Players and staff members of the NWSL Boston Breakers were notified on Thursday that the team has "ceased operations" ahead of the '18 season, according to sources cited by Kyle McCarthy of the BOSTON HERALD. The Breakers’ exit "arrives just days after the club selected four players in the NWSL College Draft in Philadelphia." Those picks and other Breakers players are "expected to go through some form of dispersal draft for the remaining nine NWSL teams." The Breakers in five seasons "struggled to carve out a foothold in a crowded sports market, locate a regular home stadium and produce results on the field." The continued growth of the NWSL "reinforced the difficulties for a team operating without the partnership with a MLS team or the financial backing to survive with an average attendance hovering around 3,000" (BOSTON HERALD, 1/26). The league thought it had an ownership group "lined up to take over control" of the Breakers, but that ownership group "backed out last week." This is the "first time a team has folded" in the NWSL, though two teams have "moved cities the last two years" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 1/26). The Kraft family, which owns the Revolution, was approached but was "not interested in taking over the Breakers" (TWITTER.com, 1/25).
