then a contraction, with 3 years at the contracted size).
NWSL growing past 14 teams really correlates to how many MLS teams want to own a NWSL franchise as well. San Jose, Oakland, Atlanta and the forever rumored Barcelona owned team wouldn't involve the MLS. Any other rumored NWSL expansion has been linked to an MLS team owning a NWSL franchise (Minnesota, Austin, Cincinnati, Nashville, Toronto, NYCFC, Philadelphia).
Another question is with twelve teams, does the league split into two conferences? EAST: SkyBlue, Washington, Orlando, Chicago, Louisville, North Carolina WEST: OL Reign, Portland, Sacramento, Angel City, Houston, Kansas City
Do you think it is possible they might keep the length of the start-up and ending of the 2021 season the same for 2022 which would allow them to schedule more then 24 games?
I mean, sure they could... But there are plenty of reasons not to. It's nice that we've seen salaries keep going up, but the more games to force teams to play, the harder the NWSLPA will (rightfully) be pushing for even higher salaries. Considering the council of team operators is what basically runs the league, I don't see a strong push for more games in that light. I mean, I certainly see the schedule growing in the future, e.g. 26 games with 14 teams and maybe even 30 games with 16 teams, but I don't see the league bending over backwards to hit a certain "target number of games" unless and until a basic home-and-away system becomes "too much" - which could happen at 16 teams if the target number is 24 plus-or-minus 2. Also, in the context of adding in-conference games... Why? Adding more structure and division to the competition will only add more overhead for the league, with very little competitive reasoning for separating teams. Keeping the regular season schedule fairly open has the benefit of providing wiggle room if games ever need to be rescheduled, allows more freedom for the league to avoid FIFA windows, and allows NWSL teams more freedom to schedule friendlies and such. I for one hope the women's ICC grows, maybe we get a women's USOC at some point, and I would also love to see a return of an All-Star game.
I think by the time they reach fourteen teams, the schedule can go up to at least 26 games, maybe up to 32 if they split into conferences (3x vs. each conference opponent and twice vs. each team in the opposing conference). Extending the season later into the year would also be required. This probably happens after the 2023 WWC and would also help give the players a salary boost as well. Maybe top tier players can get $100k by 2024?
Unless we start to see attendance moving up across the board, you won't see the schedule expand - especially with Olympics and World Cups 3 of the next 4 summers. With the management agreement severed, we'll see just how dedicated to observing FIFA windows that the USSF is with regards to the WNT. I think as long as Federation Players exist, the NWSL teams will find their star players pulled away for non-FIFA matches. The push come to shove will be if we see another "August 3rd, 2019" style match. We'll also see if any coaches do what Riley threatened to do during the non-FIFA window in July, 2018 when Ellis called up a few non-Federation Player Courage players while the Courage were headed to Miami for the first WICC - namely refuse to release the players (something clubs around the world do all the time). It's cheaper for most teams to play fewer games. We saw it when MLS initially went from 32 down to 28 games. The return to 32 games coincided with teams beginning to build and own their own stadiums. Chicago - rent Houston - control Kansas City - rent Louisville - control NC Courage - rent (hoping to build, land has been purchased and rezoned) OL Reign - not sure, I think it's currently rent, but building own Orlando - control Portland - control Sky Blue - rent Washington - rent/rent/rent - Los Angeles - rent Sacramento - rent/planning on building