Dante’y Buitureida was on hand to capture some wonderful photos from Portland’s preseason invitational.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”82″ gal_title=”Portland Event: POR vs CHI”]As someone who has not been shy about their feelings on fans picking a team and sticking with them, why would I become a member of 9 different supporters groups?
The idea of a supporters group is, for those who don’t know, a bit like the fan clubs of old. They are a way for fans to connect together to talk about that thing they love that others in their lives might not understand. And having people to tail gate with is always a bonus too, right?
We should take a look at the supporters groups in the NWSL. This is not meant to be a full list but it is the one that I am going off of based on who clubs recognize.
The Chicago Red Stars have Chicago Local 134.
The Houston Dash have Bayou City Republic.
The North Carolina Courage have the Junkyard Dogs.
The Orlando Pride have the Black Swans Drinking Club.
The Portland Thorns FC have the Rose City Riveters.
The Reign FC have the Royal Guard.
Sky Blue FC have Cloud 9.
The Utah Royals FC have The Court.
The Washington Spirit have the Spirit Squadron.
Currently the Court, the Royal Guard and the Spirit Squadron do not have memberships open for 2019 but I have been told both will be open soon. Everyone else is accepting memberships.
Soccer culture in America, men’s or women’s, pro to amateur has a very different history than it does in other parts of the world. And that is understandable. NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL teams and fans color the modern sporting landscape in the US in a way they just don’t in other countries where soccer, rugby or cricket are king.
As with a lot of things in American soccer, modern supporters group culture only goes back so far. And often it has been grown in a broken stream as leagues and teams come and go. That effect is felt all the more in women’s soccer.
But supporters groups are something found far and wide and for good reason. In supporters groups you can find people ranging from the die-hards who could name the roster in numerical order, alphabetical if you rather have it broken down that way and tell you their college stats if you were interested all the way down to the new fan who just doesn’t want to go to games alone.
They stand and drum and make tifos that range from jokes about Chicago pizza being a casserole (Thank you Cloud 9 for that gem) to the Rose City Riveters creating one that says “We Are Family” over different LGBT related flags.
But the question stands as to why I would join all of these supporters groups when both my ability to get to games is limited because of where I live, and I wouldn’t get the full effect of the supporters group as I don’t sit in the stands during matches?
Because I want the NWSL to thrive. I want this league to celebrate 10 years and then 20 and one day 100 years of being in existence. To get there investments have to be made, teams need to grow and yes some might step off the pitch at the end of a season and never walk on again. But most of all fans have to show up, be involved and hold the clubs accountable. Supporters groups are a great way to facilitate that.
Often times supporters groups are in the best position to offer constructive criticism to their clubs. As the issues swirl around Sky Blue FC, their own supporters group, Cloud 9, has been a strong voice of accountability for the club.
Offering my money to these groups is a small gesture to help them survive and grow. But it is something I can do to help today. I hope the tweets I put out and this piece nudge those not in supporters groups to join. Or at least think about the reasons why you might or might not want to.
I asked on Twitter for those who are in supporters groups to tell me why they joined. I think the only fitting way to wrap this up is to share some of their stories.
Raquel Rodriguez is under contract with Sky Blue FC, but has yet to make an official public appearance with the team. According to sources, this is not a coincidence, but an intentional break between player and team.
Rodriguez was re-signed in the offseason, with Sky Blue exercising their option to renew her contract. And in their preseason roster announcements, she has been listed as rostered. Moreover, unlike some players who have been listed as NYR (not yet reported), Rodriguez’s name has been unfootnoted. By all official accounts, she is part of the team.
And yet, there is no official documentary proof of this fact. No photographs, no comments on the record, nothing. What’s more, not only has Rodriguez did not make an appearance in Sky Blue’s first preseason match this weekend, she was not even present for the game. This is despite suggestions from her social media that she spent the day exercising elsewhere in town.
And this is the persistent conundrum. According to her social media accounts, Rodriguez spent a significant portion of the offseason training in New Jersey with her teammates. So why has she been MIA from official events?
The answer may come back to the extensively discussed problems between players, the front office, and the coaching staff. The background problems with the organization are well known, and seem to have played a significant role in a number of offseason departures. And Backline’s RJ Allen reported in January that problems extended to the head coach, who may have alienated some key players.
According to my reporting, Rodriguez is unhappy in New Jersey. One source familiar with the situation told me that she wants to avoid causing problems for her teammates, but also has no intention of spending another season at Sky Blue. This source suggested that the media blackout is an attempt to keep the issue under the radar while alternatives are explored. The first choice seems to be a trade within the league. But with time running out, Rodriguez may look abroad for other options. However, another source cautioned that the situation is still up in the air, and told me that arrangements to keep Rodriguez at Sky Blue might still be made.
I reached out to Sky Blue for comment on this story, but did not receive a response.
Given the persistent speculation that the future may not be long for Sky Blue as an organization, it shouldn’t be particularly surprising that many players are looking into other options. The increasing coverage of the team’s player support infrastructure also makes clear why a longtime member of the squad might be frustrated.
But for now, with everyone playing close to the vest, we may just have to wait for concrete news to emerge.
Update: We have been told Rodriguez was at the game but was not on the bench for the match. As of now this claim is unconfirmed but we felt it was worth mentioning.
Charles Olney (@olneyce): Welcome to our Backline Soccer slack chat for the week. It’s been a long cold winter, but the NWSL is finally on its way back, and we are excited to get back into the swing of things.
