On October 14, the Portland Thorns won the 2017 NWSL Championship over the North Carolina Courage at Orlando City Stadium by a 1-0 scoreline. Despite the air of celebration on the pitch that evening, a cloud of doom hung over the league as it wrapped up its fifth season of existence. Three founding members of the NWSL (FC Kansas City, the Boston Breakers, and Sky Blue FC) were in severe trouble of not being able to continue into 2018. On the Monday following the title match, the league's ten owners and its commissioner, Amanda Duffy, sat down to discuss the situation and how to ensure all ten teams would be part of the upcoming campaign. Following those conversations, Merritt Paulson and Arnim Whisler, owners of the Portland Thorns and Chicago Red Stars, respectively, took on the mission of working to find new ownership that would save the three near-bankrupt franchises from folding.
* Paulson's discussions with Dell Loy Hansen, owner/operator of Real Salt Lake of MLS, led to a bid to purchase FC Kansas City, with plans to relocate the team to Salt Lake City.
* Whisler reached out to Jim Kavanaugh, who owned St. Louis Football Club in the second-division United Soccer Leagues, about acquiring controlling stake in either the Breakers or Sky Blue FC and bringing them to Missouri as a replacement for FC Kansas City.
* A number of corporate executives, led by Urban Outfitters' Margaret Hayne, Aramark's Eric Foss, and Campbell's Mark Clouse, approached Sky Blue FC owner Thomas Murphy about buying the club and moving it to Philadelphia. An agreement in principle was made between the two sides, to be finalized during the league owners' meeting on January 16th at the United Soccer Coaches convention.
* With Sky Blue now off the table, Kavanaugh contacted Boston Breakers owner Michael Stoller about purchasing the franchise. A Memorandum of Understanding was drafted and signed, bringing the several weeks of crisis management for the league to a close.
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On the morning of January 16, 2018, the sales of FC Kansas City, Sky Blue FC, and the Boston Breakers were made official, with managerial moves announced prior to the evening's closed-doors trade session involving the three clubs.
Philadelphia Victory - Named Christie Pearce head coach.
St. Louis FC - Named Vlatko Andonovski head coach.
Utah Royals FC - Named Laura Harvey head coach.
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After spending the afternoon speaking with their newly-inherited players, Pearce, Andonovski, and Harvey along with Hayne, Kavanaugh, and Hansen met to start the process of moving players averse to staying on with their current clubs to others. No trades between the three clubs were able to be executed during the hour or so they met, so all agreed to sleep on what had been discussed and return in the morning, when they would be joined by the other seven teams in the league.
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Wednesday morning's wheel-and-deal session resulted in a total of 27 players changing addresses from their 2017 homes (all transactions will be listed in the next installment). The NWSL Draft on Thursday had a trade midway through the first round between Washington, St. Louis, Houston, and Utah where the top four players selected were exchanged. Each of the three "new" teams held post-draft parties, with the Victory's at the Field House, a block south of the Pennsylvania Convention Center, St. Louis FC's at the Downtown Marriott, and Utah's at Le Meridien Philadelphia, with these events being the official unveilings of their new logos, ownership, and head coaches.
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A Season Of Rebirth
FanfictionThe 2017 NWSL season closed with three of its ten teams on the brink of folding. After purchases and relocations, the league starts 2018 with its entire complement in the fold. Follow the 2018 season, one week and relationship at a time.
