2016 National Women's Soccer League season
The 2016 National Women's Soccer League season was the fourth season of the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Including the NWSL's two professional predecessors, Women's Professional Soccer and the Women's United Soccer Association, it was the tenth overall season of FIFA and USSF-sanctioned top division women's soccer in the United States. The league is operated by the United States Soccer Federation and receives major financial backing from that body. Further financial backing is expected to be provided by the Canadian Soccer Association. Both national federations pay the league salaries of many of their respective national team members in an effort to nurture talent in those nations.
To accommodate the 2016 Olympics the league suspended play for most of the month of August. In addition, the league did not schedule games during FIFA windows, leaving the 20-game, 19-week regular season ending in late September for the second year in a row.
Teams, stadiums, and personnel
Stadiums and locations
Two teams, the Dash and Reign, do not make their stadiums' entire capacity available for home games, instead restricting ticket sales at a lower level. The full capacities of their venues are included in parentheses and italics.| Team | Stadium | Capacity |
| Boston Breakers | Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium | 4,500 |
| Chicago Red Stars | Toyota Park | 20,000 |
| Houston Dash | BBVA Compass Stadium | 7,000 |
| FC Kansas City | Swope Soccer Village Children's Mercy Park | 4,000 18,467 |
| Orlando Pride | Camping World Stadium | 60,219 |
| Portland Thorns | Providence Park | 21,144 |
| Seattle Reign FC | Memorial Stadium | 7,000 |
| Sky Blue FC | Yurcak Field | 5,000 |
| Washington Spirit | Maryland SoccerPlex | 5,126 |
| Western New York Flash | Rochester Rhinos Stadium | 13,768 |
Personnel and sponsorship
Note: All of the teams use Nike as their kit manufacturer.| Team | Head coach | Captain | Shirt sponsor |
| Boston Breakers |  |  | Steward Health Care |
| Chicago Red Stars | | | Illinois Bone and Joint Institute |
| Houston Dash | | | BBVA Compass |
| FC Kansas City |  | | Domino's |
| Orlando Pride |  | | Orlando Health |
| Portland Thorns | |  | Providence Health & Services |
| Seattle Reign FC | | | Microsoft |
| Sky Blue FC |  | | Meridian Health |
| Washington Spirit | | | ProChain Solutions, Inc. |
| Western New York Flash | |  | Sahlen's |
Competition format
- Each team will play a total of 20 games, 10 home and 10 away.
- Each team will play all opponents twice, once home and once away, plus one local rival two extra times, also once home and away.
- The four teams at the end of the season with the most points will qualify for the playoffs.
Results table
Scores listed as home-away
League standings
Tiebreakers
The initial determining factor for a team's position in the standings is most points earned, with three points earned for a win, one point for a draw, and zero points for a loss. If two or more teams tie in point total, when determining rank and playoff qualification and seeding, the NWSL uses the following tiebreaker rules, going down the list until all teams are ranked.- Head to Head win/loss record between the teams.
- Greater goal difference across the entire season.
- Greatest total number of goals scored.
- Apply #1–3 to games played on the road.
- Apply #1–3 to games played at home.
- If teams are still equal, ranking will be determined by a coin toss.
Weekly live standings
Considering each week to end on a Sunday. The number of games played by the teams are uneven due to a weather postponement in week 7 and differing schedules between week 10 and 16.| → | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Team ↓ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Portland Thorns FC | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Washington Spirit | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Chicago Red Stars | 10 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Western New York Flash | 4 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Seattle Reign FC | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| FC Kansas City | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| Sky Blue FC | 2 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| Houston Dash | 1 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |||||||||||
| Orlando Pride | 7 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | |
| Boston Breakers | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Attendance
Average home attendances
Ranked from highest to lowest average attendance.| Team | |||||
| Portland Thorns FC | 10 | 169,449 | 21,144 | 13,752 | 16,945 |
| Orlando Pride | 10 | 87,851 | 23,403 | 5,842 | 8,785 |
| Houston Dash | 10 | 56,963 | 7,440 | 4,570 | 5,696 |
| Seattle Reign FC | 10 | 46,018 | 5,888 | 3,987 | 4,602 |
| Western New York Flash | 10 | 38,683 | 6,449 | 2,235 | 3,868 |
| Washington Spirit | 10 | 37,817 | 5,750 | 3,036 | 3,782 |
| Boston Breakers | 10 | 35,704 | 4,379 | 1,435 | 3,570 |
| FC Kansas City | 10 | 31,624 | 8,022 | 2,217 | 3,162 |
| Chicago Red Stars | 10 | 30,045 | 4,024 | 2,068 | 3,005 |
| Sky Blue FC | 10 | 21,621 | 3,780 | 1,252 | 2,162 |
| Total | 100 | 555,775 | 23,403 | 1,252 | 5,558 |
Updated to games played on September 25, 2016.
Highest attendances
Regular season| Rank | Home team | Score | Away team | Attendance | Date | Stadium |
| 1 | Orlando Pride | 3–1 | Houston Dash | 23,403 | Camping World Stadium | |
| 2 | Portland Thorns FC | 3–2 | Western New York Flash | 21,144 | September 11, 2016 | Providence Park |
| 3 | Portland Thorns FC | 1–0 | Seattle Reign | 19,231 | July 30, 2016 | Providence Park |
| 4 | Portland Thorns FC | 0–0 | Seattle Reign | 18,114 | Providence Park | |
| 5 | Portland Thorns FC | 5–1 | Boston Breakers | 17,152 | Providence Park | |
| 6 | Portland Thorns FC | 1–2 | FC Kansas City | 16,942 | Providence Park | |
| 7 | Portland Thorns FC | 2–0 | Chicago Red Stars | 16,931 | Providence Park | |
| 8 | Portland Thorns FC | 2–1 | Orlando Pride | 16,073 | Providence Park | |
| 9 | Portland Thorns FC | 4–1 | Washington Spirit | 15,823 | Providence Park | |
| 10 | Portland Thorns FC | 2–0 | Sky Blue | 14,287 | Providence Park |
Updated to games played on September 25, 2016.