On the latest episode of @TheChiefsWire podcast: @EdEastonJr’s chats w/ Marcus Allen and Midge Purce #LVvsKC
We’re back with an all-new episode of the Chiefs Wire podcast! This week, we’re previewing the Kansas City Chiefs Week 13 matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders.
Senior Writer Ed Easton Jr. spoke to Pro Football Hall of Famer Marcus Allen about his five-year stint with Kansas City in the 1990s and playing on both sides of the Chiefs vs. Raiders rivalry.
We check in with this past week’s press conferences, featuring comments from head coach Andy Reid following the victory over the Carolina Panthers. Lastly, Easton Jr. spoke to 2023 NWSL champion NJ/NY Gotham FC forward Midge Purce about having a legendary NFL quarterback as part of the team’s ownership and the power of celebrity investment in the league.
The latest episode of the Chiefs Wire Podcast will inform listeners about all developments in the team’s mindset heading home to Arrowhead Stadium for Week 13’s rare Black Friday matchup with the Raiders following their nail-biting road victory over Carolina last Sunday. We also learn more about Allen’s Hall of Fame career and Purce’s take on NFL stars like KC Current co-owner Patrick Mahomes’ investment in women’s sports.
Check out the link below to get your fill of Chiefs talk ahead of Friday’s kickoff:
This story has been updated to include a Bos Nation Football Club statement.
The National Women’s Soccer League’s newest expansion team is called *checks notes* Bos Nation Football Club. Yes, that is the team’s real name.
As a writer with a background in marketing, I know how hard it is to come up with good, lasting ideas, especially ones that involve a brand. It is not easy to nail things like colors, mission statement and tagline that will live on for years. However, it wouldn’t be the first time a professional sports franchise created a wild team name.
The Washington Commanders were the Washington Football Team for an entire season until leadership came up with a proper name. Maybe that’s happening here, and the name will change. But is Bos Nation Football Club the best thing someone could come up with? Have you no shame, NWSL?
Boston's NWSL franchise will officially be called BOS Nation FC, the team announced. The club is set to join the league in 2026. pic.twitter.com/xJu3GpV7Hr
i just know somebody presented “girl bos nation” as an option at some point during this process and i just wonder how long it *stayed* on the table 😭 https://t.co/F7Grsizqa1
UPDATE: After intense backlash to the team’s introduction, Bos Nation released a statement saying, “While we had hoped to create a bold and buzz-worthy brand launch campaign, we missed the mark.”
Chiefs Wire’s @EdEastonJr spoke to NJ/NY Gotham FC forward Midge Purce about the support that the NWSL has received from NFL players
The ongoing growth in attention for women’s sports in recent years has been long overdue as support comes in from luminaries across the sports business world.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife Brittany Mahomes serve as co-owners of the NWSL’s K.C. Current and are among the many vocal ownership groups pushing for financial growth and expansion.
Chiefs Wire’s Ed Easton Jr. spoke to defending NWSL champion NJ/NY Gotham FC forward Midge Purce after her panel at the Bloomberg Power Players New York event featured industry leaders at the intersection of sports, business, and technology.
She opened up about having a legendary NFL quarterback as part of the team’s ownership and the power of celebrity investment in the league.
“Eli (Manning) is the best, and I don’t know how else to describe him. He’s been absolutely fantastic,” Purce explained. “I think there is a demand for women’s sports because people recognize there is something to gain by investing in them. That’s always a good thing. It is great that celebrity owners are trying to get in on the deals. I want to see more.”
Purce is sidelined for the rest of this year due to an ACL injury. Purce explained what is needed to propel the league and women’s sports in the United States.
“I think it’s bigger brand deals, sponsorship deals, and media rights contracts,” Purce said.
NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman joined Purce on the Bloomberg panel that day to announce Basketball legend Magic Johnson’s investment in the league with the Washington Spirit.
The Mahomes family made a big splash earlier this season when they opened the first stadium purpose-built exclusively for an NWSL team. The Kansas City community and Chiefs have rallied around the Current, making them a permanent fixture in the sports landscape.
Bloomberg Power Players New York featured guests Steph Curry, Grant Hill, WWE’s Roman Reigns, and other sports business leaders engaging in forward-thinking conversations, forging strategic partnerships, and providing insights to empower you to stay ahead of the game.
