NWSL to Columbus, a Calendar Shift, and the Talkin' Soccer rankings.
There’s never a dull day in the National Women’s Soccer League, and with the league finally returning from its 3-week international break, there is some potentially league defining news to discuss.
Let’s talk about the NWSL’s latest round of expansion, a potential shift in the playing calendar, and a very quick run through of the Talkin’ Soccer Power Rankings.
NWSL to Columbus.
Columbus has the NWSL team they’ve been searching for after emerging as favorites over the Cincinnati and Cleveland bids in the last round of expansion. The Columbus bid – headlined by Haslum Sports Group of the Cleveland Browns, Columbus Crew, Milwaukee Bucks, and signing Deshaun Watson to a $230 million guaranteed contract despite investigations into over a dozen allegations of sexual assault fame – paid a $205 million expansion fee along with a further commitment of around $100 million of further investments in NWSL club-specific infrastructure. Unfortunately, even that commitment isn’t without controversy and political infighting. In short, the Columbus NWSL club will build its training facility at McCoy Park in South Columbus, taking over a plan that was set to improve the park with ADA-specific infrastructure and position the park as an important amenity for the underserved South Columbus community.
Local reporting has taken the timing of the proposal to task, shining a light on the rushed timeline and lack of communication with residents following years of planning around park renovations.
“Back in 2024, the city approved over $1.6M for renovations at two parks in the city: Gender Road Park and McCoy Park. Architectural renderings for the site showed a renovated McCoy Park with playgrounds, a splash pad, and adaptive sports fields.”
“I would say how many girls are going to be on that soccer team and utilizing that soccer facility versus how many kids do we have in Columbus in this area that could utilize that park?" Hannah Corwin, a Southside resident, said,”
It had been presumed that Columbus would land an expansion side in the coming rounds after the NWSL decided to host the upcoming Challenge Cup between the Kansas City Current and Gotham FC at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field – the future home of the Columbus NWSL side.
On one hand, the Columbus side should do well as Ohio’s NWSL representative, but I can’t help feeling conflicted about the process. The NWSL has yet to expand into some of the US’s biggest markets, only hitting 10 of the top 20 markets with Atlanta’s inclusion, and still missing from 2 of the top 5 markets in Philadelphia and Dallas. All while becoming an 18-team league with clubs in the 48th (Louisville), 35th (Kansas City), and 33rd (Columbus) largest markets.
At face value, that shouldn’t be a problem; most leagues in the world would celebrate the representation, but it becomes an issue when broadcast revenue has such an outsized influence on the league’s salary cap while the players don’t see much of the incoming $205 million expansion fee. It becomes harder for the league to extract a proper broadcast value when 1/6th of the league occupies small mid-sized markets, while both NYC and Chicago are failing to fully engage two of the largest markets in the country. The league’s full marketing potential seems to lie at the feet of Angel City finally advancing in the playoffs.
All of that to say that the league is going in an interesting direction, no doubt experiencing success and growth, but seemingly making short-sighted decisions while closing off future expansion to ownership groups that can afford a fee that only 2 MLS expansion clubs have bested. Angel City entered the league in 2022 for a fee of $2 million, 6 years later, that fee has multiplied by 100…
Abolish the salary cap.
Another Calendar Shift?
Late last week, ESPN’s Jeff Kassouf reported that the NWSL was expecting to vote on shifting the current playing calendar to further align with Europe. The shift has been a constant topic of discussion over the last five years, but with the USL SuperLeague’s Fall to Summer calendar and MLS’s recent decision to make the shift, the momentum seems to be growing amongst the NWSL ownership group.
Last year, I discussed the factors going into MLS’s decision and why the move made sense in a world where summer soccer will become increasingly untenable, but those factors don’t exactly apply to the NWSL – outside of 1:00 PM matches in June, of course.
While MLS wants to make it easier to sell players to Europe and replace players in preseason, the NWSL doesn’t have that issue. Players already want to play in the NWSL to test themselves in the world’s most competitive league, and the NWSL isn’t specifically trying to make a profit on its best players by selling up and coming talents to bigger clubs.
NWSL clubs are the bigger clubs.
Also, unlike MLS, the NWSL’s footprint is much larger in typical colder winter clients vs southern warmer clients. This point is a little overblown. Ultimately, the playing window isn’t shifted too far in a shifting calendar, the league will just play its most important matches in spring/summer instead of a Championship match that requires heaters in press row in KC while writers are still losing feeling in their fingers… ask me how I know.
However, cold playoff matches are a much easier sell than cold regular season matches on the North Shore. Over half of the league would be drastically affected by the switch, with really only Houston, Orlando, North Carolina, and Los Angeles definitely benefiting from more matches in November.
So, why make the shift?
Your guess is as good as mine. A spring/early summer final weekend would most likely make the neutral final idea work better than it currently does, but does that matter if the league is sacrificing matchday revenue in the majority of its markets?
Further complicating the idea is that the players seem to view it as a non-starter under the current league leadership.
"We remain concerned, however, that the issue is being framed around the wrong question. The right question is not whether the league should flip the calendar, but whether the right conditions exist to do so responsibly.” The NWSLPA told ESPN.
“Right now, they do not. The ability to navigate weather-related disruptions depends on consistent control over facilities and operational flexibility across clubs, and that standard has not been met league-wide. Our top priorities in any scenario are protecting and promoting Player health, safety, and performance. As a general matter, a majority of Players polled on this question currently oppose flipping the calendar."
