CHICAGO – The National Women’s Soccer League announced Tuesday that its 2020 season will resume on Sept. 5.

Following the NWSL 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 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,” NWSL commissioner Lisa Baird said in a statement. “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.”

Added EVP, programming CBS Sports Dan Weinberg: “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. 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, which were 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.

The three teams in each regional pod will each play four games.

 

 

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

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.