Typically, in professional sports, when there’s a collective bargaining negotiation between a player’s association and the league the players are part of, there’s a bunch of haggling done through the media.
Usually, the players come to the league with demands that give them more agency over their career choices. Sometimes, the leagues concede a bit. But it’s never always everything. Sometimes, they end up being a lot more restrictive, like the NBA’s most recent CBA. Other times, players will get concessions, but eventually, they just don’t feel like enough, like with the WNBA.
But with the new CBA announced by the NWSL on Thursday, it feels like the players got everything.
On Thursday morning, the league and the player’s association announced their new collective bargaining agreement, which has to be considered one of — if not the most — pro-labor CBAs in professional sports.
Not only did it eliminate the NWSL draft and allow rookies to start their careers with free agency, but it also gave them complete control of their careers on the backend.
Let’s dive into the details and talk about how we got here.
Pound for pound, this has to be one of the best labor deals any players’ association has been able to negotiate. This is going to transform the NWSL completely.
Here are some other notable concessions players won:
Every contract in the league is now fully negotiated and the minimum salary will nearly double from $48,500 next year to $82,5000 in 2030 when this new deal expires.
The league also doesn’t have a maximum salary anymore, meaning there’s no limit on what a player can negotiate on an individual contract.
Now, every player effectively has a no-trade clause. The players involved in a potential deal must consent before the league approves trades.
End-of-season compensation bonuses in the league are doubling.
The league’s salary cap will be buoyed by a pool of cash from revenue sharing with the league, which comes from media and advertising deals.
Parental leave and childcare benefits for the players are also expanding.
That’s a long list of things — many of which players in other leagues can only dream of at this point.
Wow. Why was the league willing to offer so much here?
The league reportedly needed to make this move to keep the talent around.
Players in the NWSL were being scooped up by clubs overseas who could afford to play more and played in leagues where there was more movement.
Plus, on top of that, women’s American soccer just hadn’t been the dominant force that we were used to it being. Here’s more from Vanity Fair’s Tom Kludt:
“New powerhouses had emerged––chief among them Spain, which won last year’s World Cup, and England, winner of the 2022 Euros. Both of these countries had become hubs of the sport, boasting domestic leagues that produce and attract some of the best women’s soccer players in the world.
None of this was lost on leaders of the National Women’s Soccer League, the organization in which most members of the US women’s national team ply their trade. In August of last year, the league invited the NWSL Players Association, the labor union representing its players, to enter negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The two sides had already agreed to a contract the year prior that wasn’t set to expire until 2026, but the outcome of the World Cup hastened the desire for a new one.”
By giving players all these concessions along with more money and agency over their own careers, the league hopes it can retain some of the best talents in the world.
Basically, it dropped its American soccer approach and decided to compete on a global scale.
Wow. So, what is the downside of this?
Well, honestly, there’s not much of one. All of those concessions are substantial for the players. It’s pretty much everything they could’ve wanted.
The only downside to this might be the timing of it all.
The league actually approached the players early to get this done. The league’s previous contract wasn’t set to expire for another few years, but owners wanted to get ahead of it for one reason: TV money.
“Sources told ESPN that the impetus for opening negotiations early, in addition to long-term labor peace, was the fact that the league wanted a CBA expiration date that took place after the end of the current broadcast rights deal, which will occur at the end of the 2027 season.”
This new CBA will expire in 2030, well after the league negotiates its next broadcast deal.
Why does the NWSL’s next TV deal matter?
AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELEJOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images
Because the league is about to rake in the cash, folks.
The value of the NWSL has skyrocketed. The league currently has 14 teams but plans to expand to 16 over the next few years, with ownership groups already putting in bids.
Considering everything happening in the league right now, it’s a safe bet that the next deal in 2027 will be a lot bigger.
And that’s a bad thing for the players?
No, it’s not a bad thing. There’s nothing bad about this deal — again, they got all the concessions they could want.
But, considering that the deal was negotiated before the next big influx of cash comes into the league, the players will have to wait a little longer to take advantage of that. You always want to negotiate with the most money and leverage possible on the table.
