The National Women's Soccer League is embarking on its biggest and most important season to date. That might seem like a bold claim, but a quick look around the league shows how much the stakes in the 12-year-old NWSL have grown.
Two new expansion teams will enter the fray for 2024, bringing the NWSL to a league-high 14 teams. One of them is Bay FC, the new Northern California-based team that is being spearheaded by former U.S. women's national team legend Brandi Chastain, among others. The other is the Utah Royals -- although a team under the same name previously played in the NWSL before relocating, this iteration is a new team sharing co-owners with the likes of the Premier League's Crystal Palace and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers.