NWSL Challenge Cup scheduling woes leave commissioner in a pickle, teams playing semis at a notorious venue

• The Washington Spirit and OL Reign will face off in one of the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup semifinals.
• Scheduling issues at both clubs' home fields have forced the teams to play at a notorious stadium.

The National Women's Soccer League is struggling with a scheduling snafu at the height of its early-season tournament.

And the league's commissioner, who has been in the role for less than a week, is caught in the middle.

The 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup semifinals are scheduled for May 4, as the Washington Spirit face OL Reign and the Kansas City Current take on the North Carolina Courage for a spot in the tournament final. While the latter matchup is taking place as planned, with the higher-ranked Current hosting the lower-seeded Courage, the Spirit and Reign have become embroiled in logistical chaos and embarrassment.

Reign — the league's Seattle-based franchise — earned home-field advantage as the top-performing team in the Challenge Cup. But their usual digs at Lumen Field will be occupied on the night in question, as the Seattle Sounders are set to compete in the Concacaf Champions League Final, with a chance to become the first-ever MLS team to win the competition.

A representative for OL Reign told Insider that "the club started to search for solutions to retain their potential home field advantage, which ranged from moving the date of the game to finding an alternate venue" as soon as the potential scheduling conflict with the Sounders "became apparent."

"OL Reign dedicated countless hours to solving this issue, but no mutual agreeable solutions have been found with the league," the representative continued. "A double header in Lumen Field on May 4 is not an option as due to the high-profile nature of the event, and the amount of signage and set up that go into this match, a shared match day would be logistically impossible. A neutral venue site has not been discussed."

The club seemingly had no choice, then, but to relinquish home field advantage to Washington.

But the Spirit's preferred home stadium — which boasts a 20,000-person capacity and a grass field — is also unavailable on May 4. Audi Field will play host to The Aspen Institute's "Project Play Summit" that day; ironically, new NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman is slated to speak on a panel for the event's keynote session.

As the conference wraps up at Audi Field, the semifinal game between the Reign and Washington will kick off some 40 miles northwest at the Spirit's other home: Segra Field. The 5,000-seat stadium in Leesburg, Virginia, has become notorious across the league for its lackluster facilities, its distance from the city, and its turf field.

Studies have shown that athletes are significantly more likely to suffer injuries on artificial playing surfaces than they are on natural grass. And as one of the few turf fields in the NWSL, Segra Field has earned a corresponding reputation as a less-than-ideal, perhaps even dangerous, place to play.

Fans and reporters alike took to social media to express their disapproval of the venue hosting the semifinal. And during a recent Twitter feud, NJ/NY Gotham goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris even went as far as comparing the stadium to a "high school field."

Washington and OL Reign will play a regular-season contest at Audi Field on May 1, further underscoring the lack of prestige surrounding their Challenge Cup semifinal bout just three days later.

Representatives for the Spirit and the NWSL did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on the situation. Whether efforts were made to move the Project Play Summit elsewhere — or if Berman will keep her spot on the panel despite the awkward conflict — remains unclear.