The NWSL has increasingly staged matches at baseball stadiums, driven by record attendance and positive buzz around those events. Next week, Gotham FC is expected to set a New York City record for a women’s professional sporting event when the club hosts the Washington Spirit at Citi Field in an event dubbed “The Queens Classic.” ESPN will broadcast the match July 15 at 8 p.m. ET.
That growing trend follows one of the league’s most infamous moments, a match on July 9, 2016, that went viral for all the wrong reasons. Seattle Reign FC traveled to Rochester to face the Western New York Flash after their usual home, Rochester Rhinos Stadium, was double-booked for a ’90s throwback concert headlined by TLC. Organizers moved the game three blocks to a minor league baseball stadium.
Seattle coach Laura Harvey told ESPN the team discovered problems days before kickoff after they “jumped the fence” to inspect the outfield and found no conversion work in progress. Grounds crews appeared to be working the next day, but on game day Harvey said she was called to the stadium and saw a surface that was uneven, with sod laid over baseball dirt and goals off center. The field was only 58 yards wide; the league granted an exemption for the dimensions at the time.
Harvey said she left a voicemail for then-commissioner Jeff Plush saying the Reign refused to play and later was told they would have to play or forfeit. Reign midfielder Jess Fishlock described the pitch to ESPN as “diabolical,” and Harvey warned after warmups that “This is going to be the biggest disaster the NWSL has ever experienced.” The team ultimately played, unwilling to sacrifice points in a tight playoff race.
At the time the league seldom made national headlines, and when it did it was often for incidents like the Rochester field. In contrast, recent NWSL games at baseball parks have been widely celebrated and helped set attendance records in consecutive years.
