Sources: NWSL expected to vote on calendar shift this month - ESPN

The NWSL's board of governors is expected to vote later this month on whether to flip the league's calendar to a fall-to-spring season, multiple sources told ESPN.

The NWSL season currently kicks off in March and ends in November, but a change — one that has been debated for years and previously voted down — would see the season start in late summer and end in late spring. That would align the NWSL with many of Europe's top leagues and soon, with MLS, which will make the transition to fall-to-spring next year.

The NWSL's board has debated changing the season footprint for at least three years, and a flip of the calendar was narrowly voted down in late 2024, ESPN previously reported. Intense debate over the topic has continued within league circles.

Another vote on the calendar could happen at the upcoming board meeting, sources said, although the agendas to such meetings change frequently, and the terms of potential proposals can be altered right up until voting begins, as they did in December with the implementation of the new High Impact Player rule.

Even if there is a vote that successfully passes a calendar change — which is not guaranteed, since support of the idea is not unanimous — it could take years to implement.

An NWSL spokesperson declined to comment on this story.

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said in November that «our ecosystem is on notice» about the league potentially changing its calendar.

«There are certainly opportunities that can be created with us not overlapping Major League Soccer, in that the schedule congestion for our summer calendar will be mitigated,» Berman said before the 2025 NWSL Championship. «On the other hand, there will of course be other challenges that it creates in terms of