Sports
Sources: NWSL expected to vote on calendar shift this month
The NWSL’s board of governors is expected to vote later this month on whether to flip the league’s calendar to a fall-to-spring season, multiple sources told ESPN.
The NWSL season currently kicks off in March and ends in November, but a change — one that has been debated for years and previously voted down — would see the season start in late summer and end in late spring. That would align the NWSL with many of Europe’s top leagues and soon, with MLS, which will make the transition to fall-to-spring next year.
The NWSL’s board has debated changing the season footprint for at least three years, and a flip of the calendar was narrowly voted down in late 2024, ESPN previously reported. Intense debate over the topic has continued within league circles.
Another vote on the calendar could happen at the upcoming board meeting, sources said, although the agendas to such meetings change frequently, and the terms of potential proposals can be altered right up until voting begins, as they did in December with the implementation of the new High Impact Player rule.
Even if there is a vote that successfully passes a calendar change — which is not guaranteed, since support of the idea is not unanimous — it could take years to implement.
An NWSL spokesperson declined to comment on this story.
NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said in November that “our ecosystem is on notice” about the league potentially changing its calendar.
“There are certainly opportunities that can be created with us not overlapping Major League Soccer, in that the schedule congestion for our summer calendar will be mitigated,” Berman said before the 2025 NWSL Championship. “On the other hand, there will of course be other challenges that it creates in terms of understanding and knowing stadium availability.”
Proponents of the change believe that aligning the NWSL’s calendar with Europe will improve transfer business and allow the NWSL to better operate around FIFA international windows.
Sources told ESPN that there is also a belief among some board members that there is less competition for prime TV time in late spring and that the NWSL playoffs could have a larger audience in that window. Maximizing revenue from the next media rights deal is the NWSL board’s current top priority, multiple sources have told ESPN over the past year, and Berman has spoken about the topic frequently.
Critics of a calendar change point to the NWSL’s many cold-weather markets and potential player safety issues around holding games in frigid conditions, although extreme heat is already an issue during the NWSL’s summer months. They are also concerned about how cold temperatures and potential weather delays would impact attendance, which dipped on average last year.
The NWSL’s board of governors will meet later this month. Any potential league vote is likely to result in a narrow decision in either direction, as was the case in 2024.
MLS owners voted in November to flip the calendar and mirror Europe. MLS will make the transition by playing an abbreviated “sprint season” next spring before switching to a full season for 2027-28. MLS will begin its new seasons in July, take a winter break from mid-December through early February and finish the playoffs in late May.
The NWSL could follow a similar path but on a delayed timeline.
The NWSL’s new collective bargaining agreement, which was ratified in 2024, accounted for a potential change by eliminating restrictions to preseason start dates and by adding an entire section (27.9) accounting for a schedule format change. That section requires the league to provide no less than one year’s notice to the NWSL Players Association if it intends to switch to a fall-to-spring format.
After that, the CBA calls for the league and the union to form a scheduling committee and allow for NWSLPA input, as well as bargain over necessary changes that conflict with the current CBA, “but the NWSL retains the discretion to make the format change.”
There are natural breaks in the calendar for the NWSL to attempt a transition. The 2028 Summer Olympics will be in Los Angeles (and the Olympics soccer event spread across the U.S.), and the 2031 Women’s World Cup is expected to be primarily hosted in the United States, although the formal approval of that uncontested bid has been delayed by FIFA.
Changing the calendar has the support of many sporting executives across the league because it will put NWSL contracts at the same cadence as those in Europe, where deals typically expire in the summer. That, executives have said for years, will make player transfers easier.
In ESPN’s first anonymous general manager survey in 2024, one GM said that the intense debate over the calendar was “actually the biggest question facing the league.”
Turning the summer into the offseason would also allow the NWSL to avoid one of its largest headaches: international tournaments. The league tried to play through the 2015 and 2019 Women’s World Cups despite missing swaths of star players before finally taking a five-week break for the 2023 edition.
Between the World Cup, the Olympics and continental tournaments such as the Euros, there are major international calendar conflicts three out of every four summers. (And this year, in the one down summer in that cycle, the NWSL instilled a monthlong break because of the men’s World Cup taking over many of its venues and markets.)
MLS and the NWSL currently mirror each other in operating seasons that start at the beginning of the calendar year (usually February or March) and end with playoffs that run until the end of the year. MLS and the NWSL have both kicked off their seasons early in the calendar year since their inceptions in 1996 and 2013, respectively.
The USL Super League, which is also sanctioned as a U.S. women’s first division alongside the NWSL, launched in 2024 and already plays roughly a fall-to-spring schedule, kicking off in August and concluding in May.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Michigan’s Fred Richard won his second straight all-around individual crown Saturday night, and Cooper Kim and Jun Iwai each won individual titles to lead Stanford to its sixth NCAA men’s gymnastics championship since 2019.
Richard took home silver in the floor and parallel bars as he ran away with his third all-around individual national championship with a score of 83.598. Nebraska’s Max Odden (78.698) was second, 0.432 ahead of third-place Kristian Grahovski of Ohio State.
Stanford had 329.825 points, second-place Oklahoma finished with 328.495 and Michigan — the defending national champion — was third with 324.857. Asher Hong (14.300) took silver and Nick Kuebler (14.166) bronze on the rings in the final rotation to seal it for the Cardinal. Asher Cohen finished with a 14.500 to become the first Nebraska gymnast to win the rings since Jim Hartung in 1982.
Stanford claimed the program’s 11th national gymnastics championship; the Cardinal have won at least one NCAA team title for 50 straight seasons, since the men’s water polo team beat UCLA 13-12 for the national championship on Nov. 28, 1976. The next longest active streak is North Carolina’s seven straight years with at least one team title.
