Episode 18 - PWHL Playoffs Heat Up, Expansion Plans Drop, WNBA Season 30 Arrives

Cold Open and Intro

Caitlin: I just want to say, clock it, because I said Ottawa needed to win a game in Boston if they wanted a chance of winning the series. And what did Ottawa do in game two?

Alex: They won it.

Caitlin: They won a game in Boston. Hi, I’m Caitlin.

Alex: Hi, I’m Alex.

Caitlin: And this is Raising the Game, a women’s sports podcast covering primetime performers, the business behind the athletes and leagues, and what the growth of women’s sports means for the next generation of women’s athletes.

Alex: We’re back for another week. We have actually a lot to talk about in this episode. We have PWHL expansion. It’s here. Kind of. A little bit. Kind of. We got some news.

Caitlin: We have some news. Actually, by the time you listen to this episode, you may know more than we did when we recorded. But we’re going to talk through what we do know. We also have a really interesting storyline around the NWSL and how their season calendar is constructed. We’ll get into that after we do a recap of match week six.

Alex: And then I think we’re talking WNBA. Regular season is upon us.

Caitlin: Tips off on Friday. We’ve got a big marquee matchup to highlight, among many other games, as the season gets rolling. The 30th season of the W. Really excited about that. But before we get into it, obviously headlines, and before we get into that…

Alex: Favorite thing.

Caitlin: I couldn’t pick just one. I have a couple.

Alex: You go first, because you might do one of mine.

Favorite Things

Alex: I think we probably did this last week too, but again, our eldest playing soccer. She had this really awesome goal that someone caught on camera. She just kind of whizzed it past the goalie’s head. The other thing was, we’re so used to watching college and elite athletes who score a goal and run around the pitch, all excited. These girls are just smiling but like, get back to center. Let’s do what we’re supposed to be doing next.

Caitlin: I think it’s because they score a lot of goals. The excitement wears off after a while. I will commend the other team’s goalies though. Best move was to hang from the crossbar and then jump down and try to make a save. Didn’t work out very well most of the time.

That was not mine. I’ll do quick bits. The triple espresso babies had their first meet cute this weekend. Mallory Swanson of the Chicago Stars and Sofia Jakobsson of the Portland Thorns, two thirds of the triple espresso from the 2024 Paris Olympics, had babies within two months of each other and got together for their teams’ game against each other. Mallory isn’t back yet, but they were so cute. My personal favorite video was Alyssa Naeher, goalkeeper for the Chicago Stars, holding both babies. Her nickname is Uncle. It was just uncle and the babies.

My other one: I’ll spoil it because we talk about it in headlines. Cherie DeVaux, the video of her realizing Golden Tempo is going to win the Derby. The emotional release of realizing a dream you’ve had for so long. That video made me cry.

And my third one: the phrase “MNBA” made it onto SNL Weekend Update over the weekend. We have arrived. They had someone come on making fun of Clay Thompson, the famous basketball player, his whole situation with Megan Thee Stallion. We do like to refer to the NBA as the MNBA. Why do they not get a letter?

Alex: Yeah.

Caitlin: Here we are. We’ve arrived at top headlines.

Top Headlines

Alex: PWHL playoffs bring the drama, with three-seed Minnesota taking game one against top-seeded Montreal, and four-seed Ottawa battling for a win in Boston to even their series 1-1 with second-seed Boston.

Caitlin: The games have been so good. The league also released some plans for expansion. We’ll dig into that. No teams or markets have been officially announced, but there’s a press conference scheduled in Detroit on Wednesday with the Ilitch Sports Group and the city of Detroit. The theorizing is they’re either announcing an expansion team or hosting the incoming draft. We’ll definitely be watching.

Alex: In the NWSL, Portland rolls. The Wave dropped two in a row and Boston gets their first-ever win in a wild weekend to wrap up match week six.

