NWSL endorses Kathy Carter in USSF election

The National Women’s Soccer League will vote for Kathy Carter in the US Soccer presidential election, Grant Wahl reports for SI.

NWSL makes up part of the Professional Council vote and controls three out of 16 total Pro Council votes. MLS has nine votes and will go for Carter, giving her 12 votes total from the Pro Council, and about 19.3% of the total vote. To win, a candidate must get a simple majority of votes, or 50% + 1 vote.

With another 30.7% of the total vote to gather, it may not seem like Carter is necessarily a lock despite the backing of both division 1 men’s and women’s professional leagues, but with seven other candidates in the race dividing votes, now may be the time when some of them consider conceding and consolidating behind a main challenger or challengers, most likely Kyle Martino and/or Eric Wynalda. There’s also the USL vote to consider - they have three delegates as well, and would comfortably put Carter at about 24% of the total vote, nearly halfway to the number she needs.

It’s interesting to see NWSL vote for Carter, though not necessarily surprising. Though Carter hasn’t really spoken in great detail about NWSL (you can read her recently-released women’s game plan here), the league is closely intertwined with US Soccer and depends on it to pay for USWNT player salaries. Not to mention several teams are now partnered with MLS clubs (Portland, Utah, Houston, Orlando) and the league has heavily hinted at west coast expansion in 2019, probably in conjunction with LAFC.