‘Atrocious’ pitch leaves Gotham’s semifinal venue in doubt

HARRISON, N.J. — Sunday’s NWSL quarterfinal match between Gotham FC and Seattle Reign FC was ugly by all standards — including the field — with the hosts and No. 1 seed advancing to a semifinal whose location in now in doubt.

“Let’s be real, there’s no way a playoff game should be played on that s—,” Seattle Reign FC head coach Laura Harvey told ESPN after her team’s 1-0 loss to hosts Gotham FC. “I just can’t believe they’ve allowed it. They knew it last week.”

The NWSL fined Gotham FC $10,000 for the poor conditions of the field for last week’s regular-season finale, Harvey said, and ESPN subsequently confirmed. Gotham is a tenant and does not control the stadium, which hosted a rugby match two days before the regular-season finale and a New York Red Bulls MLS match Saturday night.

All of this has left Gotham in a peculiar situation with the venue for next weekend’s semifinal against the Kansas City Current yet to be confirmed. The team could host its at the 5,000-seat Icahn Stadium in New York City on Nov. 15 due to the poor field conditions at Sports Illustrated Stadium. The Washington Spirit, who beat the Portland Thorns 4-1 on Sunday, will host a semifinal the day prior at Audi Field.

That combination of venues was not one of the nine scenarios the league had projected and that ESPN reported on Friday, but it became reality late Sunday night due to the poor field quality at Sports Illustrated Stadium. An NCAA Division III football game that was scheduled for Saturday at Audi Field was also moved to accommodate the NWSL semifinal and prevent the Spirit from moving to an NFL stadium, which was the original plan in this scenario.

On Sunday, 18 hours after the MLS match ended at Sports Illustrated Stadium, the field for the NWSL quarterfinal was sandy with visible brown patches.

Gotham FC advanced despite not putting a shot on target, becoming the first team in NWSL history to achieve that feat. Jaedyn Shaw‘s corner kick deflected off Reign defender Jordyn Bugg for an own goal in the fourth minute. It was the eventual winner.

Both teams said the field affected how they played.

“I feel the obligation to almost apologize for the state of the pitch,” Gotham FC head coach Juan Carlos Amoros said.

Seattle Reign FC midfielder Jess Fishlock, who is retiring and played her final game Sunday after the Reign’s loss, called the field “atrocious.”

“It was so bad,” Gotham FC defender Jess Carter said of the field as she walked through the tunnel after the match.

“It’s pretty sandy out there and a little unstable,” Gotham midfielder Jaelin Howell said. Howell was questionable for the quarterfinal after sustaining an ankle injury on the same field last week, but she started Sunday. “I want to be able to give my all to the team, and everything I’ve got, so obviously, you can’t think about that. The other team has to play on that, too.

“We acknowledged it, and we moved on. I think that our team managed it pretty well, for the most part.”

NWSL executives and leadership from Gotham FC and the Spirit were engaged in hours of phone calls following Sunday’s semifinals as they worked on solutions for the semifinals, sources told ESPN.

Multiple solutions are being explored to resod or repair the field at Sports Illustrated Stadium at the expense of either Gotham or the NWSL ahead of next weekend, a source with knowledge of discussions told ESPN. The New York Red Bulls are scheduled to play Mexico’s Club America there in a friendly match on Saturday.

According to documents previously obtained by ESPN, in the scenario where No. 1 seed Gotham and No. 3 seed Washington Spirit advanced to host semifinals, the Spirit would play at Northwest Stadium — home of the NFL’s Washington Commanders — on Saturday, Nov. 14, and Gotham would play at Sports Illustrated Stadium the following day. That all changed Sunday night as the Spirit worked to make Audi Field available, and as the quality of the field at Sports Illustrated Stadium sparked outrage from players.

Gotham will host the Kansas City Current, while the Spirit will host the Utah Royals. The winner will advance to the NWSL Championship at Audi Field on Nov. 21.

On Sunday, Amoros said he felt compelled to talk more about the field because Gotham won the game, and both teams had to deal with it.

“When you play on a pitch like that, you cannot be thinking of the next action of what you are going to do when you get the ball,” Amoros said. “You need to be looking at the ball because it can bounce at any given time. Plus, it just changes the whole dynamic of the game, and it changes the dynamic of how we play.”

Additional uncertainty has surrounded Gotham FC and the league all week as the NWSL has navigated potential venue availability issues for its 2026 playoffs. All three top seeds in the playoffs had conflicts with their usual home venues on Nov. 14, and the NWSL could not move the game times without losing valuable national TV windows.

“It makes the game just beyond annoying,” Harvey told ESPN. “Because you look at it and go, ‘Well, was the goal a little bit from the field? Probably. Were our chances that we created not taken because of the quality that they are trying to deal with? Probably.

“And I’m not trying to make excuses, but I just think like, we’re 15 years in and we are letting that happen? What are we doing?

“That will sit with me for a long time.”

Harvey said the Reign identified the issues with the field during warmups. She also conceded that both teams had to deal with the conditions.

“We can ignore it and not talk about it, or we can be really honest about it,” Harvey said. “And if what we’re trying to create is a product that people want to watch — they don’t want to watch that. Who wants to watch that?”