Caitlin: Honestly, wild is the right word. There were some big milestone moments. The Washington Spirit beat Orlando 4-2. Sophia Cantore scored the fastest brace in NWSL history: two goals in five minutes and 27 seconds. In soccer, the clock does not stop. That is literally five minutes and 27 seconds. Barbara Banda of the Orlando Pride scored her second brace of the week, having scored two goals in their Wednesday match as well. She’s the front-runner for the Golden Boot by a wide margin. And Olivia Moultrie of the Portland Thorns played her 100th cap against the Chicago Stars, got a goal and an assist. Only the second player ever to do that in a century milestone game, the other being Christine Sinclair.

Alex: Yeah, I think Olivia’s got that dog in her.

Caitlin: She’s got that swag.

Alex: WNBA tips off its 30th season on Friday with a showdown between number-one picks and rookies of the year, as Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever take on Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings.

Caitlin: I also have to point out: not only do you have the last two number-one picks, but the Wings have AZ Fudd, this year’s number one pick. And Aliyah Boston is on the Fever, so you actually have the last four number-one picks in one game. I also have to give a quick shout-out: Tasha Cloud got signed by the Chicago Sky. Breaking news. So excited to see her signed to a team. She’ll bring some veteran leadership to what could be a really interesting locker room. One-year deal, about half a million dollars.

Alex: It was really fun watching her in Unrivaled. She’s fun.

Alex: Cherie DeVaux becomes the first female trainer behind a Kentucky Derby-winning horse.

Caitlin: The Kentucky Derby has been going on for 152 years. First female trainer to win. There have been 18 other female trainers in Derby history. This is DeVaux’s first time qualifying a horse. And she won.

Alex: And she did it.

Caitlin: Golden Tempo is the horse’s name. They qualified last, so they started from the least advantageous post position. And they came all the way back on the outside. She did something right with that horse. I loved how she talked about representation, that when you set your mind to something, you can accomplish it.

Alex: Brighton and Hove Albion of the WSL announces plans to build the first purpose-built women’s stadium in England.

Caitlin: Following in the footsteps of the Kansas City Current here in the States. For the most part, WSL teams right now have the option of playing in small venues, six to eight thousand seats in lower-tier men’s league venues. Or like Chelsea and Arsenal, who’ve announced they’ll play all home games in their men’s stadiums. Chelsea will play at Stamford Bridge, which is cool. But there’s something to having a space purpose-built for the women’s team rather than being a secondary or tertiary tenant.

Alex: In other European league news, Lyon roars back against Arsenal to claim a spot in the UWCL final and will face Barcelona at the end of May.

Caitlin: Really fun. A couple of USWNT players on Lyon: Lindsey Horan might close out her career there with a bit of a bang, and Lily Yohannes too. We’ll be keeping our eyes on that.

Alex: And the WSL announces it will not change its playing schedule, electing to maintain the spring-to-fall calendar until the 2030 season.

Caitlin: I’ll hold all of my commentary for just a little later.

Alex: In women’s golf, the AIA Women’s British Open announced the prize pool will increase to $10 million.

Caitlin: This is the British Open’s sixth straight year of increasing that prize pool, which shows their commitment to the players and the quality of play. They now join two other major tournaments, including the US Open and one other I’m blanking on, to have eight-figure prize pools. Three tournaments on the women’s side in the eight-figure range.

Alex: In 2027, the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup will be played in Miami, Florida.

Caitlin: This will be a pre-World Cup primer, early in the year before everyone heads to Brazil. Six leagues send their champions; Gotham represented the NWSL last year. Miami will host the semifinals, third place game, and championship.

Alex: Sportico publishes its third annual WNBA team valuation report. Golden State Valkyries top the list at $850 million, taking a record $78 million in revenue in the franchise’s first season.

Caitlin: Just to emphasize: the Valkyries were an expansion team last year. Valued far and away the highest in the league. The next closest is the New York Liberty at $600 million. And team valuations overall increased by an average of 59%. We’ll talk about why in a bit.

Alex: New Atlanta-based NWSL club breaks ground on a new training facility just outside Atlanta in Marietta, Georgia.

Caitlin: Fun fact: that’s very close to where I grew up.

Alex: Residents protest plans for a training facility that will demolish a community park in Columbus, Ohio, where another expansion NWSL club is set to start play in 2028.

Caitlin: I have a coworker from the Columbus area who was in the office last week. She said: people are upset.

