Credit: Seattle Reign FC
With the 2026 men’s World Cup fast approaching, the effects of the international tournament are starting to ripple throughout American soccer. In the NWSL, the Seattle Reign are among the teams having to adjust.
The club announced in January that it will be playing three home games in Spokane, Washington, while grass is laid into Seattle’s Lumen Field, the Reign’s typical home field but also a World Cup host site.
The three games, on March 25, March 28 and April 4, will take place in ONE Spokane Stadium, home of USL Super League team Spokane Zephyr and USL League One side Spokane Velocity.
The announcement came as a bit of a surprise to fans, who weren’t aware of the extent that the team would be displaced by World Cup preparations. But, though the details weren’t clear until recently, plans to accommodate the tournament have been in the process for a while.
Getting the Reign to Spokane for three games is a complicated logistical undertaking, Maya Mendoza-Exstrom, the Reign’s Chief Business Officer, told The Equalizer in an interview. But for the team, she sees the displaced homestand as both a challenge and an opportunity.
“When you go over there and you see what the Zephyr and the Velocity have done, when it’s packed, it feels massive, and it is a hostile place to play,” Mendoza-Exstrom said. “It’s a home ground for us, and that’s what we’re hoping to galvanize in Spokane.”
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