NWSL Shield winners Gotham FC could be forced to play a potential semifinal next week at the 5,000-seat Icahn Stadium in New York due to league-wide venue availability issues for the playoffs, according to league documents obtained by ESPN.
The NWSL has national TV windows for its semifinal games on Saturday, Nov. 14, and Sunday, Nov. 15.
Those sought-after TV windows are extremely unlikely to change.
None of the top three seeds in the playoffs, who would potentially host semifinals, have their regular home stadiums available for a Saturday semifinal.
Gotham is the No. 1 seed and the San Diego Wave are the No. 2 seed.
If both those teams advance to the semifinals, Gotham would host a semifinal on Saturday at Icahn Stadium due to its normal venue, Sports Illustrated Stadium, being unavailable due to the New York Red Bulls hosting Mexico's Club América in a friendly.
The Wave's home venue is also unavailable on Saturday, Nov. 14, due to a San Diego State football game.
The national TV window for that game is 12 p.m. ET, which would be a 9 a.m. PT local kickoff time for a West Coast game.
The NWSL's potential venue crisis comes only a few weeks after the WNBA endured its own problems trying to schedule games in arenas that were already booked for NBA regular season games.
The WNBA Finals schedule underwent significant changes, and Game 6 was eventually played at 12:30 p.m. ET in Atlanta on a Thursday, frustrating players and fans. (The game still sold out.)
The NWSL has been aware of potential conflicts and "working closely with clubs, broadcast partners and key stakeholders to navigate complex stadium availability and scheduling challenges ahead of the semifinals," a league spokesperson told ESPN in a statement.
"While some circumstances are outside our control, we've proactively evaluated multiple scenarios and their tradeoffs to prepare for every potential matchup, with the goal of minimizing disruption to players, clubs and fans while protecting competitive integrity. These challenges also reinforce why stadium infrastructure and meaningful control or influence over venue availability have been central to our growth strategy for years."
NWSL Players Association executive director Meghann Burke told ESPN that the union has been looped into those conversations for months.
Burke credited league leadership for attempting to find the best of terrible solutions: "I wouldn't choose any of them... nor would the league," she said.
"The matrix of choices is beyond their control because there's a lack of political will and investment in women's sports.
"Until you control your own venue, we're gonna keep having these problems over and over again," Burke told ESPN.
"We need to start looking at policymakers who have no problem opening up the wallets of taxpayers for billionaires who own NFL and MLB teams, and refuse to do so for the women who have established that when you invest in them, we do a hell of a lot more than just make money."
Most NWSL teams being second- or third-choice tenants at their stadiums and face frequent scheduling issues.
The Kansas City Current are the only team in the playoffs that owns its venue.
The Current opened CPKC Stadium in March 2024.
Even if one of Gotham or San Diego loses, the league still has potential problems.
No. 3 seed Washington Spirit also cannot host a semifinal at Audi Field on Nov. 14 due to a Division III football game that is being played in the venue that day.
If Gotham wins, San Diego loses to No. 7 seed Utah Royals on Friday, and the Spirit defeat No. 6 seed Portland Thorns on Sunday, the Spirit would host the Royals at Northwest Field in Landover, Md., the home of the Washington Commanders.
Gotham would host a semifinal the next day at the 25,000-seat Sports Illustrated Stadium, its usual home venue. (Washington could still host on Sunday, Nov. 15, at Audi Field, in a scenario where Kansas City also hosts.)
Gotham is the NWSL Shield winner and reigning NWSL Championship winner.
The league uses a four-point principles system to prioritize potential solutions, according to the document obtained by ESPN.
Preserving home-market advantage is the first priority for all teams since they earned the higher seed in the playoffs.
That means keeping the game in market even if at an alternative venue like Icahn Stadium, where Gotham played in July due to scheduling conflicts around the 2026 Men's World Cup.
Optimizing match times is the second consideration -- "no earlier than 11 am local," the league document said.
The Kansas City Current's quarterfinal match on Saturday will kick off at 11 a.m. CT to fit into the national TV window.
Protecting higher seeds is the third principle, meaning that "the burden of compromise falls on the lower seed" if conflicts are unavoidable.
Fixture reversal -- the lower seed becoming the home team for the playoff match -- is a "last resort" and "least desirable option," per the league's internal document, but it is a consideration if all other scenarios have been exhausted.
Those scenarios first include exploring a neutral location.
"We're being forced to answer questions that men never have to answer," Burke told ESPN.
"We're depriving women of that same benefit [of public funding], and it's what's holding us back. If I had to pick one thing that I would change to unlock the potential of women's professional sports, this would be it."
There are multiple scenarios in which the NWSL's Saturday semifinal could be played on the West Coast at 9 a.m. PT, according to league documents, although they are considered to be low probability based on multiple upsets.
Either the Portland Thorns or Angel City FC (Los Angeles) could host a game at 9 a.m. PT in situations where two West Coast teams host.
The NWSL narrowly avoided having a 9 a.m. PT kickoff in Los Angeles for a quarterfinal this weekend.
If Angel City had moved into the No. 4 seed on the final day of the season, that likely would have happened.
The 2021 NWSL Championship was originally scheduled for a 9 a.m. PT kickoff in Portland, Oregon, before significant pushback from the NWSLPA.
The game was moved to Louisville, Ky., to maintain the national TV window and have a 12 p.m. ET local time kickoff.
Kansas City is the No. 4 seed in the playoffs.
If the Current win on Saturday and Gotham loses on Sunday, the Current would host a Saturday semifinal, which would solve all issues.
According to the NWSL document obtained by ESPN, only the three scenarios (of nine possible) that involve Kansas City hosting meet all four principles for the league.
Others require significant compromises.
The most likely scenario -- 42% odds according to league calculations -- is Gotham hosting at Icahn on Nov. 14 and San Diego hosting at Snapdragon Stadium on Nov. 15 at 3 p.m. ET (12 p.m. PT).
Even though Gotham is the higher seed, that avoids a 9 a.m. local kickoff in San Diego.
The NWSL Championship will be played at Audi Field on Nov. 21.
The league's annual championship is played annually at a predetermined site that is secured months in advance.
