The first American sports league to return to play in a bubble this summer was the NWSL, which held its Challenge Cup in Utah where the Houston Dash emerged victorious. It was the first real proof point of how sports could return to action and that the bubble system works, which the MLS, WNBA, NBA, and NHL have all shown further in recent months.
Now, they will look to build off of the success of the Challenge Cup with their upcoming Fall Series, in which the league’s nine teams will be broken into pods — West, Northeast, and South — with each team getting four games. The pods concept is in an effort to limit travel and keep teams as safe as possible. The pods are broken up as follows.
WEST: OL Reign, Portland Thorns, Utah Royals FC
NORTHEAST: Chicago Red Stars, Sky Blue FC, Washington Spirit
SOUTH: Houston Dash, Orlando Pride, North Carolina Courage
The schedule for the games and complete format for the Fall Series will be announced next week, but what we do know is games will run from September 5 to October 17, with a game each Saturday in September on CBS and on CBS Sports Network in October. Getting games on the main network is, obviously, a big win for the league to get even greater exposure on a major network station, with CBS broadcasting other games on their CBS All Access platform.
