Sure, but is the solution fixing costs or finding investors that can? Feels like there are pros and cons of both. I wonder why Emily Fox is leaving the NWSL?
It's interesting how you're worried about the hyphen when apparently you can't even spell the rest of his name right!
Mostly cons, tbh. There isn't an infinite number of investors and they aren't all equal. It is literally impossible to create a situation where every team is equally funded in an uncapped world. There is a direct correlation between a team's salary budget and their points and there is a direct correlation between points and attendance. As an example, Leicester City was bouncing around the lower divisions until they were bought by King Power and their CEO dumped a ton of cash into them. Their improved performance resulted in attendance growing, especially after they won the Premier League. When King Power's CEO died in the helicopter crash, King Power's investment in Leicester City dropped and the club ended up being relegated last year. There were obviously other things involved in Leicester's Premier League win, but their rise in leagues and standings was directly related to the amount of money that King Power dropped into the team. The claim that a league just needs to get better investors is largely a red herring. Investors aren't going to be interested in every market equally and the end result tends to be that the rich gets richer and the rest just turn into also rans.
I agree, but there are also cons of the capped world. Is it fair to say that the top talent will tend to go to the highest bidders? Does that impact quality? Does it matter? I don't know the answer. A study was done showing a high correlation between performance and wages. Transfer fees much less so.
Maybe she wants to try living in another country while she is young? Arsenal is out of the Champions league so she will not be playing in that this spring. We don't know how long she signed for.
Sounds like PRO is about to strike, which could easily put a wrench in the start of the MLS season because having no refs would be a serious issue. This actually won't affect NWSL because, as I only just learned today in the Athletic article about this potential strike, all non-MLS professional leagues actually use PRO2, a related but separate organization, who updated their contract successfully the other week.
PRO is the employer, the PSRA is the union that represents PRO referees. So that is why the PSRA can strike with PRO, but not PRO2. Also, PSRA members have authorized the PSRA to strike if a deal isn't met by Jan 31, there will need to be another vote for them to actually go on strike. This is not an uncommon tactic among unions when dealing with an employer that is dragging their feet on negotiations and it frequently does not result in the union actually going on strike. To get labor deals done, both parties often need deadlines and consequences. They usually have interim deadlines to jump-start negotiations and final deadlines to get deals done. 1/31 is the interim and MLS Opening Day on 2/21 is the final 1/ https://t.co/T3Lprplk6T— Steven Bank (@ProfBank) January 22, 2024 Also.. I found out about the existence of Pro2 from your post and thought the strike would impact NWSL as well up until that point. Interesting.. I wonder why there is a Pro2 and why NWSL is under that company and not PRO..
PRO2 is the "stepping stone" for referees working to try to break into MLS, and PRO2 is in that way part of the bigger umbrella of PRO. PRO was formed primarily to serve MLS, and PRO2 is about finding that next generation of referees. Some referees stay at PRO2 for their whole career, but others "move up" to PRO. As of a few years ago, the PSRA actually represents both PRO and PRO2 referees. It's one union, but 2 CBA's (one for PRO and one for PRO2), but PRO2 referees don't vote on PRO issues in the PSRA and vice versa (in some ways, its like 2 unions, but not). If the PSRA does strike, it's about the PRO CBA specifically, so while it won't affect PRO2 referees who have their own CBA, it's also why you won't see PRO2 referees "cross the picket line."
That’s kinda my point. The NWSL is the D1 Women’s league in the US.. Shouldn’t they be covered by PRO, rather than the stepping stone company?
I get what you're saying, but regardless of how we feel about it, the men's game is still seen as the "top flight" of soccer worldwide, not just in the US. On the practical side, one other reason is the NWSL didn't exist when PRO was formed. Even once the NWSL started, it wasn't referred to as a Division 1 league at first, and even after it was sanctioned as a Division 1 league, I would say in many respects it's not treated that way. (e.g. The standards for being sanctioned "Division 1" for the women line up more with the standards for Division 2 for the men.)
Several of the USSF standards for ownership, stadiums, etc. for women's D1 soccer is the same as men's D2 soccer. Some women's D1 standards are lower than men's D2. Only MLS/men's D1 has the top tier of requirements. Wikipedia is actually useful on this with a table showing the breakdown of each level: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_soccer_league_system#Standards_summary_table Maybe a day comes along where there's less of a difference, or at least women's D1 standards are above men's D2, but until then it's not unreasonable for the referee's organization to approach everything below men's D1 as a stepping stone.
2024 schedule is now out. I'm sure someone will dig more into the details like I would like to do right now, but I'm a bit time-crunched with work, so I'll just highlight the biggest piece of news: No "Decision Day" in 2024 (likely due to NWSL not having the negotiating heft to force four different TV partners to agree to the same time for the final weekend, which is instead going to played out over three days).
Looks like the first match on the opening Saturday is on ABC and it's hosted by KC in their new stadium. That's a smart move on everyone's part. I know ION is available on several streaming services, as well as Tubi, but I still hope some of the local OTA channels upgrade over their current 480i broadcast signals.
Meg Linehan at the Athletic takes a look at the schedule, looking at broadcasting and highlighting marquee matches. Honestly, my biggest takeaway from the article is how difficult it could be for some fans to "follow their team." The new broadcast deals should result in an increase in casual fans watching matches, but could definitely make it harder for current fans to keep up with where to watch (and to have all the streaming services they'd need). At least the NWSL+ streaming service is free.
USL Super League has been granted D1 status. The question is, will this be legitimate competition for NWSL? Super League doesn't have a salary cap and will play a Fall-Spring schedule, but the teams seem to be less financially backed than NWSL, so salary cap may not be an issue. DIVISION ONE! 1️⃣🧡 We are thrilled to announce that the USL Super League has received Division One sanctioning from @ussoccer. Our inaugural season kicks off in August.➡️ https://t.co/2dQNv7X5wi pic.twitter.com/TJ4GS7pRoG— USL Super League (@USLSuperLeague) February 9, 2024 https://theathletic.com/5263900/2024/02/09/usl-super-league-division-sanction/ USL Super League has teams in Brooklyn, Charlotte, NC, Dallas-Fort Worth, TX, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Lexington, KY, Spokane, WA, Tampa, FL, and Washington, DC.
They've also got Palm Beach, Madison, and Jacksonville expected in 2025 an another 6 teams planned. The scheduling gimmick is stupid but D1 women's standards are basically the same as D2 men's. 11 of the current 17 expected teams are being added to existing/planned USLC/USL1 clubs.
Yeah, they've got 16 of the clubs listed on the league website, and USL Arkansas is planning a team in the USLC in the spring of 26 and Super League that fall. Jacksonville, Arkansas, and Palm Beach are all expected to come in with a Championship and Super League team. It will be really interesting to see what they can do as a league with NWSL taking such a big leap forward financially.
Gotta feel sorry for the Spokane team tho.. They are he only one in the Western US and with the expansion being primarily in Southeastern US it is only going to get worse. One would think it would have been better for them to wait for the 2 teams in Arizona and team in Oakland to join before they joined.
It wouldn't surprise me if some of the draft picks that don't make rosters this year end up signing with Super League teams.