We’re going to start things off with the preseason. We’ve had some roster trimming already, but most teams still have a lot to do before they’re down to fighting weight. What have you seen so far that looks interesting? Any teams that look poised for big things?
RJ Allen (@TheSoccerCritic): Houston’s new head coach James Clarkson releasing players he knew he wouldn’t want early to give them a chance to go to another team instead of keeping them for practice is something that stood out to me. It’s a small thing but it shows a shift.
Luis Hernandez (@radioactivclown): I’m surprised by the recent addition of Caitlin Farrell in Orlando. I didn’t expect her here, and a talent like her should make the competition for starting striker when the national team players are in France something to watch.
Charles Olney: Yeah, the Houston thing seemed like a nice move. Let people know where they actually stand; don’t just keep them around for the sake of keeping them around. As you say, it’s a small thing but it’s at least a signal that Clarkson might be on the right track.
Luis Hernandez: I was a little bummed to see Nickolette Driesse gone in NC. I had hoped she would find a way to stick with an NWSL team. Hopefully, she finds a team overseas.
Charles Olney: In theory, I like what they’re trying to do up at Washington. They still don’t really have any defenders, but at least from these opening games, it seems like there might be some more coherence to how they set up.
From reports, Sullivan has been working as a deep-lying playmaker with Huster doing the tackling in front of her. That has a lot of potential, and might be important for getting Sullivan back on track.
Allison Cary (@findingallison): I like the sound of that.
RJ Allen: It’s really hard with so little of the information to see in person. Some times preseason games are live tweeted but until we see some real soccer being played it’s hard for me to judge much of it.
Charles Olney: Luis, for Orlando, what are your thoughts about their midfield (or lack thereof)? On the most recent roster, they have a total of three (3) midfielders who aren’t college draftees or non-roster invitees. I know they’ve gotten by without much of a midfield for a couple years now, but…are they really going to keep this up?
Luis Hernandez: I think the Pride are deeper at midfield than how it’s listed on the roster. Camila is listed as a forward for example. I also really liked what I saw when Abby Elinsky was on the pitch for the team. I think there are two things to consider, 1) Dani Weatherholt is the veteran on the team who needs to step up, 2) Coach Marc Skinner’s message that he’s focused on developing the players he has to work with.
Charles Olney: It will certainly be interesting to see how they set up. Skinner has a good track record, and I’ll be curious to see what he does with the team.
Luis Hernandez: He mentions his time in Birmingham City where he had a starting goalkeeper who was 17 and he believes will eventually get time with the Lionesses in the future.
Charles Olney: I was a big Sermanni fan, and thought he managed to make an unbalanced roster work pretty well in 2017, but it didn’t seem like he had any great answers last year. And Elinsky is a nice point for Orlando. I wrote a piece about replacement level players, and Elinsky is a great example of someone who probably isn’t (at the moment) good enough to start regularly, but who can still add a lot of value by plugging gaps. And if you’ve got someone willing to work, there’s always potential to grow.
Luis Hernandez: The Pride will definitely have a new playing style which I’m curious how well it will work out.
Kat Farris (@farrisphotos): Labbe is back in NWSL with North Carolina.
Allison Cary: Yeah, happy to see Labbe back. And curious to see what role she plays in North Carolina.
Charles Olney: Any other thoughts about rosters? There hasn’t been much movement this offseason, but Washington has picked up some Australians. Dagny is back in Portland. Houston signed Sophie Schmidt recently. Anything that jumps to mind as potentially significant?
RJ Allen: I am very interested to see if Sky Blue has a defense this year with the move they made with Washington.
Luis Hernandez: The only announced preseason match with the Courage will be more measuring stick than anything else.
Charles Olney: Yeah, Sky Blue has to be one of the biggest question marks.
RJ Allen: I do not believe 538 is near the mark on how many points Sky Blue will have but I think they end up with more than in 2018.
Charles Olney: Looking at the roster, they’re actually not that bad in theory. But how will the group play together? How much are players willing to invest? Can they find a way to band together to solve problems when they pop up?
Allison Cary: Looking at the roster, they didn’t look that bad last year.
Charles Olney: Exactly.
RJ Allen: Allison is correct.
Charles Olney: I could easily see them hanging right there with the pack all season. They won’t lose almost anyone to the World Cup. And if the team spirit is high, they could scrounge plenty of points here and there. But if things start out bad, it’s easy to see everyone just hanging their heads and waiting for the axe to fall.
Allison Cary: Especially if things don’t change with the off-the-field situation. Or at least, don’t change enough.
Kat Farris: I had to reread that. I was having flashbacks of 2018 Pride
Luis Hernandez: I think the early part of the schedule favors Sky Blue and they could get a favorable result. I’m not going to bet the farm on a win just yet.
RJ Allen: I am a little surprise we’re not seeing more movement. Trades aren’t the most common thing in the NWSL but they happen more than they have this off season.
Allison Cary: Yeah, it’s been really quiet.
Charles Olney: Do you think it has something to do with it being a World Cup year? Maybe everyone is more focused on bolstering their ranks and not as worried about topline moves?
Luis Hernandez: Okay, RJ has a point, but I would say that traditional sellers like Orlando have started to switch things up and are holding assets more. Maybe GMs in the league are preparing for beyond 2019 with *whispers* expansion…
Kat Farris: Are national allocations official yet?
RJ Allen: Yes. They have been out for a few weeks.
Charles Olney: Speaking of which, what do people think about the allocations?
