Report: NWSL board of governors set to vote on calendar change this month
2mon 1d ago by feddit.online/u/CombatWombat in nwsl from www.allforxi.com
Could the NWSL be flipping their schedule? A vote is expected to take place with the board of governors according to ESPN’s Jeff Kassouf.
It feels like a foregone conclusion that we'll switch to a winter calendar, and it makes me so mad. Who wants to go stand in the cold in February instead in the glorious sunshine of July?
According to ESPN’s Jeff Kassouf, the NWSL’s board of governors are set to vote on flipping the league’s current calendar to a fall-to-spring schedule matching the top leagues in the world and the FIFA windows. The vote is set to take place later this month.
My preference for winter and hatred of the sun aside, I think this makes a lot of sense. For one thing, it allows them to be a lot more competitive with leagues like the WSL and the Premiere Ligue which are also winter leagues because to sign and trade and loan players across the pond doesn't require a switch in schedule for them.
International play is also organized around winter leagues with the main pushes for events like the World Cup and the Olympics occurring in the summer. I think it's better as a league to not take 3-4+ weeks off for those events every few years or to do like MLS does and ignore international breaks and play with subpar teams during that time. I also think it's a better deal for the national team players because it spreads the soccer out across the year better and for the non-national players there's a more cohesive period of time where they're playing and where they're not playing.
And then to bring it back to weather and climate, I know some fans may not enjoy the cold as much, but if I were a professional athlete, I'd prefer playing 90 minutes of elite sports in Houston during February instead of July
Europe should switch to the superior summer calendar to facilitate easier transfers, and cooling breaks are better than orange ball.