How to Watch 2021 NWSL Expansion Draft

Thursday is one of the landmark days in Angel City FC’s history, as they’ll take part in the 2021 Expansion Draft alongside fellow 2022 entrant San Diego Wave FC.

ACFC get the first pick overall for the expansion draft, and can select up to nine players, but they will not get that many, due to deals previously made with existing teams:

• Chicago Red Stars will not have a player selected by ACFC because of the deal to land the NWSL rights to Sarah Gorden and Julie Ertz.
• Racing Louisville will not have a player selected by ACFC because of the deal to acquire Christen Press’ NWSL rights.
• North Carolina Courage won’t have a player selected by ACFC because of the deal to get Cari Roccaro’s NWSL rights.
• Gotham FC won’t have a player selected by ACFC because of the deal to acquire DiDi Haracic’s NWSL rights.
• Portland Thorns will not have a player selected by ACFC because of the trade to acquire the NWSL rights to Simone Charley and Tyler Lussi, plus a draft pick.
• OL Reign will not have a forward selected by ACFC because of the trade to acquire a draft pick, although players from other position groups can be selected by Angel City.
• Washington Spirit will not have any U.S. allocated players selected by ACFC due to the deal to acquire MA Vignola’s NWSL rights, but other unprotected players from the Spirit could be selected.
• Kansas City Current are exempt from this expansion draft altogether, due to a prior agreement with the league.

As a result, Angel City could select a player from:

• Houston Dash
• Orlando Pride
• A non-OL Reign unprotected player who is not classified as a forward
• A Washington Spirit unprotected player who is not a U.S. allocated player

So we’re looking at four players total, max. If ACFC does not take a U.S. allocated player at all, they will get $150,000 in allocation money. Since they already have the likes of Press and Ertz, they may keep the money to get more spending power. If they pick a U.S. allocated player, the $150,000 will go to the team that lost the player.

One more note: Angel City and San Diego cannot both take a player from the same position group at the same team. So if San Diego take an Orlando defender, for example, then Angel City cannot take an Orlando defender too, but they can still take a forward, midfielder or goalkeeper.

How to Watch the 2021 NWSL Expansion Draft

The Expansion Draft will take place on Thursday, Dec. 16 at 4 pm PT and is a fully remote production. You can watch it on CBS Sports Network, Paramount+, CBS Sports HQ, the CBS Sports HQ Twitch channel, and the NWSL YouTube channel.

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