RJ Allen: Overall I wonder why the number is so low. They are able to have 4 or 5 more players allocated than they have. Which in a World Cup year you’d think you’d want those few players who might make the roster to already be on the payroll.
Luis Hernandez: There are limited allocations, I don’t know how many are called out in the CBA, but maybe the federation needs to be selective.
RJ Allen: They have a range they can pick from and from what I read they went with the minimum.
Luis Hernandez: I wonder how the lawsuit will eventually impact the CBA or future CBA negotiations
Charles Olney: And of those selected, it’s certainly hard to explain why Allie Long, for example, is still allocated and Davidson is not…assuming that you’re looking purely at value to the national team. But it’s pretty clear they’re looking at things beyond that. The question is whether that’s okay.
Luis Hernandez: I think Davidson needs to prove more to Ellis that she deserves it. Jane Campbell for example got allocated early without showing much
RJ Allen: It is odd that Morgan Brian is and Davidson isn’t, Long being another. But maybe Ellis is less sold on Davidson to the World Cup than we all think?
Kat Farris: It always amazes me how much of soccer revolves around not soccer
Luis Hernandez: I think it’s more contractual. That’s all I can think of which would explain it.
Kat Farris: Maybe they’re waiting to see a few more games from Tierna since coming back from injury?
Charles Olney: It seems pretty obvious to me that allocations are treated like a sinecure, where you have to really justify ‘taking one away,’ while a young player like Davidson can be effectively required to leave college early and then still not be granted an allocation.
Luis Hernandez: I really think the answer may be more simple than we realize. Like A-Rod being allocated for as long as she was.
RJ Allen: A-Rod had to be because she was on maternity leave. She couldn’t have it taken away during that window.
Luis Hernandez: Right. Maybe this is also a contractual allocation. Like maybe in the CBA there’s a provision for team veterans to have an extra allocation year before getting dropped
Charles Olney: It’s also weird that allocation decisions happen in December but aren’t announced until the spring and then don’t really ‘take effect’ until the start of the season in April. All of which is to say: the allocation system is terrible.
But, of course, the allocation system will be around a while longer, since it was bargained in the recent CBA. Which takes us nicely to our next topic…
What is going on with the US National Team and US Soccer?
RJ Allen: The difficulties the USWNT and USSF are having really do highlight the issues with the two very different systems the MNT and WNT work under.
The problem is neither party can control the reasons the two systems are so different. Which makes cases like this that much harder.
Luis Hernandez: RJ hit the nail right on the head.
Charles Olney: I think that’s an important point. It’s pretty clear to me that the system is not working well, and that US Soccer has some obligation to do more than they are currently doing. But it’s also clear that there’s not really a simple solution. Given the different dynamics, any treatment is necessarily going to look very different across the two teams.
RJ Allen: But why things like meal pay and flights are different is just USSF being cheap on the women’s side. On top of being plain stupid when it comes to marketing and things like kits.
Luis Hernandez: If player compensation was exactly the same between the men and women, there would be serious impacts in the league.
Allison Cary: Yeah, there are some things that are related to the different contracts/systems and some things that I think that USSF just thinks they can get away with.
Charles Olney: Exactly. US Soccer does actually have some decent arguments in a few places. But it’s incredibly hard to take their side overall when they’re so obviously failing to meet minimal standards in the places where it would be really easy to do so.
Luis Hernandez: I like that USSF now uses charter planes to move the USWNT like they do for the men. I dislike that USSF doesn’t think a women’s open cup is worth having. I had to get that in.
Charles Olney: RJ, can you develop that point about the kits a little more? It’s blown up a bit on twitter in the last 24 hours, but is worth digging into since it’s such a good demonstration.
RJ Allen: US Soccer’s issue is they are just flat out bad at some things. Right now if you go to their website you can’t buy a women’s kit. And men’s kits are not able to have three stars.
They are leaving a ton of money on the table by holding the kits back until May for the women and not allowing men’s cut kits to have three stars at all.
Charles Olney: I bought one of the three star kits a couple years ago when they were available. But if I remember correctly it took them almost a year after the 2015 tournament to actually make them. And now they’re unavailable again.
Allison Cary: I was just talking to a male friend earlier this week who wants to buy a three-star kit and is just waiting for them to come out.
RJ Allen: I do not understand the argument I’ve seen made that it will “confuse” people to see a men’s cut jersey with three stars. Of all the arguments to pick, that is the dumbest.
Luis Hernandez: I’m more than happy to correct anyone that would confuse a men’s three star kit if they thought that was for the men’s team
Allison Cary: I didn’t even know that argument existed and that is the worst.
Luis Hernandez: Not to give the federation any breaks, but is that also on Nike?
RJ Allen: Nike has not had this issue with other countries though, Luis.
Charles Olney: My understanding is that Nike is the one making the choices about what to make available. But my understanding is also that huge organizations like US Soccer has the ability to discuss marketing strategy with Nike. Basically, if they genuinely cared about getting their product out, it would be out.
Luis Hernandez: The kit supplier should know better when it’s the like of Nike. I’m assuming they want to make money selling WNT gear.
RJ Allen: They are assuming there is no market or a market not worth investing in. And then saying “see there is nothing here” to not have to do more work in growing that market. For an org that loves money, both Nike and USSF, I do not understand the choices in kits or marketing.
Allison Cary: Sexism over money? It’s like the sexism is so embedded that, as RJ said, they’re convinced they won’t sell without any proof that’s true. Like you could be making money but your sexism is preventing you from being logical.