Regardless, this is an excellent deal for the NWSL’s players and, pound for pound, the most player-friendly CBA in pro sports.
It’s awesome to see this happen. I can’t wait to watch how this shifts things, not only in the NWSL but also in professional sports overall.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time.
Folks, somebody has finally done it. There’s a league out there who finally had enough courage to say, “You know what? We don’t need a stinkin’ draft!”
But the biggest change was this: Eliminating the collegiate draft.
Like most American sports, the NWSL brought in talent through a draft system. Like most other drafts, the selection order was based on team record at the end of the previous regular season. The worst teams pick first.
Now, players entering the NWSL will enter free agency immediately upon entering the league and pick their teams, as they should. This is how it’s supposed to work, folks!
Look, I know you’re probably bristling at what I’m saying here. We love our drafts. They’re great theater! Leagues like the NFL, NBA and NHL essentially turn them into pageants for us all to consume and we eat it up.
All that aside, the NWSL had to do this. The league was losing out on talent to leagues worldwide that didn’t have drafts. This and other pro-player provisions in the CBA should theoretically curtail that.
I could bore you here by discussing the free market principles drafts violate, but I won’t.
Instead, imagine this: You graduate from college at the top of your class. You’re on your way into the world and ready to go to the coolest company you’ve been looking at. It’s located in a city you’ve dreamed of living in for a long time.
But, surprise! You get a phone call from another company. Definitely not a cool one. But they just drafted you. Get ready to learn not-cool-company, buddy. That’s where you’re headed.
It’s not over. On top of that, you have to talk about how it’s a dream come true to work at this precious company you had no desire to work for yesterday.
I’m sure some of you will yell at me about how this impacts parity in sports and how bad teams will never be good again because all the good players will already go to the good teams. But that’s not exactly true!
Different players have different desires. Some players will want to play for good teams, sure. But not every good team has enough playing time available for you.
For example, Brianna Pinto of the North Carolina Courage told Vanity Fair that she may not have gone to Gotham FC if she had the choice as a rookie because she didn’t get enough playing time.
“Maybe there were other opportunities to get on the field right away,” she said. Those are the things incoming rookies will have to make decisions on and those decisions won’t always lead to stacking the decks on a particular team.
Sometimes, it might! But, in the end, it’s the player’s choice. And that’s what matters most. Shoutout to the NWSL for recognizing that.
The rest of the American sports leagues should pay attention.
After 17 years in Major League Baseball, Votto is calling it quits. And what a career it was.
The former NL MVP spent his entire career with the Reds, amassing 7,252 at-bats. He wasn’t one of the biggest swingers out there. Votto finished his career with 356 homers, but he maintained a .409 on-base percentage, the 9th best of the integration era, according to USA Today’s Jesse Yomtov. You couldn’t keep the guy off the bases.
Votto was an incredible player, but more than that, he just seemed like a genuinely great human being. After seeing his retirement announcement, people poured in on social media to share their favorite Votto stories.
About a month after this, that little boy passed away after a fight with cancer.
Joey went to his visitation. The family offered to let him skip the line but he declined. He didn’t want to detract from people paying their respects to that boy. ❤️ https://t.co/93ABeng1zc
What a career for Votto. Enjoy retirement, my man. You deserve it.
Steph Curry is a troll
(Photo by Damien MEYER / AFP)
There’s no way Steph Curry didn’t know that removing the “Warriors guard” part from his bio would get fans to act all crazy.
That’s precisely what happened, our Prince Grimes wrote in FTW’s Layup Lines newsletter. “As you can imagine, NBA fans on social media acted totally normal about the small change,” he said. “And by normal I mean they immediately started picking new teams for Curry.”
You know how it goes, folks. Steph was on the Lakers yesterday. He was on the Suns, too. I think I even saw a few versions of Steph on the Heat out there.
In the end, this probably doesn’t mean anything. Probably. Here’s Prince again:
“OK. Look, I can see how this all looks. But we really shouldn’t read too much into it. For starters, I can’t even confirm what Curry’s bio said before today. I think we can trust it didn’t previously have a mention of his gold medal considering, ya know, he didn’t have one two weeks ago. At the same time, this literally means nothing… probably.”
