The Utah Royals are leveling up. Though the team won’t officially return to the NWSL until 2024, the club has announced expansion and remodel plans for a 12,260 square-foot training site at the Zions Bank Real Academy. Here’s what you need to know:
Infrastructure has been a key focus of the NWSL, and as important as stadiums are when it comes to control and ease of scheduling, arguably, the training center is even more important to ensure players have the best quality day-to-day experience. (Consider the factor facilities had when Debinha had her pick of clubs during last season’s free agency.)
The Royals, in their first version, did not have their own NWSL-specific space. “We never had a dedicated, I would even argue, an equal space,” Rodriguez said on Thursday. And yes, this might sway some veterans to consider the Royals in free agency, or help sell the vision ahead of the upcoming expansion draft, but fundamentally teams like Utah are now setting the new standard in women’s soccer: dedicated, equal space that also specifically addresses the needs of NWSL players. Maybe it’s a little silly to celebrate this as the new normal in 2023, but it’s one of the foundations for long-term success in attracting and retaining talent. — Meg Linehan, women’s soccer senior writer
NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman recently stressed the importance of infrastructure in a brief one-on-one interview with The Athletic on Oct. 6, calling it the league’s “biggest challenge.”
She expects this will be the challenge that takes the league the most time to solve, and that it will have to be on a market-by-market basis.
“The best example of it will be when the Longs open their stadium next season (in Kansas City), and everyone sees that when you control your building, you control your schedule, you control all revenue streams and you control your economics,” Berman said of the Current owners. “It’s fairly obvious, and everybody knows that. But it’s a very large investment at a time in society when historical ways of funding, investment and infrastructure are less likely to be available.”
Improving infrastructure is the priority of the NWSL.
“It’s one of the reasons we’re so excited about Boston. It’s one of the reasons we’re so focused on bringing in owners to the league who have deep pockets and are prepared to invest because it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the owners who are coming into the league get tired of being a second or third tenant and want to build their own facility. That’s actually what we want to happen. It’s a circumstance that is likely not fixable in the short term, but with every team sale, with every expansion process, is a very high priority.”
“I experienced the Royals in its first iteration, and I thought it was great originally, but this blows things out of the water,” Rodriguez said of the expansion during a news conference Thursday. “I just feel so fortunate to be a part of this time where we are pushing boundaries. It’s setting standards for women in sport and women’s soccer in America.”
“We are so excited about the future of soccer in the state of Utah and couldn’t be happier to have the Royals coming back and in one of the best training facilities in the country,” Royals co-owner Ryan Smith said in a statement. “Investing in this training facility is the right choice for the Utah Royals, the Club, and our ‘One Utah’ sports family.”
— This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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