The NWSL has lasted longer than previous attempts at professional women's soccer leaguesGETTY IMAGES
The NWSL is in its sixth season, and if a financial commitment from U.S. and Canadian soccer "remains and MLS franchises are willing to continue to explore opportunities in women’s soccer," the league may "have the time to become a lasting professional league for women like the WNBA," according to John Smallwood of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. The NWSL has "lasted longer than the previous two attempts" at professional women's soccer leagues in North America. MLS expansion franchise LAFC is "all but committed to adding an NWSL franchise" in '19, "bringing the league to 10 teams." Some franchises are "operated by their counterparts" in MLS. Mexico's soccer federation "pulled out of its commitment to pay NWSL salaries of select national team members," but the U.S. and Canada still do (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 4/16).
JUST GETTING STARTED: In Salt Lake City, Maddie Lee wrote the NWSL in its first years of existence has "steadily introduced higher standards in the hope that they will improve player's lives and playing experience." But that gradual process has "come under fire" by players and the media for "not accelerating quickly enough." Expansion club Utah Royals Managing Dir Stephanie Lee said, "Previous leagues have failed because they tried to run before they were walking, and I think that this league has done a really good job of building on those things." Royals coach Laura Harvey said, "For the first five years of this league, after what had happened with the WPS, it was always about, 'Can we make sure this NWSL league survives?'" Harvey: "Now, as a collective, we all want the same thing, which is now to push it onto another level and make it thrive across the country and internationally as well. And I think everybody who's in the league wants that. We've just got to make sure we get on the same page of how we can get there." Club budgets "vary widely, due to differences in ownership and revenue." Despite two clubs folding in the offseason, Portland Thorns Owner Merritt Paulson said that he "looks at the state of the league 'with more optimism than I ever have,' thanks to the addition" of the Royals. Paulson: "The league's getting stronger, and it's on much more solid ground" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 4/13).
