NWSL playoff losers: Now what? Top offseason priorities for all four teams

Credit: Hannah Foslien-Imagn Images

Four NWSL playoff teams now have to turn toward next season. The North Carolina Courage, Portland Thorns, Bay FC, and Chicago Red Stars were all sent packing in their respective playoff quarterfinal matches, and deservedly so. Each carried with them some flaw or weakness that kept them out of the exalted top four, and by some distance.

What comes in 2025 is tantalizingly unknown. The salary cap jumps by more than half a million dollars, and with universal guaranteed contracts and no-trade clauses, international transfers could be tempted to come over to the U.S. even more strongly than they were last season. More than half the league’s owners will be entering their first or second offseasons as controlling owners, and some may want to make a statement. Four of those eight teams with relatively new owners (or, in North Carolina’s case, impending owners) were all just eliminated in the playoffs, incidentally.

So what do each have to do to try and re-establish league parity? What is required to make a legitimate run at the NWSL trophy? Let’s try and find out.