https://nwslshop.com/collections/2024-jerseys Looks like some significant upgrades for primary jerseys this season, and the only "bad" ones are more boring than anything else. Louisville, Chicago, and Gotham stick out as my favorites.
My personal faves are Wave, Red Stars, Orlando, and Gotham. My misses are Thorns, Reign, Bay, and Current. I would love Racing but the color is a bit too faded, so it's not quite enough contrast for my liking. None of the secondary kits really stick out to me - and really not a fan of the Spirit's off-yellow - but at least the Current's secondary fade is better than their primary. Some other thoughts from around the WoSoVerse: https://theathletic.com/5302042/2024/02/27/2024-nwsl-kits-nike-review/ Nothing great, SD/LOU/ORL/NJY/CHI good, HOU/NC/SEA/UTA/LA okay, POR/KC/BAY/DC "yuck" https://www.cbssports.com/soccer/ne...red-stars-to-bay-fc-and-everything-inbetween/ LOU best, CHI/SD/HOU/DC honorable mentions, ORL/NJY "better luck next time", POR/LA "downgrades", KC/UTA/NC "did they try?", BAY/SEA worst
The referee union announced or clarified in a tweet that the referees have a separate contract (Collective Bargaining Agreement) with NWSL, USL, etc so the regular referees will work the NWSL matches when the season starts. I really don't get why WoSo Journos couldn't be bothered to inform us about this weeks or months ago. With USL beginning this weekend, and NWSL beginning March 16th, we want to confirm that our professional PRO2 officials are working under a separate CBA and will be officiating those matches. The match officials in MLS remain locked out by PRO, but we are excited to see our… pic.twitter.com/Knz8JiHL9b— PSRA Officials (@PSRAofficials) March 6, 2024
It was clear from the beginning that this wouldn't affect NWSL as the PRO2 officials are in a different bargaining unit with their own CBA, and it was definitely reported by sports journos; I know the Athletic has mentioned how it affects NWSL. We even talked about it in this thread (previous page? Or two pages ago?).
So we're saying two writers for The Athletic did their jobs? It shouldn't be "clear from the beginning" that fans should know referees have a separate collective bargaining agreement with NWSL. Congratulations to those of you who know everything, but why would average fans expect to know that? Maybe I missed it everywhere else, but this is the kind of thing which should be common knowledge among WoSo fans if WoSo Journos are doing their jobs — and two articles behind a paywall ain't it.
Out of nowhere: Burkle sells the Wave to new owners (Source: The Athletic) Price: $120m Buyers: Leicthman family
Out of nowhere... Angel City FC is suspiciously for sale a day after the San Diego Wave sale... https://www.sportico.com/business/team-sales/2024/angel-city-sale-moelis-1234771098/
Is it possible franchises with multiple celebrity owners are not working out that well from a management perspective?
Per Sportico, yes: "The [sale initiation] process follows tension between some board members over team governance"
That entire ownership group bought in for $2 million. If the club really isn't running a profit, many of those owners may be looking to cash out rather than being called on to cover losses.
And if they can sell for eve half of what SD just got, they're looking at a 25x profit in just 4 years since the team was founded.
RE: Angel City -I am naive about business and sports team ownership, but how can the value of business that loses money actually appreciate in value? Per Sportico: "It’s unclear exactly what’s led to the discord. Part of the friction, according to multiple people, involves team operations and finances. Angel City has by far the most revenue in NWSL, but it also spends the most, and the club is not profitable."
Every sports team operates at a loss. Whether it's NFL teams in the US, soccer teams in the big European leagues, etc. The increased broadcast rights fees are the primary driver now. Sports are the last thing that truly brings consistent viewership and soccer has one of the youngest fanbases in the US.
In addition to what @TheJoeGreene said, there's also the basic notion that profit/loss is very different than value. You can lose X money per year, but if your total team salary is going up each year and you invest in facilities and what else not, your total club value will keep increasing even if you're losing money each year.
The training facility and new stadium make KC Current a very valuable team now. I would honestly pay more to own them than anyone else at the moment.
is there a site that reports the attendance? Soccer Stadium Digest is not longer active as Kevin Reichard has retired. https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2023-nwsl-attendance/
Nwsl Attendance Week 1:➡️ Three sells outs : Utah, KC, & Los Angeles ➡️Lower opening week vs last year 74,428 vs 90,009#nwsl #runwithus #WePlayHere pic.twitter.com/VWHMrXA46h— Nwsl Attendance & tv ratings (@NwslNotes) March 18, 2024
Last Friday, Olympique Lyon dropped that they were in the final stages of a $58m sale of the Reign and it's come out that the deal is in the hands of the NWSL and MLS to review and approve the deal. What I find interesting is that it sounds like the owners of the Reign will actually be the Carlyle Group and not the Sounders as originally expected. Obviously, formal announcement of the composition of the Reign's ownership group has not been announced, but it sounds like it may resemble the original ownership group of the Sounders, where Paul Allen was "given" a portion of the team in exchange for using the Seahawks' business operations. In this case, the Carlyle Group will be at least the majority owner of the Reign, while the Reign's business operations will be run by the Sounders. https://www.sportico.com/business/t...unders-reign-nwsl-sale-58-million-1234771244/
This sounds somewhat like what I understand is the Thorns-Timbers relationship. They get separate ownership but some economies of scale.
Hey remember this? We have to details now: The 14 NWSL sides will host the top 6 LMXF sides in five groups of four. The four "best" group winners then move on to a semifinal series. Five groups of four is weird... I would've preferred four groups of five, or maybe get four more teams from another country/region and do six groups of four to a quarterfinal series.
Blech. 5 groups leading to 4 semifinalists is dumb. I'm not sure what purpose this serves beyond giving the nearly invisible Liga MX Femenil a boost in attention.
I mean, the main purpose is to give NWSL teams something to do (and get revenue) during the Olympics. And be careful calling LMXF "nearly invisible". LMXF's playoffs outdraw NWSL's in terms of attendance, especially for the semis and the final. I'm betting a second purpose of this tournament, at least for this year, is exactly what BroSo orgs have done: bank on the fans of LMX/MexNT teams who live in the States and want to see their teams play without traveling back to Mexico to do it.
Liga MX Femenil averaged 2072 last fall and is averaging 2224 this spring, and that's with the two matchups between Tigres and Monterrey drawing over 20000 fans each. It took 2 games at nearly 10x the league average to get them up to 20% of the NWSL average attendance. Tigres, Monterrey, and Chivas are almost always the highest drawing teams each week. So far this spring those 3 are the only ones averaging over 5k while 11 teams are averaging under 2k and 5 of those teams average under 1k. Cruz Azul is averaging 200 per game this spring. As far as playoffs go, last fall Liga MX averaged 5713.25 for their quarterfinals, 24813.5 for their semifinals, and 27863.5 for their finals, with a total of 14334.79 for the playoffs (largely propped up by two Tigres home matches of 40039 and 38493). The semifinals also featured Tigres-Monterrey and Chivas-America as the matchups, which are probably the two best options they have right now. The NWSL playoffs were 8382 for the quarterfinals, 28740 for the semifinals, and 25011 for the final with an overall average of 19851. Even with nearly everything going as well as possible, Liga MX Femenil drew 5.5k less per game and had two Tigres home games really skew their average.