Charles Olney: Which really brings us around the core of the problem with all of these arguments about equality, market demand, revenue, and so forth. When you have institutions that are uninterested or unwilling in putting in the work to grow, develop, and sell a product, that product is obviously going to struggle more than if you have an enthusiastic actor trying to get everyone involved. With so many of these conversations, we’re talking about years, decades, of neglect. Which makes it impossible to assess what ‘really’ should be going on.
We saw 60,000 turn up for a women’s soccer match in Spain this weekend. We’ve seen huge numbers in Mexico. We’ve seen some of the big European countries selling out their pre-World Cup matches. Those are all great signs. But they’re also a reminder that there is potentially a LOT of demand, but demand which doesn’t have clear avenues for expression a lot of the time.
Allison Cary: I know a lot of people who are soccer fans. They watch men’s soccer because it is accessible, and they would support women’s soccer, but they feel it is such a struggle to get access.
Luis Hernandez: But are we underestimating the popularity of soccer in other parts of the world. I find a lot of people across the board that still have a hangup on watch/supporting a sport because it’s played by women
Allison Cary: I’m by no means trying to say those people don’t exist, I just think that we shouldn’t assume everyone is like that. When I was in England, there were plenty of old, white men who watched the Chelsea women’s games. And I spoke to more who said they would watch the matches if they were on TV or go to games if they were played at the same stadium as the men.
Luis Hernandez: There should be more fans of sports that watch/support the game regardless of the gender of the players.
Allison Cary: I also met people who automatically dismissed women’s soccer simply because it was played by women, so I’m not trying to say everyone would watch it if it were available, but it would matter.
Kat Farris: You can’t sell a product only the dedicated few know exists and expect to increase your market/grow the game
Charles Olney: I think that it’s absolutely true that there are a lot of soccer fans who aren’t realistically available for women’s soccer marketing. They have expectations and aren’t interested in changing them. But it’s also true that the worldwide soccer audience is unbelievably large, and you don’t need to persuade everyone. Just getting the people on the margins, who might be willing to take a look, could go a long way.
And of course social expectations do change, even for people who seem dyed-in-the-wool. I say this as someone with family in Atlanta who cared 0.00% about soccer until a couple years ago and NEVER would have thought it was possible that they’d follow the sport.
Luis Hernandez: I was going to say something on a lack of a league TV deal, but I didn’t want to go off the rails.
Charles Olney: A topic for another week, for sure.
Alright, let’s take a little time to get back to things on the pitch before we close up for the week.
Since we last chatted, the US completed the SheBelieves Cup. It didn’t go well. But it also wasn’t a disaster. How is everyone feeling about the team at this point?
RJ Allen: I do not for the life of me understand why Sam Mewis is not starting every game.
Charles Olney: I’ve been a mild skeptic in the “Mewis would fix everything” debates. But even so, I completely agree. I don’t think she’d fix everything, but she sure would help.
RJ Allen: I think Dunn is a great player but she has been made into a pure attacker and her defending during a World Cup scares me. Ellis has to find another outside back and hope O’Hara stays healthy.
Allison Cary: I completely agree on the Dunn point.
Luis Hernandez: I’m not a believer in Rose being a starter when we have the roster at full strength. I would rather see Mewis, Ertz and Horan.
RJ Allen: I do wonder overall why the USWNT pool of outside backs is as weak as I think we’ve ever seen it.
Charles Olney: It is weird. I feel like two years ago we were marveling at all the young exciting fullbacks who were coming up. And they’ve pretty much all flamed out.
RJ Allen: Honestly if Kristie Mewis hadn’t gotten hurt, I wouldn’t have minded her getting a look.
Charles Olney: I suppose it’s also worth noting that we’d arguably be having a different conversation if Hinkle had decided that she was okay wearing a pride jersey.
Luis Hernandez: Accurate.
Allison Cary: Yep.
RJ Allen: Hinkle showed herself not to be someone the team could depend on. That is the biggest USWNT sin.
Luis Hernandez: I don’t feel good that Short didn’t get playing time.
Charles Olney: With Short, I have to imagine there’s something about how she’s doing in training. Because it’s such an obvious HUGE problem right now, and based on her form of a year or so ago, it seems obvious that she should be getting some time. But she did miss a lot of time last year, and I’m not sure she ever really got back to her peak for Chicago. So maybe she just has genuinely lost a step and it’s been obvious in training?
RJ Allen: I do still wish the US would call up the eligible outside backs on each team and just give them a go. Honestly just try everyone and see who sticks. Becca Moros just for the gifs.
Luis Hernandez: I think club play is going to favor more for those bubble roster players and perhaps we’ll see someone surprise us and make the jump to the national team.
Charles Olney: [Whispers]: Sofia Huerta?
RJ Allen: Charles. Don’t be mean. Houston doesn’t even play her as an outside back.
Charles Olney: I mean, she still can’t really defend, but…what evidence do we have that Ellis cares about that? Is all I’m saying.
RJ Allen: Honestly have HAO play outside back. At least she would be good for team chemistry.
Charles Olney: I detect no lies there.
RJ Allen: One last thing I want to throw out there is the fact that the US Soccer Hall of Fame vote is going to happen soon. And there are some USWNT players up for possible selection.
