OL Reign forward Bethany Balcer aired her frustration with the setup of the 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup ahead of Wednesday night’s semifinals against Racing Louisville. Here’s what you need to know:
- In an Instagram story post Wednesday afternoon, Balcer called out the league for “making the same mistakes” with regard to scheduling and national broadcast time slots that it has in previous years.
- OL Reign is this year’s No. 1 seed and host Louisville at 10 p.m. ET. If they advance to Sunday’s final, Balcer says the team won’t be able to host the game in Seattle because it’s locked into the 12:30 ET time slot on CBS.
- “Screw CBS and put that game on YouTube for all I care,” Balcer said in the post. “No wonder we struggle to get the exposure and views we want … because what the league is giving us is s—.”
- The league’s official website says: “Higher seeds will be given first priority to host all playoff games, pending stadium availability.”
What Balcer said
“It BLOWS my mind that we have had the challenge cup for 3 years and we still are making the same mistakes,” Balcer’s post read. “Last year, we got the top seed, but couldn’t host the semifinal due to field scheduling conflicts that the league wouldn’t let us work around. This year we got…
