An interactive version of this post can be found here.
The schedule for the 2026 NWSL season is finally out! Let’s see if there are any trends or patterns in the way days, times, and broadcasters were distributed among the teams.
Visual 1: Days of the week of games
Visual 2: Time of Day of Games
*All times local to where the game is taking place
Visual 3: Time of Day of Games
*All times local to the team represented
Visual 4: Time of Day of Games, by Home and Away
*All times local to where the game is taking place
Visual 5: Time of Day of Games, by Home and Away
*All times local to the team represented
Visual 6: Broadcasters of games
*Each team’s total is 29 since Decision Day broadcasting is still TBD
Visual 7: Broadcasters of Games, in order of 2025 standings
*Since Boston and Denver didn't have a 2025 table position, I stuck them on at the end. Each team’s total is 29 since Decision Day broadcasting is still TBD.
Visual 8: Home and Away Games, by month
Some teams (like Boston) have their home games frontloaded, some (Denver) have them backloaded, and some have them more evenly distributed.
Visual 9: Concentration of games, by team
Not all seasons are built the same this year, especially with the reintroduction of midweek games. A team like Denver can afford to have a lot of games in August/September, while a team like Washington can't because of CONCACAF obligations.
Visual 10: Concentration of midweek games, by team
Current, Spirit, and Gotham are done by August, Wave and Thorns wrap things up by June, and Angel City and Reign leave it until the last minute.
Visual 11: Week-over-Week Difficulty, by opponent’s 2025 table standing
*The y-axis is flipped so that 1 (Current) is at the top and 15/16 (Boston/Denver) are at the bottom.
Visual 12: Week-over-Week Difficulty, by opponent’s 2025 points earned
*The mean number of points in 2025 was 35 and the median was ~36, so I assigned Boston and Denver 35 points each to prevent the graphs from looking super weird.
You can clearly see when each team is playing the Current.