Iwai had a 14.433 on the vault, tied with Nebraska’s Tyler Flores for first. Landen Blixt of Michigan was third (14.366).
Flores, Nathan Roman (14.800 on the parallel bars) and Kelton Christiansen (14.400, high bar) each won individual titles for the second-place Sooners.
Kim scored a 14.466 to win gold on the floor to beat Richard (14.400). Kuebler and Tate Costa of Illinois finished third with 14.166.
Brandon Dang (Illinois) won the pommel horse with a score of 14.700, Michigan’s Aaronson Mansberger was second (14.566) and Colby Aranda of Oklahoma finished third with 14.133 points.
CHICAGO — The New York Mets will have to defy the odds if they plan on making the postseason this year after dropping their 10th consecutive game on Saturday, a 4-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs.
Only three teams in the divisional era (since 1969) have made the postseason after a double-digit losing streak — including last year’s Cleveland Guardians.
“No one is going to feel sorry for us,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the latest defeat. “We have to keep going. We haven’t been playing good baseball. We have 5½ months ahead. We have the opportunity to write our own story.”
The Mets say they can’t point to any single thing which has led them to their longest April losing streak in franchise history. They certainly aren’t hitting enough, scoring just 18 runs during the streak, the fewest for them over 10 games since June 3-5, 2018.
They’re also making bad pitches, like the one reliever Brooks Raley made to pinch hitter Carson Kelly in the sixth inning Saturday. Kelly deposited Raley’s first pitch cutter into the left-field bleachers for a three-run home run, breaking a 1-1 tie. The Cubs cruised to victory from there.
“We haven’t been able to put together a complete game,” Mendoza said. “It’s either the offense or starting pitching, like not making [that] pitch, not making a play, not getting a big hit. Just having a hard time playing a complete game right now.”
Mendoza’s job is seemingly safe after president of baseball operations David Stearns said Friday he thought his third-year manager was doing a good job and is putting players in a position to succeed. Of course, things can change if the losses continue to pile up for the Mets, who missed the postseason last year after a disastrous second half.
The team is trying not to focus on the negative this early in the season.
“It’s a big boy league,” infielder Marcus Semien said. “There is no time to dwell on tonight. Tomorrow is a new day … It’s as simple as showing up tomorrow with a good attitude. Hopefully other guys see a smile on my face when I show up.”
Semien and Mendoza offered up few solutions to the team’s plight, though getting All-Star Juan Soto back from a calf injury should help. But that won’t happen for a few more days. With DH Jorge Polanco (wrist) on the shelf as well, the Mets will need others to step up.
A late winter overhaul by Stearns led to a positive feeling about the team entering this season. But those additions, like Saturday’s starter Freddy Peralta, haven’t produced enough. Third baseman Mark Vientos did hit a long home run in the loss but New York’s offense was mostly quiet the rest of the day.
Mendoza was asked how he thought Mets fans were feeling right now.
“They have the right to be pissed and frustrated,” he said. “They care. Just like we do. … I understand how they’re feeling. I’d be pissed too, if I was a fan. I’m pissed. They’re pissed.”
The 10-game losing streak is the longest in April since the 2023 White Sox. The loss has the Mets 6½ games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL East, an unusually large deficit for this time of year.
“It’s frustrating to lose baseball games and when you lose this many in a row, it compounds,” Semien said. “The game does not own you any wins. You have to go out and get it.”
The Mets rank in the bottom half of the league in most offensive and pitching categories, including home runs. They’ve hit just 15 this season, only ahead of the San Francisco Giants for fewest in the National League. Their starting pitching isn’t much better, ranking 21st in ERA.
The team is hoping Sunday will bring them different results.
“We have to do something to get in the W column,” Semien said. “No one is showing up thinking about how it’s going to happen again. We’re thinking about how we’re going to win.”
Mendoza added: “Were putting ourselves in a hole right now. There is only one way to [get out of] it. Come back tomorrow, ready to go.”
ESPN Research contributed to this report.
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Seth Rollins was supposed to be going up against Gunther at WrestleMania 42 on Saturday night but he wasn’t expecting a freight train to run through him.
Rollins appeared to be in the driver’s seat toward the end of the match. He hit Gunther with a pedigree on the announce table and followed up with a storm. All he had to do was get Gunther back in the ring and finish the job. As the referee tended to Gunther, a wild Bron Breakker appeared.
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Bron Breakker performs during WrestleMania 42 Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (WWE)
Breakker ran down the side of the entrance ramp at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas at full speed and tore through Rollins with a gnarly spear. He rolled Rollins back in the ring, spat on him and waited for Gunther to finish the job.
Gunther put Rollins in a sleeper hold, forcing “The Revolutionary” to tap out.
WWE STARS REVEAL WHAT MAKES WRESTLEMANIA SO SPECIAL: ‘IT’S THE SUPER BOWL OF PRO WRESTLING’
Gunther has his arm raised by the referee after defeating Seth Rollins during their match on night one of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Gunther walked to the back as the winner. Breakker was hung around to pick apart the scraps.
Breakker sprinted back down the ramp and hit Rollins with another crushing spear, stunning the crowd.
Breakker has been out of action for a few weeks with an injury, likely costing him a match of some kind at WrestleMania 42. Nevertheless, he still had bad blood with Rollins as their rivalry turned up a notch.
Seth Rollins enters the arena before his match against Gunther on night one of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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This will not be the last of Breakker and Rollins. On the flip side, Paul Heyman will now owe Gunther a favor. It’ll will be interesting to see how the favor gets cashed in.
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