December 7, 2023 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – Racing Louisville FC News Release
The National Women’s Soccer League on Thursday released the framework of the 2024 season, kicking off with opening weekend on March 15-16 and finishing with the NWSL Championship on Saturday, Nov. 23.
With the addition of expansion sides Bay FC and Utah Royals FC, each of the 14 NWSL teams will play each other twice for a total of 26 regular-season matches – 13 home and 13 away – over a seven-month campaign. Eight teams will qualify for the playoffs in an expanded field, with the postseason set to start the weekend of Nov. 9-10.
Details for Racing Louisville’s schedule, including game dates and opponents, will be announced at a later date.
The new schedule framework comes as the NWSL enters a new media rights agreement that will show 118 matches across four platforms: Prime Video, ESPN/ABC, CBS and Ion Network.
The 2024 season will have a new setup for the NWSL Challenge Cup. In lieu of the tournament format from recent years that included every team in the league, the competition will shift to a single game between the winner of the NWSL Shield, presented by CarMax, and the NWSL champion. San Diego (shield) and NJ/NY Gotham (champion) will play the Challenge Cup on Friday, March 15, with Prime Video carrying the stream live.
The next day, Saturday, March 16, will mark the start of the 2024 regular season for the rest of the league’s teams. The 182-match regular season will be played over 25 weeks, with the schedule formatted to avoid playing NWSL matches during FIFA windows and maintain flexibility for the league’s top players as they compete with both club and country.
The NWSL will take a break from regular-season action during the 2024 Summer Olympics in France. After the league’s mandatory midseason break from July 8-14, no league games will be played between July 15-August 18.
During the month-long Olympic break, all 14 NWSL clubs will participate in an international tournament that starts July 19-21. More details on the competition will be released at a later date.
In addition to the schedule footprint, the league has released the 2024 competition calendar which is available here.
The 2024 Racing season-ticket package includes 14 home games with prices starting at $14 per game and come with a variety of benefits that, when combined, total up to 10 times the value of the ticket price. Also new this year: Fans who purchase season tickets for both Racing and…