Denver officially in NWSL, MLS team valuations, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Well, we are finally coming to the end of a very long week. I hope all of you are able to take some time to relax and de-stress.
Denver, Colorado Awarded NWSL’S 16th Franchise (NWSL)
Ok, NOW it’s official. You may recall that it was previously reported that Denver beat out Cincinnati and Cleveland for the NWSL’s 16th slot. And it looks like they too have noticed the scarcity of green among the team colors.
We also got some interesting tidbits from the press conference:
To me, this is not a question of “can” they but “should” they. No, they should not.
MLS team values 2025: LAFC leads, five teams top $1 billion (Sportico $)
D.C. United is number 12!
USMNT, PSV star Ricardo Pepi (knee) out 1-3 months – source (ESPN)
This could mean Pepi will miss the remaining matches in the Concacaf Nations League in late March.
SSFC Spotlight: Emeka Eneli has solid January camp (SSFC)
A short biography of the Real Salt Lake midfielder.
Eastern Conference: Biggest roster questions that need answers (MLS)
Matthew Doyle’s biggest concerns about 2025 MLS rosters. The Western Conference article is out now too.
Snapdragon Stadium gets a new field, just in time for San Diego’s soccer seasons (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Anyone who’s seen a Wave home game knows how badly needed this was. The pitch was so notorious, I believe EA Sports FC was depicting it with the SDSU football markings still visible.
In regards to Snapdragon, the field conditions were so bad that MLR Original San Diego Legion moved back to their original home field of Torero Stadium at the University of San Diego.
Wow Annie–a ton of stuff in today’s post.
First, NWSL at 30 teams? Terrible idea for at least the next 6, maybe 10 years. MLS–the world is their oyster. There is credible talent in Costa Rica, Paraguay, South Korea, Morocco, Ukraine and no big leagues/big teams buying it all up. But with women’s soccer, you can count the number of nations on two hands and maybe one foot that invest in their women. And the number that have truly professional leagues? Hardly any. Spain has a monster team, a few others with some talent, and then the rest are semi-pro. Ditto with France. England and the US, maybe Australia and Germany are the only countries with professional leagues that have some degree of parity (not sure about Germany) lots of competition, and women make decent money (not sure about Oz) and a high level of play. Quite simply, NWSL can’t go to 30 teams unless the following happens: all NWSL have well-established academies, and about another 10 nations (like Argentina, Colombia) begin to take women’s soccer seriously and invest in it.
I’m surprised it went to Denver. Cincinnati is a tremendous soccer city in terms of fan support and Rose LaValle would be a natural star for that team.
Bummer about Pepi. It would be nice to have a #9 who stabilizes that position. instead, we’ve got a bunch of guys who are getting hurt, blowing hot and cold. I have to wonder if maybe Weah isn’t the solution instead of playing him as a wing. With him as a #9, it becomes really hard for opposing defenses to play a high line because of his speed.
Finally, DCU’s valuation shows how investment in the side should be much better than it is. This is a big, diverse, international fan base. Good (not great) stadium that is urban. I bet the Spirit average more fans this year than DCU does.
I also have projected that Spirit will outdraw DC United though DCU’s phony attendance figures (I.e. tickets sold) may obscure that.
Mal Swanson is from the Denver suburbs.
Yeah, but her husband plays for the Cubs.
I’m interpreting the 30 teams comment as more a “here’s where the goal post is now, we’ll try to reach it” sort of thing rather than a concrete objective. It’s definitely not something that is close to happening. But I will say I have been seeing more women’s soccer news even in generic sports feeds than just this site and reddit, so it’s definitely having a good moment.
A few other tidbits. Dunn has signed with PSG. The follow-out from the Bats continues. It’s intriguing to me because they added a bunch of USWNT players–who should have some degree of comfort with each other and know what they’re getting in to. And instead–implosion, a result nowhere near what you’d expect from the talent and obviously a lot of unhappiness. I wonder if it was coach-driven?
Also, on this issue of US women signing overseas…I remember when Argentina won their first WC under Passarella (and teams in Europe mostly had rules saying “no more than two foreigners starting per game”), it became in-vogue to buy a player from Argentina (thus, Villa and Ardiles with Spurs). I think every single player on that WC team (which except for Kempes was domestic) was in Europe within a year–I’m sure I’m wrong about a few but the point is, teams said “gotta get me an Argie!” With more money in women’s soccer around the world (at least for some big teams and the league in England) you’re going to see the big teams going after Americans as long as the USWNT wins. Because signing an American woman has more sizzle and PR then signing one from Argentina or Morocco if you’re Man City or PSG.
Six Nations opener and France took Wales to the woodshed 43-0.
Mighty Scotland “destroyed” Italy. Ireland made England cry.
DCU beat Charleston Battery 2-1. We’re undefeated–break up United!
OK.
The piece about Snapdragon Stadium was the most interesting to me.
I can’t stress how enough how badly this is needed for Audi Field. For one thing, the’re trying their 3rd different type of grass. I don’t know whether they’re using the ideal grass for what’s being asked of the pitch at Audi Field — but maybe the poor conditions are just down to overuse. With FIFA World Cup coming, perhaps they’ll be more aggressive about maintaining or replacing sod, but I don’t know who they expect to manage handling DC United, Washington Spirit and DC Defenders games…and maybe the occasional rugby match, too.
I realize it’s not my money, but I just can’t see how the Defenders games are worth the damage to the field. They’re going to manage at Snapdragon without the rugby. The college football won’t be ideal, but at least much of their season will be after MLS regular season. It seems they’ll be far more deliberate about spacing out events than DC United has been at Audi Field. They’re even shipping in grow lights…for a field in San Diego. If DC United haven’t invested in that, maybe they should.