NWSL fall series to begin in home markets on September 5

The National Women’s Soccer League announced today that its breakout 2020 season will resume on September 5 with the NWSL fall series.

Following the success of the Challenge Cup, there will be a televised NWSL Game of the Week on the CBS Television Network every Saturday in September, and on CBS Sports Network three Saturdays in October. CBS All Access will exclusively stream four games as well as the CBS broadcast coverage in September.

The NWSL fall series will include 18 matches over the course of seven weeks, featuring three, three-team pods. Teams within each pod will play one another to enable the league to minimize travel. The full format and schedule for the NWSL fall series will be released in the next week.

“Building on the success of this summer’s Challenge Cup, I am so excited to smartly and safely take this next step on the NWSL’s journey,” said NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird. “The women of the NWSL want to compete and we’ve certainly heard from our fans all over the world looking for more action this year. I’d like to thank the NWSL Player’s Association for their constant collaboration, as well as CBS for continuing to invest in our league’s growth and this unprecedented opportunity to showcase the NWSL to a world-wide audience, week-in, week-out.”

“The 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup on CBS All Access and CBS was very successful this summer, driving record numbers for the League across all platforms. We are thrilled to be able to build on that momentum with the return of the NWSL in September,” said Dan Weinberg, EVP, Programming, CBS Sports. “We will once again capitalize on CBS’ multi-platform assets for this outstanding property with games on CBS Sports Network and CBS All Access, as well as four Saturday afternoon games on CBS, creating even more exposure for the League. Together, with our great partners at the NWSL, we look forward to another memorable run of women’s soccer this fall.”

The NWSL’s return to play protocols reflect the best practices previously developed by the NWSL Medical Task Force and successfully implemented during the Challenge Cup. Those protocols have been updated to reflect the reality of home-market matches and regional travel and will influence all league and club actions outside the field of play. Detailed health and safety protocols for the fall series can be found here.

The three teams in each regional pod will each play four games. Those pods are:

West
OL Reign
Portland Thorns FC
Utah Royals FC

Northeast
Chicago Red Stars
Sky Blue FC
Washington Spirit

South
North Carolina Courage
Orlando Pride
Houston Dash