Despite the NWSL training moratorium and delayed season opener, Orlando Pride executive vice president Amanda Duffy remains confident the league will be able to reschedule every game of the 2020 season.
During a Q&A session on the club’s social media accounts on Wednesday, Duffy said she expects the club to still play a full slate of 24 regular season games this season.
“There’s nothing that we have that would indicate it’ll be a season any different than what we had expected other than start dates,” Duffy said.
She said discussions are ongoing between league commissioner Lisa Baird and the board of directors, which includes representatives from all nine teams and incoming expansion side Louisville FC. She reiterated a tentative timeline that Baird previously set out for a league restart, which would see players “on the field in some capacity” by late May and matches resuming in late June.
Duffy added leaders throughout the league will prioritize health and safety of everyone involved in matches while planning a return to the pitch.
“Everyone knows we learn more every day, there’s new information on trends, on potential plateaus and reaching other side of curves with COVID-19,” Duffy said. “We have to think about that and factor that into every decision, but it’s important for us as an organization, it’s important for the league, it’s important for the players to at least have some understanding of what we’re working towards.”
The NWSL extended its training moratorium by a month last week, stopping all team workouts until May 5. The 2020 season was originally slated to kick off on April 18. When the league initially announced its training moratorium in March, a target return date was not set.
Regardless of when the season kicks off, Duffy emphasized the importance of adaptability among clubs and the league. Clubs will need to rebook their venues, which will requiring coordinating with partner MLS clubs or other teams that share those venues.
Although she acknowledged games that take place on the weekends are preferred — and night games are particularly emphasized in Orlando, where late-summer heat becomes brutal in the afternoons — Duffy said the league might have to schedule more afternoon and mid-week games in order to reschedule a full state of matches.
“As a club, we’re always trying to put the best schedule in place [with] the best dates in place,” Duffy said. “Going through this rescheduling process, all of the clubs are going to have to show the most flexibility as that schedule comes together.”
This is Duffy’s first season in the new role of Pride executive vice president after serving as the league president during the 2019 season. She previously spent three years in various NWSL leadership roles.
Duffy joked she felt grateful she wasn’t still in her former position at the league level, where she would’ve been tasked with creating the new schedule.
“I’m glad I’m here [in Orlando] now for that and not at the league trying to build a new schedule with new conditions and new availability,” Duffy said. “It’s going to be a tricky and challenging process for the league to put this together.”
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