Eligible Players: David Beckham | Gregg Berhalter | Carlos Bocanegra | Shannon Boxx | Edson Buddle | Rachel Buehler Van Hollebeke | Lori Chalupny | Lauren Cheney Holiday | Steve Cherundolo | Brian Ching | Kenny Cooper | Jeff Cunningham | Todd Dunivant | Kevin Hartman | Frankie Hejduk | Thierry Henry | Stuart Holden | Eddie Johnson | Chris Klein | Karina LeBlanc | Amy LePeilbet | Eddie Lewis | Lori Lindsey | Stephanie Lopez Cox | Pablo Mastroeni | Clint Mathis | Heather Mitts | Jaime Moreno | Ben Olsen | Pat Onstad | Heath Pearce | Troy Perkins | Steve Ralston | Cat Reddick Whitehill | Donovan Ricketts | Leigh Ann Robinson Brown | Tony Sanneh | Homare Sawa | Kate Sobrero Markgraf | Bakary Soumare | Taylor Twellman | Aly Wagner | Abby Wambach | Josh Wolff
Luis Hernandez: Excellent point RJ.
RJ Allen: Look, Boxx, Chalupny, Holiday, Sawa, Markgraf and Wambach should get in, in a landslide. But they likely won’t other than Wambach.
Luis Hernandez: I wouldn’t be repping Orlando right, if I also didn’t mention Tiffany Roberts who now coaches at UCF. She’s on the ballot in the Veteran category
Charles Olney: The US Soccer Hall of Fame is a weird institution, covering the men (a not very successful group of players compared to the rest of the world), the women (the best group of players in the world), and foreign players who have had a big impact here. It’s just kind of hard to even comprehend how you can jam all those together in a coherent way.
Allison Cary: Very true.
Charles Olney: Like, Amy LePeilbet was one probably top 20 at her position in the whole world, right? But she’s like 12th on this list for women who deserve induction. Compare to someone like Carlos Bocanegra, who was one of the KEY players for the US men over a full decade, and one of our most successful players in a top European league. But…at his best, he was a useful player for a mediocre Fulham team.
I also saw someone pointing out that when/if Markgraf gets inducted, the entire starting XI for the 99ers will be inducted. Which seems bizarre. How can the whole team be in the Hall of Fame? Except, of course they’re all in. They’re all ridiculously good!
RJ Allen: It is not enough to have been great during your years of international and domestic play if you’re on the women’s side. The women have five current forwards that would make the hall of fame for nearly every other country in the world. It’s not enough to have simply defined your position internationally during your time on the national team, you have to be the best to have ever played it.
Either the standard for the men seeking induction needs to be raised to meet the level of Hamm and Overbeck and the rest of the supremely talented women who have made it into the Hall or the standard for the women needs to come back down to earth.
Charles Olney: To be honest, I don’t really see it getting worked out. I think it will just continue to stumble along like a drunken sailor, getting enough of the big decisions right for people to continue talking about it, but not enough right to be a fully credible institution.
And with that, we will close things out for today. Thanks for reading everyone. And as always, let us know if you have any topics you’d like to hear us discuss in future weeks!
In auto racing, there are times when cars are forced to use a restrictor plate over the air intake to limit the power of the engine. It’s often done under the promise of safety. It is too unsafe to let the full power of the engines out at once. To keep a more even keel to things, they restrict some power.
The NWSL often feels as though US Soccer, the NWSL front office and to a lesser extent some of the ownership groups are perfectly happy to keep a restrictor plate on the league.
They don’t want too much growth nor to have conditions and salaries growing too quickly. Not only is there a minimum salary of $16,538 and a $421,500 salary cap put on the total roster, but a team maximum just to make sure no one wants to pay their star something crazy like $47,000 a year.
The NWSL wants a league full of Portland Thorns while making sure that teams like Sky Blue FC and the Washington Spirit aren’t blown out of the water. The league does need to monitor its growth and make sure it doesn’t spin out of control. But it also has to allow the key teams of the league to move the league forward without standing in their way. While there are ways for teams not directly connected to MLS groups to grow and compete, the tactic of holding the league back to make sure teams who, if we’re being honest, are run about as well as your high school’s 9th grade production of Our Town, might not be the best long term bet the league could make.
So what do I think the NWSL should do to help take the restrictor plate off of the league? While that isn’t an easy answer or a quick path, I think there are some steps they have to take if they want to see growth that keeps the league moving forward.
1) They need higher overall league standards
Having locker rooms with showers, not playing games on college fields, having proper housing for players, I could go on but the league needs to both create a set of league minimums that are higher while also taking a hard stance when teams fail to live up to those standards.
If the league wants to grow it has to improve the standards year or year in meaningful ways. Holding the Utah’s and Portland’s of the league back to make sure that teams like Sky Blue and Washington don’t have to spend to much more money only holds progress back.
2) Bring Designated Players to the NWSL
For those who do not know, in MLS a designated player is a player that basically doesn’t count against the salary cap.
The NWSL should add something similar to their rule book. Give each team one or two players who do not count against the current $421,500 salary cap. If Orlando wants to pay Marta $1,000,000 a year to play in the NWSL, let them. If Ada Hegerberg can be brought to Utah or Seattle or Portland for $200,000 a year? Let the owners pay for it.
3) Let there be (some) free agency
Right now if the team you’re on offers you a contract and you decline – well they keep your rights and there is always overseas, right? Allowing players to become free agents if they are unable to come to an agreement with their clubs when their contracts end would give the players a little more choice and prevent some of the rights holding that teams have engaged in in the past that forced players to go overseas.
4) USSF needs to back off
USSF controls far too much in this league. They control all USWNT players contracts that play in the NWSL, they pay them and as much loyalty as you can ascribe to the relationship, it all goes to USSF and away from the club teams. Sam Mewis might love North Carolina, but the North Carolina Courage do not control her contract nor do they sign her paycheck.
