NWSL President Amanda Duffy has only been in her current role for about a year, having been promoted from her former position as Managing Director in January 2019. To say it’s been a whirlwind 12 months is probably a bit of an understatement. At the beginning of 2019, the league was still looking to stabilize itself in the aftermath of the demise of the Boston Breakers and relocation of FC Kansas City to Utah, each of which occurred in early 2018. Additionally, Sky Blue FC were dealing with news of substandard training, transportation and housing conditions for its players. Reign FC announced a move from Seattle to Tacoma as playing at Memorial Stadium was no longer a viable situation.

To top it off, the league had to navigate the 2019 Women’s World Cup, which saw the US Women’s National Team romp to its second consecutive title—and fourth overall—in France. There was significant pressure on Duffy and the league to capitalize on the publicity from the USWNT’s victory to increase the visibility—and viability—of the league.

So as Duffy sat on the stage at Cheney Stadium on Thursday alongside world superstar Megan Rapinoe, former majority owners of Reign FC Bill and Teresa Predmore, and the new majority owners from OL Groupe to announce the sale of the team, it checked one thing off of her to-do-list, but her inbox is still pretty full.

The NWSL is in a much better position than it has been in some time, having seen a substantial increase in attendance (up 145,000 fans, according to a release from the league), sponsorships (Budweiser coming aboard as a presenting sponsor), and television ratings and opportunities. That said, there are still issues the league needs to sort through establish long-term stability. Increased compensation, expansion, broadcast deals and resolving the league’s management agreement with US Soccer remain at the top of the agenda, as well as appointing a league commissioner (a position Duffy is being considered for, but declined to comment on) to guide the NWSL going forward.

The NWSL has received assistance from USSF since the league began, with the federation providing support in the form of subsidizing the salaries of the US national team players, which has helped keep high profile players in the league. The Federation, per the management agreement, also assists in league operations on a macro level. Neither party is particularly happy with that agreement, but similarly neither quite thinks it’s ready to end.

“NWSL’s had a relationship with US Soccer since the league’s inception in 2013,” Duffy told Sounder at Heart. “We’re on the fourth iteration of the management agreement — this one being a three-year agreement that was set to expire at the end of this calendar year.”

With the current management agreement expiring in less than two weeks, the parties have been negotiating a new agreement. At this point it is pretty clear that neither wants to completely sever the relationship, even if both sides would like to ultimately have the NWSL operating as its own independent entity.

“It was never intended for the relationship to just end, but it was more about an evolution and how the federation would continue to support [the] NWSL,” Duffy said. “As we do look ahead, we anticipate right now that the management agreement will continue for at least one more year, into 2020.

“That will allow the league and owners the time as we focus on our new governance structure, our new operation structure and the investment that will be necessary to operate the league at the level we all want it to and need it to, to be successful for us and provide resources to the teams and the players.”

Among the other issues the league needs to resolve is a long-term broadcast deal. Previously, the NWSL broadcast games on the Lifetime network, with A&E (the parent company of Lifetime) taking an equity stake in the league. That relationship lasted just over two years, with neither party happy with the arrangement. In 2019, the NWSL signed a short-term deal with ESPN to broadcast games, and now the league looks to sign a more lucrative deal to increase its visibility and boost the bottom line.

“With the separation from A&E and the discontinuing of the Lifetime broadcast agreement earlier this year, we engaged with ESPN and we were intentional in doing a one-year agreement with the 14 games,” Duffy said. “We wanted all of our rights to be on the table: domestic, international, digital, linear. [E]ngaging with Octagon, they’ve been really resourceful; they have relationships that are global and have been really valuable in our conversations and assessments of the opportunities that are in front of us and I think in the very near term we’ll be taking steps to secure a broadcast partner for a few seasons.”

A major stated goal for the NWSL since the demise of the Boston Breakers has been to get the league back to 10 teams, but the league’s ambitions extend well beyond that. With the announcement of the Louisville expansion franchise, the NWSL will be back to 10 teams, though later than originally planned. Additionally, Duffy said a second expansion team is likely to be announced next year, also to begin play in 2021. “Our objective was to be at 10 teams in 2020, 12 teams in 2021 and 14 teams in 2022... [that] was our three-year outlook,” Duffy said. “We announced Louisville earlier this year, at this point I anticipate an announcement early in 2020 around a second expansion team to start in 2021,” Duffy said.

The failure to bring in the unnamed expansion side in 2020 was seen as a disappointment to some, but Duffy believes it will provide the team—and league—a better pathway to success for all involved going forward. “We have been advanced conversations with [another] expansion group that would have been our expansion team for 2020. We’ve reached a point where in the best interests of that expansion group and in the best interests of our players and our league that moving them to 2021 makes the most sense.

“And with our objective to be at 12 teams another announcement would follow. We have a couple of advanced conversations around 2021 as well as 2022.” Duffy indicated that she is confident that the NWSL will still be able to reach its objective of 14 teams by 2022.

With the NWSL welcoming OL Groupe as Reign FC’s new majority owners, Duffy indicated that it doesn’t necessarily represent a shift in what the league is looking for as it pertains to investment in the league, and they will continue to assess ownership opportunities as they present themselves.

“What we’re looking for is the strength of the ownership group, the strength of the facilities, the stadium and resources that are in a market,” Duffy said. “There’s not necessarily a model we subscribe to, whether it’s an existing brand, a global brand, international versus domestic, MLS or USL as a shared situation or independent.

“It’s more about the ownership, the financial capabilities and all of the resources that can be provided to the players to keep us as leaders in this game globally.”