I’m knee-deep into writing my guidebook reviewing all 14 National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) stadiums after spending a couple months traveling, spending a day at each venue, and enjoying the surrounding city before and after the games.

Soon after I started this project, I began to see similarities and patterns at each spot, and I immediately thought of two extra chapters I wanted to add to the guidebook. One will be a list of the best attributes of any team's arena for a chapter I’ll call “How to create the ultimate NWSL fan experience." I'll list every great thing from every location that was unique and well done and it should serve as a blueprint for teams wanting to make their fans happier. My other idea was to start organizing all 14 different venues into groups, based on how good of an experience attending a match was.

Before the guidebook is complete, I wanted to share my organized tier list, with a paragraph explaining how each venue earned their spot. For the full story and review of each NWSL stadium, you’ll have to wait until the book is released next month, but for now, here's my list:

Top tier (S-tier)

These are the best stadium experiences I had, full stop. 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 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 I wasn’t sure they 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. They even tried ambitious ideas no one else in the league has tackled, like eliminating all plastic bottles in the stadium to reduce landfill waste. The crowds are effusive and supportive, everyone I talked to welcomed visitors, and the atmosphere there celebrates and elevates not only the home team but the sport itself. (visited in May)

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 and feels 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 high-end, the park has a real luxury hotel feel in its look and finishes, and every single seat in the venue is a nice padded kind I’ve only seen before in private suites or special club areas. Top to bottom, every part of taking in a game here felt top-tier. (visited in May)

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 earlier ones. 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 fancy, 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. (visited in May)

Providence Park (Portland, OR)

Portland Thorns’ home field is almost 100 years old and in the middle of Soccer City, USA, 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 in this list because at every game, the stadium is packed with about twenty thousand people, and it's louder than any NWSL arena you will experience. The venue, location, and food options are great 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. (visited in May)

Audi Field (Washington DC)

The Washington Spirit’s home arena feels similar to PayPal Park in terms of design, size, and vibes. It’s a steep-sided stadium with good views of the pitch from any seat, the food was great, and the pre and post game activities were some of the best. (visited in June)

America First Field (Sandy, UT)

I was surprised at how much fun I had on my trip to see the new expansion squad Utah Royals play. The stadium has the widest variety of food and some the best meals I can recall from the whole tour and 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 ten thousand people comfortably. (visited in May)

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, reflecting on my time spent at them wasn't as memorable as the earlier picks.

Lynn Family Stadium (Louisville, KY)

I love the Racing Louisville team and have longtime friends in the region and we 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 like when the players move between the locker rooms and the pitch, it completely 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. (visited in June)

Snapdragon Stadium (San Diego, CA)

San Diego Wave FC’s home is a newly built pitch with great food and drink options, it's in 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 1pm where almost everyone was suffering from heat exhaustion. (visited in May)

Shell Energy Stadium (Houston, TX)

The Houston Dash’s home pitch is a perfectly normal stadium with great local cuisine, but nothing 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 and you can expect high temps, high humidity, and at our game, a 2.5 hour lightning and thunderstorm delayed start. (visited in May)

Inter & Co Stadium (Orlando, FL)

Orlando Pride’s home stadium is similar to Houston’s—crowds are smaller so they only sell tickets in the lowest level making it easier to see players up close, but it's harder to follow soccer tactics on the other side of the field 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. (visited in May)

Red Bull Arena (Harrison, NJ)

I had high hopes for Gotham FC’s stadium, especially since it’s located in biggest metro area in the US, but crowds are on the smaller side for NWSL matches, so half the food and drink venues in the stadium were completely closed, and seats are sold in fairly low, close to the pitch areas making it hard to follow player movements and strategy. (visited in June)

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 big for a NWSL soccer match. It was designed for Seahawks NFL games with room for 75,000 people so much of the arena is closed to the public, blocked, and surrounded by locked gates, which gives off weird and unwelcome vibes. Typical games get anywhere from 5,000-10,000 Seattle Reign fans so walking through such a huge space feels like wandering around a ghost town as most everything is closed, except for a smattering of concessions in one 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. (visited in July)

WakeMed 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 don’t go up very high so you get 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 I hope they can move on from what feels like a college field to a real stadium that can fit ten to twenty thousand fans comfortably someday. (visited in June)

SeatGeek Stadium (Chicago, IL)

This was my first trip in this series but happens to be the place I’d rank lowest overall after seeing every other field. It’s 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 uber ride 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 at a hot afternoon game. (visited in April)

That's my rankings after reflecting on my experiences from all the trips. You can catch photos and brief summaries from each here. If anyone reading this has feedback on anything I might have missed, feel free to email me.

Also, if you subscribe to this site, you'll be first to know when the final version of the guidebook drops in late August.