Gotta keep the Warriors fans on edge, I guess.
Quick hits: Steve is back! … CFB Predictions … and more
After nearly five months out with injuries, O’Hara’s return drew big cheers at Red Bull Arena
Kelley O’Hara made her long-awaited return to the pitch Monday night, and fans at Red Bull Arena were delighted to see the U.S. women’s national team legend back in action.
O’Hara received a standing ovation during NJ/NY Gotham FC’s 3-1 friendly loss to Chelsea as she replaced McCall Zerboni.
The action was O’Hara’s first of any kind since March 30, with ankle and knee injuries keeping the veteran on the sideline for Gotham ever since. In May, the 36-year-old announced that she would retire at the conclusion of the 2024 NWSL season.
A pre-game social media post from Gotham revealed that O’Hara would be in uniform against Chelsea. The two-time World Cup winner would enter the match in the 85th minute, with Zerboni handing O’Hara the captain’s armband as the pair hugged at midfield.
There are at least 15 matches ahead for O’Hara before she officially hangs up her boots. The Bats have 10 more NWSL regular-season games ahead, along with four games in the Concacaf W Champions Cup and October’s NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup final.
Gotham, in fourth place on 31 points, is comfortably on course to make the NWSL playoffs. With ninth-place Racing Louisville 15 points further back, it stands to reason that O’Hara will get a shot at winning the NWSL championship for a third time.
The forward was sent to Louisville after a prolific spell with the Reign
Bethany Balcer admitted she was “heartbroken” with the way her Seattle Reign departure went down following Monday’s trade to Racing Louisville.
Balcer was sent to Louisville in exchange for midfielder Jaelin Howell and $50,000 in allocation money, ending a prolific five-and-a-half year run with the Reign.
The 27-year-old forward scored 33 goals over the past five years, tied for third in the NWSL over that span.
Following news of the trade, Balcer posted a farewell message to Seattle on her Instagram account.
“If only there were adequate words to express what my time in Seattle has meant to me,” the Michigan native said. “I’m heartbroken to be leaving this way but am forever grateful for the last six years.
“This place has transformed me and allowed me to grow in incredible ways. While the soccer was fun and rewarding, it’s the people and places I’ll miss most. Memories that will last a lifetime. Friendships that I’ll carry for the rest of my life. Seattle, it’s been an honor to represent you and play for such an incredible city and fan base.”
In the Reign’s announcement of the trade, general manager Lesle Gallimore was full of praise for Balcer’s impact during her time with the club.
“Seattle Reign would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Bethany Balcer for her time with the club,” said Gallimore. “A player who took the league by storm in her rookie season and continued to build an admirable professional career here in Seattle. I know she’ll be sorely missed in the locker room, by our staff and fans. We want nothing but the best for her as she continues her career. BB8 leaves a lasting legacy.”
Since her arrival in 2019, Balcer is the Reign’s leader in games played, goals, shots and shots on target.
The USMNT legend denied he was using the Wave job as a stepping stone
Landon Donovan may be the interim coach of the San Diego Wave for now, but the American soccer legend has admitted that he is eying the job on a full-time basis.
Donovan was surprisingly named to the position last week, taking over from Paul Buckle, another interim coach. Buckle took over in June after the Wave sacked Casey Stoney.
The 42-year-old admitted at a press conference on Monday that he faces a “steep” learning curve as he coaches in the women’s game for the first time.
“Steep, for sure,” Donovan said. “I have a baseline, I know a lot of the players here [in San Diego] from watching them throughout the last few seasons, but the rest of the league … I’m going to have to lean on people, and I’m getting up to speed fast.”
Donovan has previously coached in the USL Championship, leading the San Diego Loyal for three seasons. The Loyal folded last year amid competition from incoming MLS side San Diego FC.
The joint all-time leading U.S. men’s national team scorer dismissed the idea that he was using the Wave position as a stepping stone to another job.
“People questioned my motivation when I didn’t play in Europe my whole career, and I was happy to play in L.A. and help grow MLS around good people and have passion for a project that I believed in, and be close to my family,” he said. “So I’m different in that way, I’ve always been different. I don’t worry about the next job or the next gig or what this means, or the stepping stone.”