There are ways USSF can keep supporting the league in terms of giving each team financial support without iron-fisted control being demanded in return.
The NWSL is not a bad league. It is not a league that will fold end of the season. But there is no doubt it is being held back. Teams that are unable or unwilling to move forward with the pace of the other teams, a federation that wants a 9 month long training camp for it’s stars, simple lack of some basic amenities of other American sports all coalesces to tie weights to the league’s cleats.
The NWSL has lasted 7 years by growing in a careful progressing as they put together their new engine. They have done slow and steady laps around the track. Not going to fast, being very careful on the turns. It’s time the throttle was opened up a bit and we can see just how well the car was put together.
It’s been an eventful week in the fight for equal pay.
With just three months left until the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, 28 members of the U.S. Women’s National Team filed a lawsuit on Friday against the U.S. Soccer Federation, alleging “institutionalized gender discrimination.” They argue this isn’t just because of vastly inequal pay, but also issues with travel and accommodations, medical treatment, coaching, and venues.
Every time equal pay comes up, there is a defensive reaction from many people who disagree with the lawsuit’s premise. They argue that the U.S. women should not be paid the same as the men because they do not bring in the same revenue. Sports is a business, and the women should pull their own weight if they want equal pay.
There are many, many flaws with that argument. It is not true that the men always bring in more revenue than the women. The men have received more investment than the women, giving them a better platform to succeed. There is historic discrimination against women in soccer, and in sports more generally, which denies us many of the benefits given to our male counterparts.
Bringing all of these points together is a critical point that often goes unnoticed.
The U.S. Soccer Federation is not a for-profit business. It is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, whose mission statement is to “make soccer, in all its forms, a preeminent sport in the United States and to continue the development of soccer at all recreational and competitive levels.” Quite simply, they are aiming to promote and grow soccer in the United States.
If your goal is to promote soccer in the United States, and presumably set an example, then why wouldn’t you treat your senior national teams the same? Shouldn’t your goal be to encourage all people, regardless of race, sex, or any other category, to join the sport and be treated with equal importance? Children learn from the example set on the national and international stage. The current model reinforces the message to all children that at the highest level of their sport, men are still worth more than women.
Serena Williams summarized this well.
“You know, we have had some incredible pioneers in our sport that stood up in the ’70s and said, ‘We’re going to get paid what the men get paid,’” Williams said. “They stood up way back then. I think, at some point, in every sport, you have to have those pioneers, and maybe it’s the time for soccer. I’m playing because someone else stood up, and so what they are doing right now is hopefully for the future of women’s soccer.”
Somewhere out there, the next Alex Morgan or Abby Wambach is watching. And she’s counting on this team to fight for her. She’s counting on her country’s federation to acknowledge her worth, so that she can be successful in her sport. But every day, U.S. Soccer reinforces the message that she is less-than simply because of her gender.
It’s not just American women and girls who are hopeful about this lawsuit. It’s the women playing around the world today, often in much less equitable situations, who are also watching. Some will argue that the U.S. women should be happy with what they have, because its a lot worse in other countries. American players do recognize that they have it better, and that’s part of the foundation of this lawsuit.
“This team, we’re kind of a visible team,” Becky Sauerbrunn said in an interview at the end of the SheBelieves Cup. “So, I think it’s important that we kind of take that on, and we show that we are empowered women and that we will fight for things we believe in, like pay equity. It’s a heavy responsibility, but it’s one we gladly take on.”
The U.S. Soccer Federation works under the goal of promoting soccer in the United States. Three World Cup titles will certainly do that, but even if the U.S. women didn’t have so much on-the-field success, an argument against equal pay still rings hollow. It relies on a ‘sports business’ mentality which ignores the fact that the U.S. Soccer Federation is not a traditional ‘sports business.’ It is a non-profit, and thus, should not approach soccer with the goal of making money. In fact, it should be investing all the money it brings in. The same should be said for FIFA, who currently sits on an estimated 2.7 billion USD.
If the goal of these two organizations is to grow the sport, they have an obligation to invest in areas that have traditionally been ignored and neglected. That includes, but is not limited to, women.
We should not feel guilty holding the U.S. Soccer Federation accountable to these standards. They might be idealistic, but this is our federation, designed to serve the growing soccer community in the United States. We won’t win every battle, but we need to show that we are willing to fight. Because there is too much at stake here. It is not simply the treatment of the women currently playing for the United States. With every victory, the U.S. opens doors for women and girls in the United States and around the world. Current players and future players alike benefit from their wins.
I think its worth putting up a fight.
Last week I discussed the theory of replacement level valuation, and described some general ideas about how it can be usefully employed to think about the NWSL. This week, I want to dig into things a bit more, with four observations about player value in the league, informed by the idea of replacement level.
Replacement level is not static. If overall talent levels improve, so should the replacement level. And in a league like the NWSL, with a precarious employment structure, the movement is probably more significant than in other more settled systems.
While early retirements are growing less common, it remains true that plenty of good players leave the game for reasons that have little to do with their abilities on the pitch. Christina Gibbons’ recent retirement is a good example. She wasn’t forced out by lack of quality; she left because the hassles of trying to maintain a professional career for little money and no amenities seem to have overwhelmed the desire to play.
A league which can’t necessarily compete with economic opportunities in the private sector will naturally suffer more turnover and loss of talent than one where players make hundreds of thousands as a baseline. That in turn means that marginal player availability is often determined more by the willingness to accept a lack of compensation than by a strict accounting of ability. As a result, simply showing up and turning in 90 minutes is generally worth more in the NWSL than it would be in a league with fairer compensation.
