NWSL Schedule Release Day is finally here! And believe it or not, it’s a whole week earlier than last year. We at The District Press got a preview of Washington Spirit’s regular season home schedule and have all the details to share with you. Let’s take a look at the schedule, and then we can get to the highlights.

In addition to these home games, Washington will play in Denver Summit’s inaugural home game at Empower Field at Mile High on Sat., Mar. 28.

The Spirit both start and end their season at home at Audi Field, beginning with a match against Portland Thorns on Opening Day (Fri., Mar. 13) and ending with Chicago Stars FC on Decision Day (Sun., Nov. 1). With two new expansion teams in the league, the Spirit will play 15 total home games, plus 15 away, in between those dates with a break in June for the Men’s World Cup.

UPDATE: DC Power FC are also scheduled to play a home game at Audi Field on the evening of March 13. We have reached out to the Spirit for information on the apparent conflict.

One downside to having more matches? Weeknight games are officially back. In the first six weeks of the season, Washington play two Wednesday night and two Friday night home games. Happily, they largely shift to the weekend after that, though many are late enough on Sunday evening to trouble those of us who have to be in the office on Monday mornings. The overall breakdown: two Wednesdays, three Fridays, four Saturdays, and six Sundays.

Perhaps as encouragement for fans to get to Audi Field, home matches are split between seven different broadcast/streaming partners, including the new Victory+. Like ion, it’s a free streaming service available on smart TVs, so it shouldn’t cause additional strain to fans wallets, though it might to their ability to easily find games. Just one of the home matches will be on national broadcast television: October 17th’s Championship rematch against NJ/NY Gotham FC on CBS.

For the full Washington Spirit schedule, check out their website.

Lead image courtesy of the Washington Spirit