Unfortunately, the league has been steamrolling the NWSLPA in recent months, as evidenced by the HIP mechanism and the dearth of communication between the league and the PA ahead of its implementation.
Following last year’s player safety snafus, the gulf continues to grow.
Alright, let’s check in on the soccer.
The Rankings.
1. Angel City (Last Ranking 1)
Angel City lost 2-1 at Orlando before the break. It’s a potential warning sign, but Orlando are better than their opening record, and Angel City have the privilege of following returning to play with 3 straight at BMO Stadium. Jónsdóttir and the attack will have room in transition that they weren’t afforded in the Sunshine State.
2. San Diego Wave (Last Ranking 2)
The Wave might be the best team in the league right now, but I need to see it against top opposition. They travel to Portland and Denver this week, if they survive that, you’ll see them perched atop this ranking next week.
3. Portland Thorns (Last Ranking 3)
I’m still far from convinced about these Portland Thorns, but against San Diego and Angel City, they’ll show us who they really are… outside of Olivia Moultrie cementing herself as a top 10 player.
4. Washington Spirit (Last Ranking 5)
I’m back on the Spirit bandwagon after silencing Bay FC on Easter Sunday. The new look 4-2-3-1 worked, and I think Adrián Gonzalez has a few more tricks up his sleeve.
5. Orlando Pride (Last Ranking 6)
A very good win over ACFC at home, but they’ll have to do this more often despite a few important injuries to Kerry Abello and Jacqie Ovalle. Luckily, Banda’s injury wasn’t what it seemed, and the league leader in goals added will be available.
6. Houston Dash (Last Ranking 9)
Another big result for Fabrice Gautrat’s – or Kiki Van Zanten’s – Houston Dash.
Although it was far from a straightforward result, I’m buying too soon on this group.
Houston conceded early to Taylor Flint’s first successful PK of the evening, before answering with a pen of their own minutes later.
I’m dubbing this the NWSL Chaos Game of the month.
4 PKs, a Kiki Van Zanten brace, and a match where the 4-3 scoreline is actually in line with the expected scoreline.
Incredible match, and a testament to what the dash is building that they ended the night on the right side of this one.
7. Seattle Reign (Last Ranking 7)
Scoreless draw vs the Summit isn’t as concerning as it would’ve looked in preseason. Still, the Reign have to find goal scorers in matches like this. The 2nd time in 5 matches they’ve been kept off the scoresheet.
8. Denver Summit (Last Ranking 10)
I’m reassessing my priors a bit on this one. Denver are well-drilled and seems willing to add to a roster that is… overachieving? It’s hard to say, I thought this group was destined for the bottom of the table until they reinforced in the summer, but it’s Boston that appears to have drawn that expansion lot. I think quite a few overperformances are going on here, but that’s a testament to the game plan.
9. Bay FC (Last Ranking 8)
Just completely squashed at home by the Spirit, but this is a young team, and that’ll happen. Success will come down to whether or not they’ll have space transition, and up against Gotham, this may be a frustrating weekend.
10. KC Current (Last Ranking 12).
Can Temwa Chawinga save Chris Armas’s long-term prospects in KC? First look says yes, but this group has been far from convincing so far. Away to Washington for Friday night soccer, this is a huge test for a team that has a 1-7 goal differential through 3 matches away from CPKC.
11. North Carolina Courage (Last Ranking 11)
Ideally, a 2-2 draw with the Thorns should be a good result, but Mak Lind’s side needs to show they can pull out a win at home in matches like that. Now, they head to Houston for their 2nd away day of the year. Will the Manaka-Sanchez attack get it done in H-Town?
12. Gotham FC (Last Ranking 4)
I’m officially selling my Gotham FC stock until Ann Katrin-Berger isn’t their best chance creator on the day. A rough day at the office against a KC that has been far from its best before the break. Maybe the time away has helped the attack; JCA better hope that is the case. Gotham are not the 12th best team in the league; they should be up the table, but they have personally offended me so far this season.
13. Racing Louisville (Last Ranking 13)
Number 13 in the Power Rankings, Number 1 in the chaos rankings. Louisville deserve more than 1 point in the table, but they’ve been defensively undisciplined through the first 4 matches. At home to Orlando, that’s a tough test, but if they want to repeat – and build – on last year’s playoff journey, they’ll have to start punching above their weight. Unfortunately, they’re still searching for Fullback play.
14. Utah Royals (Last Ranking 14)
There’s a distinct gap between the top 14 teams in the rankings and those below them. The Royals aren’t a playoff team, but would you believe that Cece Delzer is 3rd in goals added across the league through 5 matches? There’s obviously something here, but it might require a different manager to extract it.
15. Chicago Stars (Last Ranking 15)
What happens when a stoppable object faces a movable force? We’ll find out when the Stars host Boston on the Lake this weekend. The Stars were lucky to only concede once to Utah; it’s hard to imagine Naeher having that performance in two straight.
16. Boston Legacy (Last week 16)
The Legacy have only scored once in 4 matches, but there’s no time like the present. Now, for as bad as the Barking Swans have been to start life in the NWSL, they’ve had some tough matchups. Against Chicago, they may have more success dictating play than they have through the first 4 weekends.
Conclusion:
Alright folks. That’s it from me this week. I hope your relationships are in a better place than the NWSL and the NWSLPA.
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