The 2018 NWSL Championship will be held at Providence Park in Portland, the league announced at the top of Saturday’s Lifetime Game of the Week broadcast. The match has been announced with a 4:30 p.m. EDT start time on Saturday, September 22, and will be broadcast on Lifetime. This marks the fourth straight year that the league’s signature match will be played at a predetermined site and also the fourth year in a row that playoff soccer will be played in Portland. After hosting the first predetermined NWSL Championship in 2015, the Thorns hosted semifinals each of the last two seasons.
NWSL also reinforce that the semifinals will be held between September 14 and 16 and that both will be broadcast live on Lifetime. Last year the semifinals were held on consecutive days and the television crew chartered a flight from Portland to North Carolina in order to be able to broadcast both matches with the same announcing team.
Tickets for the 2018 NWSL Championship will go in sale to the general public on Thursday, June 7. Thorns season ticket holders will be contacted regarding an exclusive presale beginning June 5.
The 2015 NWSL Championship at Providence Park drew a crowd of 13,264 to see FC Kansas City defeat the Seattle Reign on a Thursday night. It is the only time the final has drawn five figures. Subsequent NWSL Championships have been held in Houston and Orlando.
