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The NWSL sprinted into the Olympic break and I sprinted into my Olympic coverage.
Emily Olsen here in New York, joining Steph Yang to update you on the U.S. Women’s National Team’s Olympic status. Meg Linehan is slowly packing for France. Welcome to Full Time!
Want to know more? Check out our “Full Time” podcast, where we bring you analysis of the NWSL season so far. We’re broadcasting live from New York right now…
Olympic Media Day: A look at Emma Hayes and the U.S. Women’s National Team
After dancing to “HOT TO GO!” on the Chapel Lawn at a wedding Sunday night, I sat front row at the U.S. Olympic soccer team’s press conference yesterday. I was dragging my bags and heading to the fifth floor of the Nike Experience store on Fifth Avenue when a family from out of town got on the elevator.
“You can’t go to the fifth floor. They’re filming a podcast. I don’t know who’s there,” his father said.
“What if it was someone famous like LeBron James?” the teen asked excitedly.
While it wasn’t King James, I’d argue that one of the main players, U.S. Women’s National Team Head Coach Emma Hayes, could fire up a room at least as well as a future Basketball Hall of Famer.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that she spent 12 years building one of the most successful club teams in Europe, but she was a visibly calm presence when answering questions about player selection and expectations for the U.S. Women’s National Team.
As U.S. men’s Olympic coach Marko Mitrovic delivered his customary opening remarks, Hayes took the microphone, smiled and simply said, “Hey, everybody. How’s it going?” She spoke with the air of a second-grade teacher, expecting a response. Later that day, U.S. women’s national team captain Lindsey Horan pointed out that her presence was a way to take some of the weight off her players’ shoulders.
“You have a coach who can take the pressure off the players,” Horan told me, “and that’s really a testament to her experience.”
More: Should U.S. Olympic roster spots favor veterans like Alex Morgan and Diana Taurasi?
Hayes again showed composure when asked by a reporter about the possibility of substitutes being used to temporarily replace registered players during the Olympics, which the IOC has yet to confirm. It was a tough question that no one cared to answer. Hayes exchanged a meaningful look with Mitrovic before taking the microphone. “It’s your birthday, so I’ll take it for the team,” Hayes said. What followed was a diplomatic but helpful statement clarifying that players who were replaced by substitutes could return to the core group of 18 players.
(As an aside, Hayes later revealed during a taping of the Men in Blazers live podcast that she had previously coached former One Direction singer Liam Payne. “I’m glad he’s not a footballer,” she said. I quickly made a mental note to ask her more about this later for work.)
Brad Smith/Getty Images for USSF
Featured Battles: Achieving and Breaking Unbeaten Records
Fasten your seatbelts: The NWSL hasn’t taken the league lightly, and with regular season play suspended until the end of August due to the Olympics, it felt like the news gods were hitting some kind of quota.
Let’s start with the positive action on the field. With two unbeaten teams, the Orlando Pride and the KC Current, battling it out for a historic unbeaten record with two different goal scorers competing for the Golden Boot, this game had it all.
Orlando hit back with a goal from Barbra Banda to put them ahead, then Themwa Chawinga equalised two minutes later. Both forwards tied the game with an astounding 12 goals each. Pride defender Carrie Lawrence was sent off just before half-time for a second yellow card, putting Orlando’s unbeaten record in jeopardy, especially when captain Marta went down shortly after. She stayed in the game and it was crucial for Orlando… the Brazilian legend scored the winning penalty. It was a beautiful send-off for her as she heads off to her final Olympic Games later this month. She was having a blast.
The Pride tied the Seattle Raines’ unbeaten record of 16 games in a season, while the loss was the Current’s first since Sept. 30, 2023, a team that failed to reach the postseason last year.
Consolation prize: The league announced that the NWSL Championship will be held in November at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, which has sold out every week it’s hosted a home game. Meg attended the opening game earlier this year and wrote that it was a historic level-up for the NWSL. Will the Current play in front of a home crowd? Stay tuned.
