NWSL commissioner says lessons have been learned from on-field medical crises

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National Women's Soccer League Commissioner Jessica Berman said the league has learned from experience about how to better deal with on-field medical issues, like the recent collapse of a Racing Louisville player during a match in Seattle.

Savannah DeMelo was taken from the field by ambulance late in the first half of Louisville's match against the Seattle Reign on Sunday and was hospitalized. The remainder of the game was postponed, and the second half was played Tuesday without fans at Lumen Field.

That differed from earlier in the season, when a game between Angel City and the Utah Royals was resumed after Angel City defender Savy King had a medical event on the field in Los Angeles and later required heart surgery. The league was criticized for the decision to resume the match.

Berman said Thursday that she made the decision to stop Sunday's game and the league now has a “decision tree” in place to make such calls in her absence.

“The decision to not continue the game was a no-brainer and did not require contemplation,” Berman said. “We at least now know exactly how to manage those situations and are confident that hopefully we’ll never have to do them again. But because we’ve had two now a couple of times in the same season, we’re at that position to be prepared.”

Berman made the comments in a wide-ranging session with reporters following the NWSL's board of governors meetings in New York.

Among the other issues she touched on was the departure of Angel City's Alyssa Thompson for Chelsea in the English Women's Super League. The move spurred questions about the league's salary cap, and whether it was hindering teams from signing and retaining talent.

The NWSL’s salary cap is $3.3 million per team. The league has also introduced revenue sharing, bringing the total to $3.5 million. The cap will increase to $5.1 million by 2030.

“While I could understand the focus on the salary cap, the ways that players make decisions about where to play is a complex set of considerations, and we will always look at that, not in a myopic way, but holistically,” Berman said. “We are quite confident that the value proposition that we offer to players is compelling and will continue to attract and retain the best players.”

Berman also touched on expansion. The Denver Summit and the Boston Legacy join the league next season, bringing it to 16 teams. Going forward, Berman said, the league will employ rolling expansion rather than the more rigid application process it has used before.

“We pretty much know the universe of people who are interested. There’s more than a dozen of them,” Berman said. “Those conversations are ongoing. Each of them has a different perspective on how much time they need to launch, the investments they need to make in order to be successful, including potentially around infrastructure. We don't want to force a square peg into a round hole. We want to be more flexible so that we can get to the best possible result for the next round.”

Berman signed a four-year contract in early 2022 as the league was trying to recover from an abuse and misconduct scandal. She said she intends to remain the league's commissioner going forward, but did not give details about when a new deal might be struck.

“What I can say is that I intend to be here,” she said. "I joined this league because I believe in the future of women’s sports and professional women’s soccer, and that’s all I can say.”

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