The 2023 NWSL Championship is, for the first time, going to be held in California.
The league announced Thursday that the San Diego Wave will host the 2023 final. The championship game is scheduled to take place at Snapdragon Stadium on November 11, with a primetime CBS broadcast set for 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
“We’re thrilled to have San Diego Wave FC as our host for this season’s Championship match,” said NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman in a league press release. “With top-notch facilities, a passionate soccer community and a favorable coastal climate, San Diego sets the perfect stage for our marquee event. Many thanks to everyone at Wave FC and Snapdragon Stadium for their efforts in making this celebration of our league a reality. We look forward to welcoming fans in November for another exciting season finale.”
While the NWSL has hosted finals on the Pacific coast before, those games have been played in Portland and Tukwila, Wash., with the most recent west coast final coming in 2018.
With San Diego and Angel City FC joining the league in 2022, and a preference for neutral-ground finals announced months ahead of the final, a California championship game does not come as an enormous surprise.
San Diego is a fútbol city.
11.11.23 🏟️ pic.twitter.com/nKYlJJcO4F
— San Diego Wave FC (@sandiegowavefc) July 19, 2023
“We are extremely proud and honored to have been selected to host the 2023 NWSL Championship game,” said San Diego Wave president Jill Ellis. “This gives us another significant opportunity to welcome the world’s game to San Diego, and we could not be prouder of our fans for embracing our club and creating the passionate atmosphere that is giving us the opportunity to bring this event to Snapdragon Stadium.”
Snapdragon Stadium is a virtually brand-new venue, opening in August 2022 just a couple of miles west of San Diego State University’s main campus. The 32,000-seat venue hosts the Wave, the San Diego State Aztecs football team, and Major League Rugby’s San Diego Legion. It is also the current NWSL single-game attendance record holder, with a 32,000-strong sellout witnessing San Diego defeat Angel City 1-0 on September 17, 2022.
Additionally, NWSL added that the league plans on holding a fan fest and other associated events in the lead-up to the final after having plenty of success with that sort of programming in Washington, D.C. last year.
The 2022 playoffs were a high-water mark for the league in multiple ways. Last year’s final was the most-watched game in league history on both television and streaming partner Paramount+, while the top four attendance figures in NWSL playoff history all came in last year’s postseason.