However, as time goes on and standards improve, more players are willing to stick it out. This means that replacement level is going up over time. A player who was modestly above replacement level in 2014 might not be any longer, simply because the overall tide is rising.
The concept of replacement level is a useful device to square some circles within discussions about NWSL talent. Too often, conversations exist in a framework where a player is either excellent or useless, without any clear sense of the space in between. But in fact, the league is full of players who are contributing modest value, without necessarily rising to the level of average.
In a league with nine teams, there are probably only about 50 players who could reasonably be described as average or better. But 188 players received minutes last year. How do we account for the players in the middle of the pack? Here I’m thinking of players like Adriana Leon, Joanna Lohman, Christen Westphal, Amy Rodriguez, Rebecca Quinn, Thembi Kgatlana, Brooke Elby, etc.
With any players, it’s obviously important to look at context. What did their team ask of them, how well did they fulfill their role, what alternatives were there? What sort of potential do they have? Obviously, Andi Sullivan is a different sort of player from Brooke Elby, and it wouldn’t be helpful to pretend their total contributions could be measured by one universal metric. At the same time, if you want to tell the story of the season, it’s useful to have some form of cross-contextual comparison.
So with players like this, one useful perspective might be to emphasize that they logged important minutes, and provided meaningful value, to the extent that they performed above the replacement level, while also recognizing that their contributions were probably below the average production levels in the role. This can then be supplemented with more specific evaluations.
For example, while Elby and Sullivan both contributed some value, Elby was only expected to be a role player. She was selected 23rdd in the Breakers dispersal draft—almost literally the definition of a replacement player. That she contributed real positive value helped her teams enormously. Sullivan, meanwhile, was the top pick in the draft, and Washington was counting on her to step into the pro game immediately. While she wasn’t hopeless (she did contribute real value), merely being above replacement level was extremely damaging for the Spirit who needed more.
Sullivan clearly has the higher ceiling, and likely will have many strong seasons to come. But in 2018, her performance hurt Washington a lot because they were counting on more.
Another important feature of an analysis informed by replacement level: emphasis on the distribution of talent across roles. Specifically, the imbalance between attacking and defensive talent. Because the reality is that the overwhelming percentage of top-quality players in the league fill attacking roles. This is partly a feature of the game itself—where individual brilliance matters more in the attack, while team structure matters more in the defense—but it’s also a consequence of the developmental structure in the US system. With college still the dominant training system, players are free to continue as forwards long past when they might have been forced to switch in a world where the pipeline narrowed earlier.
Whatever the cause, it’s clear that the league is stacked with attacking talent. Unfortunately for the players below the top tier, this significantly reduces their value, because replacement level is fluid and depends on the actual distribution of talent.
For a given team, their 4th or 5thh choice striker is probably going to be close to replacement level. She is the player who can perform satisfactorily and do a job, but is well outside the top talents in the league. But look at even a team as hapless as Sky Blue and realize that they have Naho Kawasumi, Carli Lloyd, Savannah McCaskill, and Imani Dorsey. Not to mention Jen Hoy. And McKenzie Meehan. And Paige Monaghan and Kyra Carusa coming in.
These are all very good players. But when you do the same exercise across the league, you realize that every team is objectively stacked in their attack. Unfortunately, though, ‘stacked’ is ultimately a relative term. The problem for Sky Blue isn’t a lack of excellent players in the attack; the problem is that teams like North Carolina and Chicago are even more absurdly blessed.
But this means that there are dozens of genuinely great attacking players who not only can’t get a regular starting job, they’re not even particularly close to one.
Adriana Leon is particularly apposite example here. When the Boston Breakers folded, she entered the dispersal draft and fell to the 18thh pick. That felt low to many people, who pointed out her six goals for Boston in 2016. When she found no playing time in New Jersey and was eventually traded to Seattle for a 4th round pick, there was more outcry. A seasoned striker, a Canadian international no less, had to be worth more than a low draft pick.
But thinking about it in terms of replacement level can help clarify things a bit. Because the reality is: six goals in a season notwithstanding, Leon simply doesn’t have that impressive a record over her career. In 83 NWSL games, she notched 10 goals. That’s not nothing, but given the same opportunity to occupy a roster space, many other players might have found the net far more often, or contributed in other ways. Ultimately, strikers just aren’t scarce in the NWSL, while opportunities at striker very much are.
None of which is to suggest that Leon isn’t a good player. She certainly is. It’s just that she’s not clearly comparatively better than the many other good players who can fill the same role. Probably every team in the league would be happy to have her, but none of them would be willing to give up much (or any) value to do so. That’s because they’re not assessing her talent on an absolute scale; they’re looking at it comparatively.
Compare this to defense, and things look very different. Here, the replacement level is much higher as teams struggle to fill out their roster with players who can plausibly handle the job.
This is a big part of the reason why teams consistently try to shift attacking players back into more defensive roles. They’re trying to take advantage of their overabundance in one area to bolster themselves in another space. And it’s why positional flexibility is very helpful for marginal players. The ability to step into multiple roles increases their potential value over replacement.
As we know, the World Cup takes place this summer. And just like in 2015, the NWSL will continue amidst the tournament, despite the removal of three dozen or so of its best players for a substantial chunk of the season. What’s more, the removal of talent is by no means balanced. Teams like North Carolina and Portland will lose most of their starting XIs, while Sky Blue, Washington, and Houston will be significantly less ravaged (as always, the wonderful NWSL roster sheets maintained by Jen Cooper are crucial here). To some extent this will have a balancing effect on the league, pushing everyone toward the middle.
