NWSL home openers announced: Breakers will play Sky Blue FC April 23

NWSL has finally released home opener information and the Boston Breakers are scheduled to play FC Kansas City away on April 16, then will return the following weekend to open at home against Sky Blue FC on April 23.

The full list of NWSL home openers is as follows:

Saturday, April 15
Houston Dash vs. Chicago Red Stars (BBVA Compass Stadium)
Portland Thorns FC vs. Orlando Pride (Providence Park)
Seattle Reign FC vs. Sky Blue FC (Memorial Stadium)
Washington Spirit vs. North Carolina Courage (Maryland SoccerPlex)

Sunday, April 16
FC Kansas City vs. Boston Breakers (Swope Soccer Village)

Saturday, April 22
Chicago Red Stars vs. FC Kansas City (Toyota Park)
North Carolina Courage vs. Portland Thorns FC (WakeMed Soccer Park)
Orlando Pride vs. Washington Spirit (Orlando City Stadium)

Sunday, April 23
Boston Breakers vs. Sky Blue FC (Jordan Field)

Sunday, April 30
Sky Blue FC vs. FC Kansas City (Yurcak Field)

The full NWSL schedule has been delayed several times, probably due to the logistics of ensuring that at least two games every weekend must play at 4 PM ET in order to fit to Lifetime’s broadcast schedule, with one game airing and the other acting as a backup in case of technical difficulty.

USWNT players will also be coming off two friendlies against Russia on April 6 and 9, which will impact any preseason training with their clubs. There are also rumored friendlies around FIFA windows in June and July, the former against Norway and the latter a tournament that involves Brazil, Japan, and Australia. It’s shaping up to be another NWSL season interrupted by WNT friendlies, which some fans may argue is extremely unnecessary in a year with no major tournaments. Conversely, because there are no big international tournaments, there’s less opportunity for the WNT’s popularity to reflect onto the league; perhaps missing one or two NWSL games could be worth it, assuming there’s proper coverage of the NT games that doesn’t ignore NWSL, as they sometimes do.

With home openers announced, the full NWSL schedule should be on its way but considering it was supposed to be announced several times already, fans shouldn’t hold their breaths.