Alex: They gotta do some work over there.

Alex: Nelly Korda wins again at the Riviera Maya Open.

Caitlin: She just won the Chevron Championship the week before. She made history on two counts: she became the youngest American to reach 18 career LPGA victories in 46 years, last done by Nancy Lopez in 1980. And she became one of two players since 1980 to start a season with six consecutive top-two finishes. The only other player to do that: Annika Sorenstam. She’s now four points short of Hall of Fame induction.

Alex: That would be nice, to be in a sport and just know exactly how many more things you need to do to get into the Hall of Fame. Completely in your control.

Alex: 30th-ranked Hailey Baptiste came back from six match points to beat world number-one Aryna Sabalenka in the Madrid Open quarterfinals.

Caitlin: She made some history with this too. I believe Serena Williams was the last American to defeat a world number one under similar circumstances. Baptiste didn’t advance past the semifinal. Marta Kostyuk, the Ukrainian international, ended up winning the Madrid Open title. But still really, really impressive.

Alex: And I got every name right that time.

Caitlin: I definitely had to reference my pronunciation notes over here.

PWHL Playoffs Deep Dive

Alex: Let’s dig into the PWHL playoffs, and then we’ll get into what we know about the expansion.

Caitlin: So far we’ve played three total playoff games: two in the Boston-Ottawa series and one in the Minnesota-Montreal series. By the time you listen to this, Minnesota and Montreal will have played game two.

Boston-Ottawa: clock it, because I said Ottawa needed to win a game in Boston if they wanted a chance at the series. And they did. Series tied 1-1. They leave Boston headed to Canadian Tire Center (not TD Place), a 17,000-person venue. They took out the Ottawa Senators logo from under the ice, because the men got eliminated from the NHL playoffs, and put in the Charge logo. I think they are going to be hyped to play there. They played a late regular season game there and it sold out.

I think Boston is in a little bit of trouble. I can’t count them out. They have the best goaltender in the PWHL in Aerin Frankel, Megan Keller who’s an absolute beast, Jesse Gardner, Haley Wynn: tons of talent. But this series comes down to: can you stay disciplined in a hostile environment?

Alex: I think this series goes to five.

Caitlin: I agree. Both ways: if Ottawa drops a game at home, they have to go back to Boston.

On the other side of the bracket, we got to watch the Frost win game one. Every time Montreal scored, Minnesota was like, I can do that too.

Alex: Minnesota sports fans, we were kind of standing there just yelling, “You picked this, Montreal, you picked this” every time we scored. It was so much fun.

Caitlin: Big shout-out to Laura Stacey. She scored the first-ever PWHL playoff hat trick. She has been unstoppable, especially with Marie-Philippe Poulin out with injury. She’s the associate captain and she really sets the tone. Also: those two teams do not like each other.

The Frost didn’t look great, honestly. Taylor Heisey and Kelly Pannek didn’t factor into the offense in a big way. Kelly had a great defensive game, which is more what she was known for earlier in her career. Discipline wasn’t always there. I left with some questions, but a win is a win. If they can come home with a two-game lead, that would be huge.

I do want to mention that somebody already made T-shirts for the Charge. On a black shirt in Charge colors it says: “Don’t worry, we’ll take it from here, boys.” And I didn’t do a Canadian accent but I could.

Alex: Yeah, it would be bad.

PWHL Expansion Plan: Five Phases Explained

Alex: Should we talk about the expansion?

Caitlin: Yes. Here’s what happened. The league hasn’t announced any teams or markets. But a five-page document was sent to the players association on Sunday outlining what the expansion roster-building process will look like. The TLDR: there will be no expansion draft. Last year they did an expansion draft for Seattle and Vancouver. Two main drivers for the change: it’s year three, so a lot of players are coming up on free agency anyway, and the league really wanted to protect player choice as much as possible.

Alex: And it’s not just the choice of whether to go or not. It’s where to go and for how much.

Caitlin: Exactly. So the document outlines an approach intended for a four-team expansion, taking the league from eight to twelve teams. That number is still up in the air depending on how many teams come online. There are five phases.

Phase one is player protection. Each of the eight existing teams protects three players from their 23-woman rosters. That leaves 20 players per team available.