Big Sale: Amazing Sale in Angel City
Apparently the happiest place on earth is BMO Stadium, where Angel City plays its home games, as American television journalist Willow Bay and her husband, Disney CEO Bob Iger, are on the verge of buying a controlling stake in the expansion club.
The club is currently valued at an estimated $250 million, and Iger and Bay would invest more than $50 million to take control of ACFC. Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder and husband of Serena Williams, is the team’s largest shareholder but does not control the board. He said last week he has no plans to sell his stake in the team.
📈 A brief history of recent NWSL ratings:
The Wave were sold in March for a valuation of $120 million, a record-breaking price for an NWSL club. That valuation was nearly double the previous NWSL record, set earlier this year by the Vassal family’s purchase of the Portland Thorns for $63 million. Last month, it was officially announced that the Reign would be sold to Seattle Sounders FC ownership group and investment firm Carlyle for $58 million.
ACFC’s valuation of roughly $300 million would make any businessman’s head spin, but it probably shouldn’t be all that surprising for a team that dreams of becoming a billion-dollar club in a few years’ time. A billion dollars on a billion dollars!
For the players, does this mean the City of Angels will finally have its own training facility?
Meg’s Corner: Umm, what’s next?
So what’s going to happen now that the NWSL is on hiatus? Don’t worry, you’ll be able to watch your favorite teams go head-to-head in a 33-match tournament between the NWSL and Liga MX Femenil from July 19 to August 6. The finals of the inaugural tournament will take place in October.
But to help get us through the NWSL break, I asked Meg a few questions.
Overall, which teams will benefit most from this hiatus and which teams wished the hiatus had never happened (without giving too much away from last week’s podcast episode, of course)?
Meg: Orlando is probably the only team not too keen on the break as they want to win and stay on a roll. All the lower-ranked teams are looking to get a chance to reset and try new things with the Summer Cup, a gift they should all be happy about. Washington Spirit got their first win under coach Jonah Giraldes this weekend, but now they have a month to fully integrate. One team I’m keeping an eye on coming back from the break is Gotham FC. They’ll have a lot of players at the Olympics and they’ll have to balance the Summer Cup with Club World Cup qualifiers and the race to the postseason.
(Can we also take a moment to look at Gotham forward Ella Stevens and her calm expression after this weekend’s assist?)
No doubt about it🥶
Ella Stevens knew it was coming pic.twitter.com/qpPl5oSjhH
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) July 7, 2024
Last week, huge valuations linked to Angel City were announced, the latest example of price inflation linked to the club. What do these figures mean?
Meg: I think a lot of people will be easily swayed by these numbers, but it’s hard to take valuations seriously without meaningful investment in the clubs. These are certainly signs of growth, but they can’t be viewed in a vacuum or as an accurate reflection of the day-to-day reality of the NWSL. When I spoke to Christen Press last week, she was hopeful that these deals would also help the players, especially on the salary side. It’s worth remembering that even in 2024 the minimum salary is only $37,856. This number should stand out as much as the $300 million headline.
Serious Situation: Suspicion Against San Diego
The San Diego Wave lost 1-0 to the Portland Thorns on Friday. While the team is in 10th place and still has a shot at a postseason berth, things have been looking up for the Wave following the firing of head coach Casey Stoney, the removal of Alex Morgan from the Olympic team and allegations of workplace abuse against president Jill Ellis by a former employee.
Former Wave video and creative manager Brittany Alvarado said in a post on X last week that the club is “perpetuating discrimination against women and showing a complete disregard for (employee’s) long-term mental health.” She argued that of the more than 30 employees who have been fired or quit since the team began operating, about 75 percent are women, and that the negative treatment of employees is part of an unhealthy work environment fostered by Ellis.
The post calls for the league to remove Ellis from his role with the Wave. San Diego and Ellis have denied the allegations, with the club’s president saying the “false accusations … are not only personally damaging but undermine the great work and progress we have made together as a team.”
We will update you here as the situation develops.
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(Top photo: Brad Smith/Getty Images for USSF)
