It’s been a long, eventful offseason, but it’s finally time for NWSL games to begin. After weathering the COVID-19 pandemic and the unveiling of wider systemic issues in 2021 and 2022, the league is ready to start a new chapter and era of growth.

No one can predict the future, but a few overarching questions linger as the 2023 season gets set to kick off, with storylines reaching far beyond the league itself.

Bring on VAR

In what is possibly the biggest upgrade to NWSL game operations in the league’s history, the NWSL is following through on its commitment to implement Video Assisted Refereeing into every match in 2023. The move comes in response to league-wide calls for officiating quality to improve as the league pushes to keep pace with the rising standard of play.

Alongside VAR itself — which will check for card-worthy fouls, offside calls and handballs — the league has committed resources to making sure every broadcast has five camera angles for both internal and broadcast use. The lack of production variety has resulted in some old NWSL broadcasts looking washed out and flat, with 2023 hopefully setting a new standard for what fans can expect in their living rooms.

VAR hasn’t arrived without controversy at the international and domestic levels, even in the men’s game, but if the NWSL can find the right balance of letting referees do their job without missing the big calls, the league could enter the modern era in a real way.

Slowing down the coaching carousel

For another year, the NWSL’s coaching positions have changed dramatically, as teams look for the right fit both on and off the field. Gotham, Washington, Portland, Houston and Orlando will all have head coaches make their debuts with their new clubs this season. While a certain amount of turnover is expected in the pros, a number of those clubs could benefit from security behind the scenes.

As the NWSL attempts to move forward from an era of toxicity and abuse that went uncovered for years, coaching dismissals have had as much to do with investigations into misconduct off the field as the product on the field. Poor results warrant action every year, but stability should stem from a respectful working environment that puts players in the best positions possible to succeed. The NWSL will make progress if all decisions can be made about the quality of play rather than the exploitation of power imbalances.

Getting ready for the big stage

The NWSL is unique on the global stage in their summer schedule, which can be taxing on players but also gives the league a platform to promote the game before this year’s World Cup. Almost every player likely to be selected for the USWNT plays in the NWSL, as does a strong contingent of players from top soccer countries like Brazil, Japan and Canada. Reigning NWSL MVP Sophia Smith, Golden Boot winner Alex Morgan, Defender of the Year Naomi Girma and Goalkeeper of the Year Kailen Sheridan will all return and look to peak at exactly the right time before the World Cup starts in June.

This dynamic does create a double-edged sword for the league, which will lose star power to Australia and New Zealand in the middle of the regular season. To offset the roster attrition, the NWSL has made the Challenge Cup an in-season tournament. That will allow the league to avoid playing too many league games with its stars away, but availability after major international tournaments is never a guarantee. The NWSL enjoyed the biggest attendance bumps in league history after the USWNT’s 2019 World Cup win, and it will hope for similar returns in 2023.

Who will be poised to finish the job?

In recent years, the expanded NWSL playoff format has favored the hot hand, with the upstart Washington Spirit taking the 2021 trophy and the Kansas City Current riding their underdog status all the way to the 2022 final. And while the NWSL Shield is a prestigious accomplishment, you only get a star over your jersey’s crest for winning the championship at the end of the grueling season.

The greatest victim to the NWSL’s postseason format has long been OL Reign, three-time Shield winners who haven’t made a championship game since 2015. The Reign are a long-standing pillar of the league who still have the core group of original signings Megan Rapinoe, Lauren Barnes and Jess Fishlock alongside original coach Laura Harvey. Their ability to put the whole package together at the end of the season will determine whether they can cement an already established legacy.

The league also went through its first-ever round of free agency this offseason, which showed that players want to be in positions to win. The Current are the prime example of an ambitious club that might take time to figure out how to work together as a team but has the star power to finish the season on top.

Calm before the expansion storm

Competition in 2023 will be fierce, but in an ever-changing league, all teams will also have to have one eye on the future. The NWSL is expecting another round of two-team expansion in 2024, with the Utah Royals already announced and a new team in the Bay Area expected to arrive soon. While teams fighting for titles in 2023 are compiling elite talent and depth, expansion will affect those rosters after this season.

Some teams’ approaches to roster-building with expansion on the horizon can appear conservative, as in the current case of the Washington Spirit, but balancing player assets can keep a team competitive in the long run. Other teams that are leaning into short-term prospects and high-profile transfers will have a trickier time retaining talent in a league rife with parity rules and another round of free agency.

In some ways, a win-now approach and a process of steady roster control both make sense. The teams that might struggle the most are the ones that accomplish neither. As the season plays out, expect more moves to come.

Claire Watkins is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.

U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that the USWNT will play their last home game on July 16th in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The 2024 Send-Off Match against Costa Rica will take place at Washington, DC’s Audi Field — home to both the Washington Spirit and DC United — at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 16th. The friendly rounds out a four-game Olympic run-up campaign under incoming head coach Emma Hayes’ side, with the last two set to feature the finalized 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team roster.

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Hayes will appear on the USWNT sideline for the first time this June, helming the team as they embark on a two-game series against Korea Republic hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on June 1st followed by Allianz Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 4th. 

The team is then scheduled to meet a talented Mexico squad on July 13th at Gotham FC’s Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, where the Olympic-bound lineup will attempt to rewrite February’s shocking 2-0 loss to El Tri Femenil in the group stages of this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. And while clear roster favorites have emerged from both of this year’s Gold Cup and SheBelives Cup rosters, a spate of recent and recurring injuries means making it to the Olympics is still largely anyone’s game.

Broadcast and streaming channels for the USWNT's final July 16th friendly at Audi Field include TNT, truTV, Universo, Max, and Peacock.

The USA Basketball Women's National Team is still considering Caitlin Clark for a spot on the Paris Olympics squad, says selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti. 

On Monday, Rizzotti told the AP that the committee will be evaluating the college phenom’s Olympic prospects by keeping a close eye on her first few weeks of WNBA play with Indiana.

The move is somewhat unconventional. While Clark was invited to participate in the 14-player national team training camp held earlier this month — the last camp before Team USA’s roster drops — she was unable to attend due to it coinciding with Iowa’s trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

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Judging by the immense talent spread throughout the league in what might be their most hyped season to date, competition for a piece of the Olympic pie could be fiercer than ever before.

"You always want to introduce new players into the pool whether it's for now or the future," said Rizzotti. "We stick to our principles of talent, obviously, positional fit, loyalty and experience. It's got to be a combination of an entire body of work. It's still not going to be fair to some people."

Of course, Clark isn’t the first rookie the committee has made exceptions for. Coming off an exceptional college season that saw her averaging 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for UConn, Breanna Stewart was tapped to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than two weeks after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm. Eight years prior, fellow No. 1 pick Candace Parker punched her ticket to the 2008 Games in Beijing just two weeks after making her first appearance for the L.A. Sparks.

In the lead-up to Paris’ Opening Ceremony on July 26th, USA Basketball Women’s National Team is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games. They'll first go up against the WNBA's finest at the July 20th WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix before facing Germany in London on July 23rd.

While an official roster announcement date hasn’t yet been issued, players won’t find out if they’ve made this year’s Olympic cut until at least June 1st.

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.