As Boston Breakers set to fold, NWSL to California rumors continue apace

Bombshell reports emerged on Thursday, with Anthony DiCicco announcing on Twitter that NWSL mainstay Boston Breakers are going out of business, effective immediately. All subsequent reports have backed that up, although as of publication the league itself has yet to make any announcement about the future of the club, which was known to be on the market this offseason, but was involved in last week’s NWSL College Draft.

There remains the tiniest sliver of hope until the hammer falls from the league that there will be an emergency option to save everything, but as of now, that looks unlikely.

Of course, the expansion rumors never stop.

SI.com’s Grant Wahl tweeted on Thursday evening that even with the Breakers going bust, expansion to Los Angeles still sounds “likely” in 2019, and with an interesting partnership coming together:

Sounds very intriguing, and also the coming together of years of rumors that have been swirling for both Los Angeles Football Club and Barcelona.

Of course, with the Breakers, one of the most iconic brands in women’s soccer, going out of business, there’s a question of what the future of the NWSL really is. Things had seemed to get to a point where the league was ascending every year, and even with relocations like the Western New York Flash to North Carolina and this offseason, FC Kansas City to Utah, the league itself was healthy overall and had its affairs in order. But now? Who knows, really.

There remains much unknown publicly about the Breakers situation, but it feels like a terrible time to think about expansion. Perhaps NWSL will bounce back, like MLS, from an early slump and find a way through it to long-term stability. Or maybe the league has a lot of growing pains ahead, and expansion will be put out of mind for much longer as the stability of current teams is sought. We’ll see.

What do you think? Leave a comment below!