In fact, Donovan didn’t hide his desire to make the position permanent should things go well for the remainder of the season.
“The door is open, but what we’ve agreed on is through the end of the season and we’ll go from there,” he said. “We’ve [Donovan and Wave president Jill Ellis] both said, ‘Look, if it goes well, let’s have the conversation. If it doesn’t, one side doesn’t want it or the other, no problem.’ There’s no hard feelings, and we’ll move on.”
Donovan’s first game in charge will come on Tuesday, when the Wave travel to Panama to face Santa Fé in their first match of the Concacaf W Champions Cup.
The inaugural edition of the Concacaf W Champions Cup gets its group stage underway
The inaugural edition of the Concacaf W Champions Cup gets its group stage underway on Tuesday when the San Diego Wave travel to Panama to face Santa Fe.
The Wave qualified for the 11-team tournament by virtue of winning the 2023 NWSL Shield, while Sante Fe won the Apertura 2024 in the Liga de Fútbol Femenino in Panama.
After a play-in match last week, 10 teams remain in the W Champions Cup, which is divided into two groups of five teams each. After a round-robin group stage, the top two teams in each group will advance to the semifinal round in May 2025.
The W Champions Cup will also serve as the qualifying tournament for the inaugural FIFA Women’s Club World Cup, which will be played between January and February 2026.
[afflinkbutton text=”Watch Santa Fe vs. San Diego Wave FREE on Fubo” link=”https://www.fubo.tv/welcome?irad=343747&irmp=1205322&subId1=PSW&subId2=Generic&subId3=2023%2F24″]
The match in Panama will serve as the debut of new Wave interim head coach Landon Donovan, whose surprise hire was announced last week.
Donovan replaced Paul Buckle, who himself was an interim after the Wave fired Casey Stoney in June.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match.
Santa Fe vs. San Diego Wave (Concacaf W Champions Cup)
When: Tuesday, August 20
Where: Estadio Rommel Fernández (Panama City, Panama)
Time: 10 p.m. ET
Channel/streaming: CBS Sports Network (Watch FREE on Fubo)
[lawrence-related id=74090,72605,23400]
We recommend interesting sports viewing/streaming and betting opportunities. If you sign up for a service by clicking one of the links, we may earn a referral fee. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.
The veteran defender has played in four Olympics and five World Cups
Angel City FC defender Ali Riley has admitted that her current nerve injury may prevent her from ever playing professionally again.
Riley, 36, has not played for Angel City since April, with her most recent appearance of any kind coming in a May friendly with New Zealand.
Ahead of the Olympics, New Zealand announced that Riley had been withdrawn from the roster for the tournament in France, taking away her chance to play at a fifth Olympics.
After she was ruled out for the Olympics, Riley posted a message on Instagram detailing her injury.
“For the past seven months I’ve been struggling with a nerve injury,” she said. “It’s been frustrating, confusing, and excruciatingly painful in a way that’s hard to describe. The Ferns & ACFC medical and performance staff did everything possible to get me healthy for this Olympics (rehab, injections, strength, conditioning, treatment, medication, more injections) and I am so grateful to all of them.
“During this camp there have been bad days along with the good, and due to the unpredictable nature of this injury my coach decided that it would be best for the team to withdraw me completely from the squad.”
Over the weekend, Riley did a Q&A with a local organization for girls in sports and admitted that she may have played her final game.
“Who I am is not just a soccer player,” Riley said. “What I’ve learned from being a soccer player has made me who I am, but my identity goes so much beyond what I can do on a soccer field.
“And so in those dark, dark moments when I was like, ‘Can I get back?’ I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t run, and then even now, when I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to play soccer again. That’s the reality of the injury I have right now.”
Riley has been capped 162 times by New Zealand and has featured in five World Cups.
The defender began her pro career in WPS with FC Gold Pride in 2010, and has gone on to play in Norway, England and Germany along with the NWSL.
After her comments spread, Riley would later post a message on X insisting that she isn’t ready to throw in the towel yet.
I’m not giving up and I’m not going anywhere. My goal is to play for my club and country again and I will think about that as I do my rehab every day for as long as it takes. I will share more of my story soon but for now I’m just happy to be back with my angels ♥️ https://t.co/CyVKf2LNul
