New Orlando Pride executive vice president Amanda Duffy, who formerly worked as NWSL president, stated she stays confident the club will play a full slate of games this season despite the coronavirus pandemic. (Mitchell Northam/ Pro Soccer U.S.A.).
Despite the NWSL training moratorium and postponed season opener, Orlando Pride executive vice president Amanda Duffy stays confident the league will have the ability to reschedule every game of the 2020 season.
During a Q&A session on the club’s social media accounts on Wednesday, Duffy stated she anticipates the club to still play a full slate of 24 routine season games this season.
“There’s nothing that we have that would indicate it’ll be a season any different than what we had expected other than start dates,” Duffy stated.
She stated conversations are ongoing in between league commissioner Lisa Baird and the board of directors, that includes agents from all 9 teams and inbound growth side Louisville FC. She restated a tentative timeline that Baird formerly set out for a league reboot, which would see players “on the field in some capacity” by late May and matches resuming in late June.
Duffy added leaders throughout the league will focus on health and safety of everybody associated with matches while preparing a go back to the pitch.
“Everyone knows we learn more every day, there’s new information on trends, on potential plateaus and reaching other side of curves with COVID-19,” Duffy stated. “We have to think about that and factor that into every decision, but it’s important for us as an organization, it’s important for the league, it’s important for the players to at least have some understanding of what we’re working towards.”
The NWSL extended its training moratorium by a month recently, stopping all team exercises up until May 5. The 2020 season was initially slated to begin on April18 When the league at first revealed its training moratorium in March, a target return date was not set.
Despite when the season kicks off, Duffy highlighted the value of versatility amongst clubs and theleague Clubs will need to rebook their places, which will needing collaborating with partner MLS clubs or other teams that share those places.
Although she acknowledged games that occur on the weekends are chosen– and night games are especially highlighted in Orlando, where late-summer heat ends up being ruthless in the afternoons– Duffy stated the league may need to schedule more afternoon and mid-week games in order to reschedule a full state of matches.
” As a club, we’re constantly attempting to put the very best schedule in location [with] the very best dates in location,” Duffy stated. “Going through this rescheduling process, all of the clubs are going to have to show the most flexibility as that schedule comes together.”
This is Duffy’s first season in the new role of Pride executive vice president after functioning as the league president during the 2019season She formerly invested 3 years in different NWSL management functions.
Duffy joked she felt grateful she wasn’t still in her former position at the league level, where she would’ve been entrusted with developing the new schedule.
” I’m delighted I’m here [in Orlando] now for that and not at the league attempting to construct a new schedule with new conditions and new schedule,” Duffy stated. “It’s going to be a tricky and challenging process for the league to put this together.”
Remarks
remarks