Phase two: incoming expansion teams submit what’s called an exclusive negotiation target list of up to 20 players not on the protected list. The league notifies those players, and they can be offered one of two contracts.

The first is an Expansion Franchise Offer. Each expansion team can extend exactly one. The player is required to sign unless they receive it from multiple teams, in which case they get to pick. Minimum $100K, one to four years, fully guaranteed, plus a $20K signing bonus. For context, the average PWHL salary right now is in the $50,000s. This is a significant raise.

The second type is a Foundational Player Offer. Minimum two years, starting at $80K with a progressive increase. Players are not required to sign immediately, but if they decline, they must sign by the end of phase three. Each expansion team can extend up to four of these, along with their one franchise offer. Existing teams lose no more than three players in phase two.

Alex: I’m trying to follow along. I’m very much trying.

Caitlin: Phase three: existing teams protect or sign three more players. Players on expiring contracts can sign anywhere; it’s essentially limited free agency. Expansion teams can also sign up to three more players from the expiring contract pool. Players who declined FPOs in phase two must sign by end of this phase, at no less than 90% of the original offer.

Alex: So you’re still being rewarded financially for being a player teams want, even if you can’t go to the market you wanted.

Caitlin: Right. Phase four: expansion teams sign whatever players they still need to reach 10 roster spots. They cannot pull from their original exclusive negotiation target list at this point; they’re forced into the broader pool.

Phase five: pending free agents can re-sign with their current teams or wait for the league-wide signing window on June 19th. The entry draft is June 17th.

Alex: It all mostly makes sense. I don’t envy any GM right now. The salary cap piece is going to be interesting to watch. How do you stay within range with all these signings? It reminds me a little of when Vegas came into the NHL and just got stacked right away.

Caitlin: Yeah, it feels like they struck the right balance on paper. It sounds complicated, but the five-phase process actually creates some really engaging off-season storylines for hardcore fans: where are these players landing, and what is my team going to look like?

Alex: It’s like the NFL now. Year-round entertainment.

Expansion city predictions: I’ve got Detroit, Denver, Vegas, and DC, with Edmonton as a possible swap for Vegas. Caitlin went Detroit, Vegas, Denver, and Hamilton or DC depending on whether they go Canadian.

Caitlin: I think they have to grow the U.S. market for the broadcast deal. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if all four are U.S. teams.

NWSL Match Week Six

Alex: Let’s move to the NWSL.

Caitlin: Match week six. Top moments: Boston Legacy won their first-ever game, in dramatic fashion, over the other expansion team. Sophia Cantore of the Washington Spirit: fastest brace in NWSL history, five minutes and 27 seconds. Barbara Banda’s double brace, well ahead for the Golden Boot. And Olivia Moultrie’s 100th cap.

Alex: Portland is at the top of the table by four points.

Caitlin: They managed to take care of business against the Chicago Stars, which was important. The teams I want to flag: Washington Spirit and Gotham seem to have turned things around since the international break. Jenna Shaw scored over the weekend. Jordan Dudley, a fantastic rookie, got an assist. They’re pairing well on the left side of the field. And Trinity Rodman has scored in every single game she’s played since coming back.

Alex: I think we’re taking credit for that, since we mentioned her on the pod.

Caitlin: We are absolutely taking credit. The San Diego Wave, on the other hand, dropped two in a row, didn’t score a single goal, and will be without their head coach for the next match after he was sent off on a red. And they’re playing Angel City in LA, their interstate rival.

The Utah Royals have been a pleasant surprise. Four wins in their last five games, three shutouts in a row. They’re clicking.

And I want to circle back to Olivia Moultrie, because I think it goes beyond the stats. She was on Abby Wambach and Julie Foudy’s podcast, and they asked how she had the confidence to play professionally at 15 alongside grown adults. Her answer was essentially: I’ve always just believed I have the it factor.

Caitlin: From a parent’s perspective, you don’t develop that self-assuredness without someone really being in your corner. Someone who lets you make mistakes, and whose support is not conditional on your performance. She forged this incredible blend of security and hunger. Whoever raised her, or whoever mentored her, they did something right.