But it also depends on how well teams manage their replacement markets. Team depth is always important, but especially in a season like this, when it will be significantly more tested. And it’s a reminder that ‘replacement level’ as an abstract concept is never quite the same as the actual replacement level for a specific team. Those that play the game well will assemble supporting casts that are better equipped to step into the breach. It’s a reason to pay special attention to the preseason this year, because that’s the time when the league’s replacement talent (recent college graduates, trialists, part-timers, etc.) have the chance to make their case.
Luis and RJ are back to talk SheBelieves Cup and some NWSL news.
Sports analytics has evolved by leaps and bounds over the past three decades. Arguably the single most important concept undergirding that explosion has been the idea of ‘replacement level.’ Indeed, replacement level is so significant that it has gained usage outside of the sports world in a variety of business and economic contexts.
What is replacement level?
Put simply, replacement level defines the level of performance that is readily and freely available. In the baseball world, where it first gained widespread usage, replacement level is roughly the quality you would expect if you promoted a career minor leaguer to fill a roster spot.
Importantly, replacement level doesn’t mean zero value. A team full of replacement level players would still pick up the occasional point here and there; these players are still very good, just not quite good enough to make a normal roster. What’s more, performance is always within a range. A replacement level player won’t turn in exactly-replacement level performances every game. They’ll sometimes play well, and sometimes play dreadfully, but over time the median result will center on replacement.
To get a rough estimate of what a team full of replacement level players would look like, the 2016 Boston Breakers and 2018 Sky Blue FC seem to fit the bill. Now, both of those teams had players that are clearly better than replacement level. But they also likely had some below that level. And they also both performed toward the bottom of their potential.
Why replacement level is important
Replacement level is critical for understanding team building and player value. While it is not the only way to assess a player, it is probably the single most important way of characterizing their utility to a team. This is because it exists in a goldilocks position between two extremes: measuring the positive function of simply showing up, without overvaluing mediocre performance.
On the one side, it is preferable to a pure counting-stat approach, which merely adds up a player’s positive contributions. It is of course true that a player who scores three goals in a season has added value over what would have happened if no one had filled that position. But that’s not how it works. A player who scores three goals from several dozen excellent chances that were created by her teammates is actually hurting the team by squandering the chances that someone else might have converted. This is a critical opportunity cost of occupying a valuable active roster spot—the value lost because the spot couldn’t be occupied by someone else. Replacement level attempts to quantify that lost value by identifying what could reasonably be expected from freely-available talent.
This concept of ‘freely-available’ talent also shows why replacement value is superior to a second intuitive model: value above average. It’s admittedly tempting to measure players against average. A player who is below average is a drag on their team in some sense. In order to win more than you lose, you need your players to be above average.
The problem is that, by definition, not everyone can be above average. In fact, roughly half the players will be worse than average. So if one of your regulars is injured or suspended, it is very unlikely that you will be able to replace them with another above-average player. Far more likely, your replacement will be, well, replacement level. Which demonstrates that the ‘merely average’ player is actually providing significant value. Simply by showing up and performing at a sustainable level, they are helping their team.
Limitations of replacement level analysis
Having laid out the general theory of replacement level, it’s worth taking a moment to acknowledge three big caveats, and provide some explanation for why the concept is still worth using.
First, replacement level is an abstraction. In the real world, it depends on context. In particular, if your team has several excellent left backs, the actual ‘replacement level’ is much higher than it would be for a team with no cover. Nevertheless, in terms of league-wide player assessment, the abstraction is helpful for characterizing the value that a given player can contribute. Each individual team will want to make its own assessments of positional scarcity, but for comparing players across teams, replacement level is consistent.
Second, soccer is a dynamic game, and player performances can’t be easily disentangled. To start with an obvious example: Alex Morgan is one of the world’s best strikers, but if you don’t provide her any service, she isn’t going to contribute much value. That’s not her fault, and it would be strange to decide that Morgan was not a valuable player simply because the team around her was bad. And more broadly, there’s the reality that some players will play well in certain systems but flail in others. Some players will excel if given a limited responsibility, but fall apart if they’re asked to do more. A dedicated defensive player might be quite valuable in a team set up to play with a true #6, but terrible on a team that needs creativity from every midfielder. A good striker might be hopeless if forced to play as a fullback. Or vice versa.
None of that is a reason to disregard the concept, but it is a reason to be careful about drawing assessments too broadly. Value over replacement is best set up as a framework for assessing what actually did happen, but it won’t necessarily provide much perspective on what would have happened if things had been set up differently.
Third, soccer simply isn’t as amenable to analytic assessment as many other popular sports. The state of soccer analytics is miles ahead of where it was a few decades ago, but even at the top levels of the men’s game, where data is much more plentiful and quite a bit of money is being spent, things are still far hazier than in sports like baseball or basketball.
Those complexities mean that it will never be straightforward to assign a single value to a given player, and any assessment along those lines should be taken with a huge grain of salt. Nevertheless, as a matter of theory-crafting, the concept is still useful, and it’s worth taking seriously as a framework for considering player performance.
Having laid out the framework, I’ll post the second part of this piece next week, which will discuss how replacement-level can help organize our thoughts on the league.
Carl Gulbish was on hand to capture the USWNT vs Japan in the opening match of the SheBelieves Cup. Check out the photos below.
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