The race for a Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League enlargement group is right down to the ultimate three potential cities and Cincinnati is considered one of them, the league’s commissioner introduced Friday.
After almost a yr of the enlargement race to earn the league’s sixteenth franchise, teams vying for the bid from Cincinnati, Denver and Cleveland comprise what’s left of the race, NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman stated throughout a Friday information convention. Not talked about through the ready remarks on enlargement had been the teams from Nashville and Philadelphia.
Each cities had been a part of the enlargement course of earlier in 2024 however weren’t thought-about favorites to land the franchise. It stays unclear precisely when NWSL will announce whether or not Cincinnati, Denver or Cleveland will be part of the league alongside Boston’s BOS Nation FC for the 2026 NWSL season.
“We’re actually enthusiastic in regards to the remaining three markets we’ve within the course of,” Berman stated. “We’ll have information to share within the coming weeks as we glance to shut on a type of markets.”
NWSL: ‘An honor’ to have Caitlin Clark’s curiosity with Cincinnati
Berman gave her Friday information convention, together with opening remarks within the vein of a state-of-the-league speech, lower than 18 hours after it was revealed that WNBA celebrity Caitlin Clark was a part of
Cincinnati officers confirmed Clark’s involvement Thursday night time round 8 p.m. Not surprisingly, the dialog round Clark continued into Berman’s midday presser. Whereas the NWSL isn’t any stranger to celeb and athlete funding amongst its homeowners, Berman stated the league was honored to have Clark’s curiosity.
“Having her curiosity within the NWSL is an honor,” Berman stated. “We could not be extra enthusiastic about her having shared her personal private story about being a younger soccer participant and loving the sport, and her messaging round being a multi-sport athlete is so vital for younger children who aspire to be similar to her. The longer term is shiny for a way we may doubtlessly work together with her or others who’re influencers and are curious about partaking and rising our league.”
Affirmation of Clark’s involvement within the Cincinnati NWSL bid make clear Cincinnati’s would-be possession group. Beforehand, solely Carl Lindner III, FC Cincinnati’s controlling proprietor and co-chief government officer, had been illuminated as an proprietor within the bid. , Sports activities Enterprise Journal characterised a number of the different individuals as “a cohort of feminine traders from the realm.”
The extent of Clark’s involvement is unclear, however her presence within the group carries plain weight.
Clark was the near-unanimous choose to be the WNBA’s 2024 Rookie of the Yr with the Indiana Fever. That adopted a record-breaking and attention-grabbing profession as an Iowa Hawkeye within the NCAA Division I ranks.
NWSL will develop to 16 groups in 2026
Berman gave the Friday information convention as a part of the occasions main as much as Saturday’s NWSL championship match between Orlando Pleasure and Washington Spirit at CPKC Stadium in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri.
CPKC is the first-ever purpose-built stadium for girls’s soccer on the planet, Berman stated Friday. She additionally famous that Thursday marked the 12-year anniversary of the league’s launch.
NWSL made an extended, celebratory weekend round Saturday’s championship match. An awards ceremony was staged Thursday night time, and Friday’s information convention was attended by a number of of the outstanding journalistic voices within the girls’s soccer realm.
Saturday’s championship sport is scheduled for 8 p.m. and a major-network linear TV broadcast on CBS.
The sport will crown a champion for the 14-team league. NWSL will develop to 16 groups for the 2026 season with Boston and the yet-to-be-named new enlargement metropolis becoming a member of that yr.
The NWSL’s ongoing spherical of enlargement has largely performed out in non-public. For many Cincinnatians, that is a noticeable departure from the general public, and oftentimes dramatic, enlargement push to get FC Cincinnati into MLS.