Alex: And with Emma Hayes at the helm of the national team now, I think Olivia Moultrie is going to skyrocket.

NWSL Schedule Debate: Should the League Flip to Fall-Spring?

Alex: Why did the schedule flip even become a thing suddenly?

Caitlin: Mid-April, there was a report in The Athletic that the Board of Governors was due to vote on it at the end of April. Everyone was like: hold on. The MLS had just voted to do this and was moving forward with it. It’s come up within the NWSL before, but never with this level of urgency.

Then last week, word came out that they’d pulled the vote entirely, and the league confirmed they’re maintaining the spring-to-fall schedule through at least 2029, with Commissioner Jessica Berman saying they’ll continue to discuss it but aren’t making changes now.

The arguments for switching: aligning to international club competition windows and international tournament windows. The World Cup and Olympics are always in summer, which disrupts the NWSL season. It can also affect transfer window alignment with overseas leagues. And the NWSL playoffs run directly against NFL and NCAA football.

The arguments against, and why I think staying is the right call: weather. Cold-weather markets in February are not viable for outdoor soccer. Frozen fields are essentially worse than artificial turf for ACL injury risk. The USWNT CBA specifically limits play to grass fields for that reason. Cold-weather teams would end up playing an extended stretch of away games, which creates a competitive disadvantage. And the broader fan behavior argument: you’re not bringing young kids to a game at two degrees.

Alex: We’re not even bringing the adults.

Caitlin: Fan sentiment is: do not move the season. Soccer in America grew up spring-to-fall. High school sports are spring-to-fall. Club soccer is spring-to-fall. And this league is 13 years old. We’ve navigated Olympics and World Cups the whole time. It’s disruptive, sure, but we know how to do it.

Alex: Infrastructure-wise, investment-wise, fan-wise, I think they’re ten years out from being able to actually do something like this effectively.

Caitlin: And the MLS comparison falls apart when you think about it. MLS is not in the top five men’s leagues globally. They had every incentive to align internationally. The NWSL has literally set the standard for women’s club soccer worldwide. Rather than chasing the European calendar, maybe the play is to use the league’s influence to encourage European women’s leagues to find their own space in the broadcast calendar, rather than sharing it with massive men’s leagues.

The one scenario where a schedule flip could make sense: if the U.S. hosts the 2031 Women’s World Cup. You bring all the international players here, and then a few months later you start NWSL club play. That could be a real moment. But flipping the schedule right now, in this window of growth, would be a mistake.

WNBA 30th Season Preview

Alex: Let’s move to the WNBA’s 30th season.

Caitlin: The league is now comprised of 15 teams. Seven in the East, eight in the West. They will play 44 games each, 330 total, a record. Eastern Conference: Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Indiana Fever, New York Liberty, Washington Mystics, and the newly minted Toronto Tempo. Welcome, Canada. Western Conference: Dallas Wings, Minnesota Lynx, Las Vegas Aces, Phoenix Mercury, Los Angeles Sparks, Golden State Valkyries, Seattle Storm, and the newly minted Portland Fire. Not the Thorns.

A few calendar notes: the Commissioner’s Cup runs in June, where teams play within conference, best record wins, these games don’t count toward the regular season. All-Star game is July 25th in Chicago at the United Center. The FIBA Basketball World Cup runs September 4th to 13th in Germany. The U.S. has qualified. A ton of international players go, then come back with one week of regular season left. Coaches are hoping to have their playoff spots locked before then.

Playoffs begin in late September. Top eight teams qualify regardless of conference, which actually makes sense when one conference has eight teams and one has seven.

On valuations: the Sportico report showed the Valkyries at $850M, Liberty at $600M, Fever up to $560M, Storm up to $425M. The W is using a 13.6x value-to-revenue multiple. You know who else runs a 13.5x multiple? The NBA. They’re right on par.

Caitlin: And to the “the W loses money” crowd: most professional sports teams lose money. The NFL is literally the only league where every team consistently turns a profit. Chelsea FC lost over $300 million last season. They’re still Chelsea FC.

