The National Women's Soccer League postseason is in full swing and the NWSL semifinals will kick off on Sunday. Second-place Portland Thorns FC will host third-place San Diego Wave FC at Providence Park at 5 p.m. ET, and first-place OL Reign will host fifth-place Kansas City Current at Lumen Field at 7:30 p.m. ET. Fans can watch all the semifinal action on CBS Sports Network.
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The final four will battle it out for a spot in the NWSL Championship on Oct. 29. For the first time in NWSL history, three of the four semifinalists are from the west coast. Two of the teams are actually recent expansion sides. Franchises like OL Reign and Portland Thorns are long-established clubs in the league, while San Diego has found early success on the pitch in their inaugural season. Angel City FC also had success in their inaugural season and fell just short of the 2022 NWSL postseason. The Kansas City Current joined the league in 2021.
The current playoff picture highlights a potential shift in not only the competitive landscape of the league, but signs also point to the next era of prominence structured in a western ascendency.
Money directly relates to success
Long-time franchises have taken steps to compete in a "new look" NWSL moving forward. In 2019 Reign FC announced a permanent restructure to their ownership when the founding franchise announced OL Group as the primary head of the organization. With an 89.5% stake in the new operating entity OL Reign, the change in investment led to new playing facilities and player crossover between the Reign franchise and Olympique Lyon.
Portland Thorns are another founding franchise with a long history of on-field success winning multiple titles and large fan support. The team is entering its eighth semifinal appearance, though their last two seasons have brought negative attention to the franchise in light of the recent reporting detailing sexual misconduct at the organization. U.S. Soccer recently released the Sally Q. Yates report into allegations of past abusive behavior and sexual misconduct in women's professional soccer which highlighted further systemic issues in the Portland organizations.
As the league welcomes free agency for the first time, the concept of a "winning culture" is proving not to be the only factor for players in a league that just welcomed the first-ever collective bargaining agreement, but a combination of competitive environment and regional preference. The added introduction of two California franchises introduced a potential pathway for many California natives to "return home" and also revealed just how alluring the pull of living on the west coast for some players can be -- as many established franchises engaged in trade transactions for players head of the 2022 expansion draft with San Diego Wave and Angel City.
Kansas City Current is the only team in the semifinals to represent the midwest region in the postseason and did so by turning a last-place finish in their inaugural season into a semifinal appearance in 2022. The Kansas City ownership group, led by Angie Long, Chris Long, and Brittany Mahomes, unveiled an $18 million training facility midseason -- the first of its kind in the league -- and is paving the way for another historic landmark. The Current are in the process of building the first-ever NWSL-specific stadium -- a multimillion project at Berkley Riverfront Park set to open in 2024.
Always room for improvement
Despite the new influx of investment across the league, there is still the challenge of women's pro teams carving out their space in each respective market. Gone are the days when the bare minimum is viewed as standard. The newly ratified CBA between the NWSL Players Association and the league also listed appropriate training and field playing conditions for players in the future.
Both San Diego and Los Angeles had to find temporary stadiums for matchdays ahead of the 2022 season in the restricted and exclusive California real estate landscape. Banc of California, home to MLS side Los Angeles FC, is now the home of Angel City. After playing games at the 6,000-seat Torero Stadium at the University of San Diego, Wave FC now play their matches at Snapdragon Stadium -- the home to college football at San Diego State University.
OL Reign played on a baseball field in Tacoma, Wash. before making a permanent move into NFL and MLS stadium Lumen Field ahead of the 2022 season. The franchise announced at the end of the 2022 season that the team will move its training from high school facilities to Starfire Sports in a multi-year deal. Starfire Sports is a soccer campus, located 12 miles from Lumen Field.
Will western dominance be permanent?
The answer is likely yes and that's not a bad thing for the NWSL -- a young professional sports league celebrating its 10th anniversary. If the first era of the league saw dominance primarily between two franchises as Portland and North Carolina Courage traded NWSL Championships and NWSL Shields for five years, well the next era could see a western dominance that may expand in the years to come.
Despite narrowly missing out on the NWSL postseason, Angel City remained in playoff contention until the final game of the regular season. The franchise has left its mark on the NWSL landscape with an ownership group and player-community-first program that has reshaped what investment will look like in the league.
San Diego Wave FC are semifinal bound and have several candidates up for individual end-of-year awards, including 2022 NWSL Golden Boot winner Alex Morgan. The team has a chance to make more history as the first NWSL California expansion side to book a place in the NWSL Championship final if they defeat Portland on Sunday.
The equation of investment, resources, comfortable accommodations, and competitive ability will continue to make western teams the premier destination for players in the near future.
The next possible expansion for the league has marked 2024 as the goal for up to two teams. The former Utah Royals and NWSL to Bay Area groups have been rumored as strong candidates for the league's growth in the near future. A possible third California team and Salt Lake City area team would further cement regional sovereignty in the league moving forward.
