The Utah Royals will officially make their return to the NWSL soon, sources familiar with the team’s upcoming plans confirmed to The Athletic. A formal announcement of the team, which will technically be a new expansion team launching for the 2024 season, will happen in early to mid-March. Here’s what you need to know:
- The Royals were an NWSL team from 2018 to 2020, but folded and moved to Kansas City in December 2020 after the former owner was ousted by both the NWSL and MLS after The Athletic reported on his racist behavior and a toxic culture at the Royals and RSL.
- The Royals will be able to keep their original team name, despite launching as a new expansion team after the forced relocation of the team in 2020.
- Utah will join alongside a prospective expansion team in the Bay Area in 2024, with Boston also approved as an expansion market at a later date.
Backstory
Utah won’t be the first market to get an NWSL team after one left town — in a strange twist, they’ll now match the Kansas City Current, who formed after the Royals folded and that operating agreement with the NWSL was purchased by Chris and Angie Long and Brittany Mahomes.
But the Royals had one of the more interesting paths back into the league: an agreement, as part of that sale in 2020 under former…