Alex: The first five to ten games are going to tell us a lot about who’s actually good this year. The CBA reshuffled everything. Entire rosters changed. Angel Reese is in Atlanta, Chicago rebuilt again. Minnesota is without Napheesa Collier until June. We genuinely don’t know what’s good yet.

Caitlin: What I’m watching for: will attendance and viewership keep rising? The $2.2 billion broadcast deal means about 65% of regular season games are nationally televised. The fan engagement pieces are exciting too; WNBA social media teams have been given real personalities. Courtney Williams playing Connect Four is exactly the kind of thing that expands the audience.

The stars need to show up. Caitlin Clark needs to stay healthy. Paige Bueckers needs to ball out. Angel Reese needs to have a great season in Atlanta. A’ja Wilson needs to be A’ja Wilson. Rising tide floats all boats.

Caitlin: Draymond Green said in an interview that the quality of basketball in the WNBA is actually better than the NBA. He said it’s easy to see if you’re a basketball head: the footwork, the ball movement. But it doesn’t have the flash. And that’s why you need a Caitlin Clark. That three-ball is the equivalent of the dunk. It’s the tangible entertainment element that goes along with the quality of play.

Alex: I’ve also been loving watching the social media admins get personalities. Connect Four with Courtney Williams was so good. And Napheesa bringing her daughter Mila to media day got all the moms in the fanbase immediately connected. The W operates on a different layer of fandom than anything I’ve seen in men’s sports.

What to Watch This Weekend

Alex: Opening night of the WNBA is Friday, May 8th:

• Toronto Tempo vs. Washington Mystics, 6:30 p.m. CT on ION
• Connecticut Sun vs. New York Liberty, 6:30 p.m. CT on ION
• Golden State Valkyries vs. Seattle Storm, 9 p.m. CT on ION

Games are all day Saturday and Sunday too. The Fever-Wings game is on Saturday. They’re spread across ABC, Disney+, Victory+, NBA TV, and WNBA League Pass. There is no excuse not to watch.

NWSL: Wednesday night, Utah Royals vs. Houston Dash, 9 p.m. CT on CBS Sports. Saturday, Angel City vs. San Diego, 7:45 p.m. CT on ION. Also Saturday: Kansas City Current vs. Chicago Red Stars. Both teams want a win badly.

PWHL: Montreal and Minnesota will have played the night before this goes out. Games Thursday and Friday night for that series. Boston vs. Ottawa: Game 3, Friday at 6 p.m. CT; Game 4, Sunday at 2 p.m. CT. Boston got a six-day break while Minnesota had to turn around and play immediately. Strange scheduling.

Women’s Elite Rugby: New York Exiles vs. Bay Breakers, Friday at 4 p.m. CT on Women’s Sports Network. Denver Onyx vs. Twin Cities Gemini, Saturday at 3 p.m. CT. Chicago Tempest vs. Boston Banshees, Saturday at 5 p.m. CT.

Winners and Losers

Alex: Losers first.

Caitlin: Britta Curl-Sauerbrunn [VERIFY: transcript says “Brita Curl Salemi”]. I think she should have gotten a two-game suspension. We are avid Frost fans. We do not condone intentional head contact in hockey. If the PWHL wants it eliminated from the game, they need to more seriously penalize players who do it. She does it more than most. She got one game and a $250 fine. That’s not enough.

Alex: Undisciplined. She got hit, she was pissed about it, and then she put us in a five-minute major where they scored. Just don’t do it.

Alex: Winners. Laura Stacey. First playoff hat trick in PWHL history. She was unstoppable.

Caitlin: My winner is also Gwyneth Philips of the Ottawa Charge. I said she was going to be a problem, and she was a problem in the playoffs and a problem for Boston in that series too. Shout-out to Gwennie, as her coach calls her. Fun to see players have standout performances like that.

Caitlin: And honestly, us. We got to talk about such cool stuff across so many different leagues this week.

Alex: All right, catch us at RTG underscore pod on Threads and Instagram. Raising the Game on Substack. RTGpod.com. YouTube, Spotify, Apple, iHeartRadio, anywhere you find podcasts.

Caitlin: And we’ll get that Venmo set up for the hexes next time. We’ll let you know. Bye!