Soon after we started traveling the country for this project, we started to see similarities and patterns at NWSL stadiums, and we immediately thought it’d be a good idea to try ranking them from top to bottom. On the internet, this is popularly known as a tiered list, going from grades A to F with a topmost tier marked as level S.
After visiting every stadium, here’s our ranked tier list along with an explanation of why each stadium deserved its grade.
Top tier (S-tier)
These are the best stadium experiences we had, full stop. They’re the best of the best and include great locations, great venues, good food, awesome vibes, and fun crowds. These are as close to perfection as you’ll find in the league when it comes to the fan experience.
CPKC Stadium (Kansas City, MO)
The KC Current’s stadium was purpose-built for the club and it's the first arena on earth dedicated to a women’s professional sports team, ever. That’s a really big deal and we weren’t sure that the team could deliver on such a momentous project, but it’s a fantastic place to enjoy a match. It has a wonderful, modern, airy design, the tight pitch makes you feel like you’re on top of the action, and there are amazing local food options throughout the stadium. They even tried ambitious ideas no other team in the league has tackled, like eliminating all plastic bottles in the stadium to reduce waste. The crowds are effusive and supportive, everyone we talked to welcomed visitors, and the atmosphere there celebrates and elevates not only the home team, but the sport itself.
PayPal Park (San Jose, CA)
The Bay FC’s home feels like a premium experience in a way no other park did. The stadium is on the smaller side of things capacity-wise, making it feel somewhat intimate. It offers the steepest rows of any stadium in the league, which means people in front of you can't block your view and every seat is a good one to watch a game. The food and drink options are top-notch. The park has a real luxury hotel feel in its look and finishes, and every single seat in the venue is padded; the type of seat we’ve only seen in private suites or special club areas. Top to bottom, every part of taking in a game here felt top-tier.
Upper tier (A-tier)
The following stadiums all had great things in terms of design, size, or feel, but weren't as close to perfection as the S-tier venues above. But make no mistake, you’ll have a fantastic experience attending matches at any of these locations.
BMO Stadium (Los Angeles, CA)
Angel City FC’s stadium feels like a high-end European soccer arena, with huge overhanging panels providing ample shade for most of the stadium. Food options are plentiful and varied, and the supporters section is massive and dedicated to the home team.
Providence Park (Portland, OR)
The Portland Thorns’ home field is almost 100 years old and in the middle of Soccer City, U.S.A., so it has an immense history as well as likely the largest supporters club on earth for pro women’s soccer. Attending a match here is unlike any other on this list because the stadium is packed with about 20,000 people, and it’s louder than any NWSL arena you will experience. The venue, location, and food options are good too, but what really sets Portland apart is the unparalleled atmosphere. The place exudes over-the-top enthusiasm from an electric crowd, all united by a love of the game.
Audi Field (Washington, DC)
The Washington Spirit’s home arena feels similar to PayPal Park in terms of size and vibes. It’s a steep-sided stadium with good views of the pitch from any seat, the food was very good, and the pre- and post-game activities were some of the best. About the only thing holding it back were a lack of parking options and seats that were too tightly packed.
America First Field (Sandy, UT)
We were surprised at how much fun we had on our trip to see the new expansion squad Utah Royals play. The stadium has the widest variety of food and some of the best meals. The venue was on the larger side so it meant plenty of room for pre-game fan zones, food trucks, and endless restrooms that could easily accommodate over 10,000 people comfortably.
Middle tier (B-tier)
These stadiums do a lot of things well and all have at least one really good aspect of their experiences, but overall, after reflecting on our time spent at them, they weren’t as memorable as the earlier picks.
Lynn Family Stadium (Louisville, KY)
We love the Racing Louisville team and have longtime friends in the region, making us visit this pitch annually. The stadium is on the smaller side so you’re generally close to the action and players, and the food and drink options are plentiful and good. It's a great vacation city too, but there are some weird design choices here, like when the players move between the locker rooms and the pitch, it disrupts the crowd flow for most of the match (effectively blocking one side of the stadium to easy movement), and the sun sets directly into the eyes of one side’s goalkeeper during early evening games, which doesn’t seem well thought out.
Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego, CA)
San Diego Wave FC’s home is a newly built pitch with great food and drink options, it's a fabulous vacation destination, and it has the easiest access to light rail/public transit of any NWSL park we visited. The only thing holding it back? There is little to no shade anywhere in the stadium during mid or early afternoon matches. We’ve been to four different games over the years here and enjoyed every trip except the one that kicked off at 1 p.m., where almost everyone was suffering from heat exhaustion.
Shell Energy Stadium (Houston, TX)
The Houston Dash’s home pitch is a perfectly normal stadium with great local cuisine and high-end mesh seats, but nothing else really stood out about the park. The crowds are generally smaller and the general seating areas are low on the field, making it hard to watch plays develop. Being in Houston, weather is a factor at many games. You can expect high temps, high humidity, and a chance of rain — at our game, there was a 2.5-hour lightning and thunderstorm delayed start.
Inter&Co Stadium (Orlando, FL)
Orlando Pride’s home stadium is similar to Houston’s — crowds are smaller so tickets are only sold for the lowest level, making it easier to see players up close, but it's harder to follow soccer tactics from such a low vantage point. Also, after three trips to this stadium over the years — during vastly different times of year — every match we've experienced was dreadfully hot and humid.
Sports Illustrated Stadium (Harrison, NJ)
We had high hopes for Gotham FC’s stadium, especially since it’s located in the biggest metro area in the U.S., but crowds are on the smaller side for NWSL matches, so half the food and drink stands in the stadium were closed, and seats are sold in fairly low, close-to-the-pitch areas, making it hard to follow player movements and strategy.
Lower tier (C-tier)
These places all came up short and are in need of major updates or changes to new venues to give fans a better experience attending a match.
Lumen Field (Seattle, WA)
This stadium is simply too large for a NWSL soccer match. It was designed around Seahawks NFL games with room for 75,000 people, but with Seattle Reign games getting about 5,000 to 10,000 fans, much of the arena is closed to the public, blocked, and surrounded by locked gates, giving off unwelcome vibes. Walking around the huge stadium also feels like wandering around a ghost town as most everything is closed, except for a smattering of concessions in one small area. Also during hot summer matches, fans aren’t allowed to sit on the shaded, padlocked side of the stadium, making it feel even more uncomfortable.
First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park (Cary, NC)
The North Carolina Courage’s home pitch feels like a throwback to the early days of the NWSL, when most teams played inside glorified practice facilities. There are uncomfortable metal bleachers that give you a poor view of the action, there’s little to no shade or relief from the relentless sun, and the food options were standard hot dogs and burgers stadium fare. Such a good team with such dedicated fans and a championship-winning history deserves a more professional place to play and we hope they can move on from what feels like a college field to a real stadium that can fit 10,000 to 20,000 fans comfortably someday.
SeatGeek Stadium (Chicago, IL)
This is a generic stadium far outside of downtown Chicago in a spot with no public transit or other reasons to visit, so it requires a car or an expensive rideshare to get to matches. Food options were forgettable standard stadium options, and tickets were limited to the sunny side of the pitch, which wasn’t great during a hot afternoon game.
