The NWSL playoffs kick off this weekend, but believe it or not, the second weekend, the semifinals, is already staring down some major stadium issues. ESPN’s Jeff Kassouf dropped the bomb that the top three seeds,No. 1 Gotham FC, No. 2 San Diego Wave, and No. 3 Washington Spirit,are all grappling with potential stadium conflicts that could totally mess with those crucial semifinal matchups next weekend.
The Saturday Stadium Showdown
After a wild regular season that saw the playoff race go down to the absolute final day, eight NWSL teams are duking it out in the quarterfinals this weekend. That’ll get trimmed down to two semifinals next weekend, slated for Saturday, November 14 and Sunday, November 15. The exact timing is still TBD, but that Saturday slot is probably going to be noon ET, with Sunday likely at 3 p.m. ET. Here’s where it gets messy: all three of those top seeds are hitting major stadium conflicts on Saturday, November 14. Remember, the top two seeds who advance will host that round.
Gotham FC, who play in Sports Illustrated Stadium, shares their digs with MLS’s New York Red Bulls. And guess what? The Red Bulls have a friendly against Club América scheduled for 7:30 p.m. that very evening. That friendly got announced on October 5, even though the NWSL’s playoff windows have been locked in since the start of the season. Seriously? Over in San Diego, the Wave’s Snapdragon Stadium is booked solid with a San Diego State Football game at 6:30 p.m. local time. And for the Washington Spirit at Audi Field, they’re hosting Division III college football, the “Secretaries Cup,” between the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and the Merchant Marine Academy, at 1 p.m. ET. The NWSL is trying to make the best of a bad situation, but changing the time slots is a no-go. The league is absolutely trying to protect its national broadcast windows, even with all these crazy fall weekend schedules.
Packing Up For Plan B
So, what’s the league reportedly thinking? Smaller venues. Per Kassouf, if Gotham and San Diego both win their quarterfinals, Gotham could host their Saturday semifinal at the 5,000-seat Icahn Stadium on Randalls’ Island in New York. Hey, remember that place? Gotham actually played one regular-season game there this season, a 3-2 win over our very own Seattle Reign back in July. The Wave, meanwhile, would still host at Snapdragon on Sunday.
But that’s not the only option. There are reportedly a bunch of other possibilities depending on how this weekend’s quarterfinals shake out. For instance, if either Gotham or San Diego lose, the Spirit could end up holding a Saturday semifinal at the Washington Commanders’ Northwest Field. This whole stadium drama feels way too familiar, honestly. It’s giving us flashbacks to the WNBA finals last month, when the Atlanta Dream couldn’t find a venue for Game 6 because their NBA counterparts, the Atlanta Hawks, had it booked. The solution there was to play the game at 12:30 p.m. ET on a Thursday afternoon in the bigger State Farm Arena, instead of moving to a smaller place. It’s pretty clear NWSL teams, much like WNBA teams, are often playing second or third fiddle in their own venues.
This weekend’s quarterfinals just got even more intense. Not only are teams fighting to advance, but now we know that home-field advantage in the semifinals might not even mean “home field” in the stadium we expect. We need to watch these games, and then next week we’ll see where these crucial semifinals actually land. Get ready, this playoff run is going to be wild, even off the pitch!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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